Introduction:

Sociologist Emile Durkheim had famously hypothesised that ‘suicides are a result of not just psychological or emotional factors but social factors as well’.  Every 40 seconds, someone somewhere in the world takes his or her own life.

Body:

Suicide statistics:

• According to the World Health Organization (WHO), for every 100,000 women, about 16 women take their own lives. By the data available, India’s suicide rate for women is the sixth highest in the world.
• Suicide is the second biggest cause of death, especially amongst younger men, exceeded only by death due to traffic accidents.
• Suicide is the leading cause of death among young women. We lose about 25 men for every 100,000 men to suicide.
• According to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB)’s ‘Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India’ report for 2015, there were 1,336,623 suicides across the country that year.
• Among all states, Maharashtra (16,970) had the highest number of suicides in 2015, followed by Tamilnadu.
• As per report, one-third of the suicides in the country in 2015 were committed by young adults under age 30, and another one-third by people in the age group 30-45.

Reasons for high number of suicides in India are a mix of psychological or emotional influences and social dimensions:

• Women :
  • Women are struggling with disproportionate socio-economic burdens.
  • Their high SDRs relative to men are rooted in factors as varied as the difference in socially acceptable methods of dealing with stress and conflict for women and men, domestic violence and the different ways in which poverty affects the genders.
  • Married women form the biggest victim group of suicide deaths among women in general. This group becomes more vulnerable due to arranged and early marriage, young motherhood and economic dependence.
• The past few decades have witnessed economic, labour and social changes on a scale rarely seen before. Such rapid change with the economic dislocation and change in social and community links it brings can be destabilizing.
• The social stigma:
  • The social stigma attached to mental health disorders in India is a major hurdle in addressing them.
  • Stigma and general lack of knowledge and understanding when it comes to mental health disorders prevent timely intervention.
• Lack of Medical and Psychological Care:
  • State capabilities for addressing mental health issues are close to non-existent.
  • The country has about 5,000 psychiatrists and less than 2,000 clinical psychologists.
  • Expenditure on mental health accounts for a tiny fraction of total public health spending.
• Farmers suicide:
  • India’s economy vastly depends on agriculture with around 60% of its people directly or indirectly depends upon it.
  • Different reasons like droughts, low yield prices, exploitation by middlemen and inability to pay loans lead Indian farmers to commit suicide.
• Youth suicide:
  • Reason for such high numbers can be attributed to lack of economic, social, and emotional resources.
  • More specifically, academic pressure, workplace stress, social pressures, modernisation of urban centers, relationship concerns, and the breakdown of support systems.
  • Some researchers have attributed the rise of youth suicide to urbanisation and the breakdown of the traditional large family support system.
  • The clash of values within families is an important factor for young people in their lives. As young Indians become more progressive, their traditionalist households become less supportive of their choices pertaining to financial independence, marriage age, rehabilitation, taking care of the elderly etc
• Depression:
  • WHO says that depression and suicide are closely linked and, at its worst, depression can lead to suicide.18 per cent of the total number of people suffering from depression globally were in India in 2015.
• Discrimination:
  • Discrimination and slurs for having belonged to an ST community and having procured admission into the college through the SC/ST quota.
  • Racial slurs, Sexist slur etc. leading to extreme harassment of individuals.
  • Caste-based discrimination and resentment from upper-caste students and faculty is common in the high-pressure environment of medical colleges, as well as in other higher educational institutes in the country.
  • The 2007 report by the Thorat Committee has shown how rampant and varied the caste-based discrimination practices were in AIIMS, the country’s premier medical college.

Measures taken by Government:

• There have been some positive developments over the past few years.
• The decriminalization of suicide was long overdue and welcome.
• The same holds true for the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India’s mandating that insurance companies are to make provisions to cover mental illnesses in their policies along with physical illnesses.
• Concerned over the spate of suicides in Indian colleges, the ministry of human resource development has circulated a manual to the country’s higher education institutions, asking the authorities to adopt measures to prevent students from taking the extreme step.
• The manual lists measures such as early identification of suicidal tendencies, a buddy programme and a double-blind helpline where both the caller and the counsellor are unaware of each other’s identity.
• Other experts have suggested proactive steps at the adolescent stage itself with the introduction of mental health in school curricula.
• Mental healthcare act 2016: This Act will ensure these people have the right to live a life with dignity and not be discriminated against or harassed by the authorities. .
• The SC has also said that Section 309 of IPC also violates right to life as given under Article 21 of the Constitution of India.

Measures needed:

• First, stop-gap solutions to setting up expert committees and counsellors in schools have not been able to solve the problem.
• The deep-rooted causes must be addressed. The government must undertake a comprehensive study on the reasons behind these suicides.
• Second, the curriculum should be designed in ways that stress the importance of mental exercises and meditation. E.g.: The Delhi government’s initiative on the ‘Happiness Curriculum’ may be a step in the right direction.
• Third, with regards to higher education, 12 measures were suggested by the Justice Roopanwal Commission.
• Making Equal Opportunity Cells with an anti-discrimination officer functional in universities and colleges.
• Starting from the most “innocuous” of ragging practices to “extreme harassment,” such discriminatory behaviour in fact constitutes violence and is an assault on the human rights of a person that prevents them from leading their lives with dignity and obtaining an education.
• Educational approaches in schools, namely, teaching about the facts of suicide, developing educational modules in life skills, and problem-solving and training teachers
• Psychological support and care should be given to the individual. The state can seek assistance from NGOs as well as religious missionaries for this purpose.
• Strengthening the existing National Mental Health Programme and the district mental health programme, along with focus on training resources and streamlining of funds are some other recommendations for fighting depression and suicide.
• Finally, it is high time we seek to reinvent our educational ecosystem in ways that impregnate new meanings, new ideas of living, and renewed possibilities that could transform a life of precarity into a life worth living.

Conclusion:

Suicide is preventable. Youth who are contemplating suicide frequently give warning signs of their distress. Parents, teachers, and friends are in a key position to pick up on these signs and get help. Most important is to never take these warning signs lightly or promise to keep them secret.