Suicides in India on rise, most dying by hanging: NCRB
NEW DELHI: More than any other means to commit suicide, ‘hanging’ has held sway for over half-a-century as the most adopted method to end one’s life. Also, frustration over family-related issues and illnesses drove Indians to snuff out their lives during the same period.
According to the latest report of the National Crime Records Bureau 2019-21, 4.7 crore, including more than 17.56 lakh women, ended their life by taking recourse to various means to commit suicide in the 54 years for which records are available with the organisation.
While in 2020, 88,460 persons and 93,580 in 2021 hanged themselves from ceiling fans and roofs, more than 58 per cent of the total suicides was the macabre outcome for men and women who preferred this mode of ending their lives.
A startling fact that emerged from the NCRB report is that rate of suicides in India assumed alarming proportions from 1998 when 104,713 persons, including 43,027 women hung themselves to death. “The rate of increase in suicides started going up steeply from 1998,” an NCRB source said. "Since that year, the number of reported suicides went into six digits. In 2009, the number of suicides increased to 110,587 with some small variations in the preceding years," the source said.
The numbers reached a peak in 2021 when 1,65,033 suicides were reported, as compared to 1,53,052 and 1,39,123 in 2020 and 2019, respectively. In 2017, a total of 1,29,887 suicides were reported, going up to 1,34,516 in 2018.
Between 2014 and 2021, 310 transgenders were recorded to have ended their lives. As many as 28 transgenders took their lives in 2021, followed by 22 in 2020, 17 in 2019 and 11 in 2018. The worst year for suicides was 2021 when 131 cases of mass and family suicides were reported from across the country.
Among these, 340 persons, including 197 married 143 unmarried individuals, took their own lives. Shockingly, 33 cases of mass and family suicides were reported from Tamil Nadu in 2021, followed by 25 in Rajasthan, 22 in Andhra Pradesh, 12 in Kerala and 10 in Karnataka. As many as 80 suicides constituted the 33 cases in Tamil Nadu.
(Suicide helplines -- Maithri, Cochin: +91 239 6272; Sumaitri, New Delhi: 2338 9090, Sneha, Chennai: 91-44-2464 0050, 91-44-2464 0060, Aasra, Mumbai: 9820466726, Fortis MentalHealth: 8376804102)