People & Their
Problems
New
Delhi, 6 June 2008
Rising Graph of Suicides
“MAMA, I DIED BECAUSE I FAILED”
By Radhakrishna Rao
Every year with the announcement of examination
results, comes the news of students committing suicide from various parts of India. Either because
of failure to secure the desired grade or simply to secure passing marks .Last
month alone, seven school students of Uttar Pradesh took the extreme step of
ending their lives after learning that they failed their examination. More. Two
students of the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology committed suicide because
they could not withstand the ignominy of being branded as “failed”. Failure in
examinations is one of the many reasons that drive the youngsters to commit suicide.
In recent years, newspapers have
been reporting extensively on suicides by indebted farmers in various parts of
the country. Successive crop failures
and the social stigma attached to “indebtness” drive many of these farmers to suicide.
Family discord, marital disharmony and divorce are some other compelling
factors contributing to the increasing graph of suicides in the country.
Think. On 31 May, a 17 years old
girl in Noida, unable to come to terms with the refusal of her marriage
proposal shot herself in the head with her father’s licensed revolver.
According to police sources, “she drew out a revolver kept in the dash-board of
her father’s car and shot herself in the head. She was immediately rushed to
the hospital where her condition was declared critical”.
Psychoanalysts specializing in
teenage suicide cases blame the trend on a number of factors including peer
pressure, behavioural abnormality, personality disorder and a history of depression
highlighted by the simple inability to come to terms with the ground reality.
In recent years, with parental expectation of the performance bar going up steadily,
many youngsters who fail to achieve the desired results in examinations take
the extreme step of snuffing out their lives.
In fact, a rat race to achieve the
“best of results’ seems to be at the root of an increasing suicide spree in the
student community. “ A 70 or 80 per cent aggregate is no longer enough; the
race is on to go beyond 95%. When results fall short, a sense of inadequacy and
helplessness creeps in, forcing these students to take extreme measures,” observed
Dr.M.S.Thimappa, a clinical psychology expert and former Vice Chancellor of
Bangalore University.
Further, according to Dr.Thimappa, there
are occasions when the pressure and strain nudges students to commit suicide
ever before the results are out. “The problem is also with parents who set very
limited goals, like engineering and medicine, for their children, who, in turn,
feel that if they are not good at these, they are not good at anything” he
added.
Researchers at the Bangalore-based
National Institute of Mental Health Sciences (NIMHANS) believe that the core
problem behind the increasing spree of suicides is essentially psychological
though social pressure is an additional factor leading to suicide. “There is
the constant pressure to secure better jobs or salaries but a student’s way of
coping with such pressure depends on multiple factors including his bearings
within the family,” said NIMHANS researchers.
In recent years, many films and TV
serials produced in Malayalam keep referring to parental pressure on their
wards to put in the best so that ”neighbours, friends and relatives will not
hold them in low esteem”
Interestingly, cold statistics
reveals that the more developed southern States lead in suicides. Notwithstanding,
a higher literacy rate in comparison to the northern States. The reason for
this dismal state of affair is not far to seek. “The high literacy rates in the
south means higher expectation and ambition, which, if not met, breeds
frustration and loneliness.
In extreme cases, a prolonged
condition may lead a person to end his life”, asserted another psychiatrist. Shockingly,
according to her, more than one lakh people commit suicide every year in the
country. But the most disturbing aspect of India’s “suicide landscape” is that
a majority of those committing hara-kiri are from the age group of 18-29 years.
Alcoholism is considered yet another
major factor contributing to an upwardly rising suicide graph in the country. Neuro-experts
state that alcoholics are especially vulnerable to suicides. Clearly,
alcoholism disturbs the social fabric, causes marital disharmony and wrecks a
human being. In the ultimate analysis, a depressed alcoholic, unable to
withstand the humiliation heaped on him by society and the family deems it fit
to end his life.
Against this backdrop, clinical
psychologists point out that the family and the society could play a greater
role to ensure that there is a steep decline in the suicide rates. Experts are
of view that strategies involving restriction of access to suicides have proved
to be an effective method in reducing the suicide rate. As far as curbing suicides
in the student community is concerned, parents and educational experts could
play an important role in minimizing this unsavory phenomenon.
Recently, there has also been an
increase in the incidence of stress-prone soldiers committing suicide. In fact,
over the last four years, more than 400 defence personnel posted in the trouble-torn,
militancy-prone Kashmir
Valley have killed
themselves. Away from their families and always under stress and strain, these
soldiers are often nudged to kill themselves.
However, according to the Director-
General of Armed Forces Medical Services V.K. Singh, “Stress, low morale and
denial of leave are not the underlying reason as commonly believed. In fact, we
found soldiers on the border far more content and happy. A majority of the
suicides occurred after the soldiers returned from their leave”.
In the strife-torn Kashmir Valley
where unending cycle of violence, blood-letting and killings perpetuated by
Pakistan-trained militant groups has been on the rise, an increasing number of
youth are killing themselves. If truth be told, the current suicide rate in
this enchanting valley stands at 20 per lakh, twice the national average.
A study of suicides in Kashmir goes to show that the trend of hara-kiri has
gripped every strata of society. As sociologists point out, restoration of
peace by ending militancy and acts of terrorism through a mix of diplomacy and
military action, could alone help bring down the rate of suicides in the State,
once a celebrated land of Hindu saints and
sufi mystics who propagated
the message of peace, joy and
brotherhood. --- INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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