DEHRADUN: Among the 10 Himalayan states of India, Uttarakhand ranked third in total number of suicides after Tripura, with 728 cases, and Himachal Pradesh, with 584 cases, revealed National Crime Record Bureau data of the year 2019.
The hill state recorded the highest percentage of suicides due to family-related issues among all Indian states with 76 per cent of total suicide cases.
Ashok Kumar, director general (law & order) Uttarakhand, commenting on the issue said, "As a society, we need to introspect and come together to deal with this issue. Life is a precious gift and one should not throw it away, no matter what. Family, friends, and everyone related to the person should make sure that she or he opens up about issues bothering them up to such extent."
Interestingly, there were no farmer suicides in the state in 2019.
Meanwhile, love affairs led to 35 cases of death by suicide including the deaths of 22 males and 13 females.
Similarly, 25 people took their own life due to the non-settlement of marriage, and as many ended their lives due to mental illness while 15 killed themselves due to drug abuse or alcohol addiction.
t of a total of 516 cases of death by suicide in Uttarakhand in 2019, 394 cases were related to family problems. Out of these, 260 victims were male while 134 were female.
The total number of suicides reported in the hill state in 2019 showed an increase of 22.6 per cent compared to 2018 - reaching the top five states in the country with the highest percentage increase in total suicide cases.
The total number of suicides reported in the year 2018 in the state stood 421.
Neha Sharma, Haldwani-based psychologist said, "We should take a break from the virtual world and give time to the real world. Living in the real-world will help us deal with the issues better. Social media and the Internet have immense importance in our lives but we should be careful that these tools do not become an addiction."