AHMEDABAD: In developed Gujarat, the suicide rate of daily wagers increased by 50.44 percent
over the last five years, wherein nine daily wagers die by suicide every day. According to the data of the last 5 years presented by Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai in Rajya Sabha in response to a question, this number is increasing continuously.
The number of daily wage workers who died by suicide in 2017 was 2131 i.e. six workers who were dying every day, whereas in 2018 it increased to 2522. There was a massive jump of 18.34 per cent in a single year. While 2649 in 2019, 2754 in 2020, and 3206 in 2021 embraced the death
of daily wage earners.
Economists believe daily the very low wage rate of workers in Gujarat is responsible for the increasing suicides ratio of labourers. Hence, they are not able to survive in times of inflation.
Economist Indira Hirway said, “The average daily wage rate of workers in Gujarat is the lowest in India. The rate is Rs.295.9 for daily workers when it is Rs. 837.7 in Kerala, Rs. 478.6 in Tamil Nadu, Rs. 519 in Jammu and Kashmir, 462 in Himachal Pradesh, and even in Bihar it is Rs. 328.3 and in Odisha (Orissa) it is Rs. 313.8. The share of informal unorganized workers in the total workers also is much higher in Gujarat compared to the states like Maharashtra, Karnataka, Punjab, Haryana, and most other states.”
“This implies that workers in Gujarat are much less protected than workers in most other states. Incidentally, the government has recently put Rs 8 lakh annual income as the poverty line for EWS, economically weaker section / poor people. At this rate all unskilled and semi-skilled workers in Gujarat are poor, living much below the poverty line fixed by the government’s own standard,” she added.
Construction workers union General secretary Vipul Pandya said “Unemployment, low wages, and lack of social security are driving labourers towards suicide. The people who get employment in Gujarat do not get quality employment, and second labourers do not get regular work, In Gujarat, 85 percent of the workers are in the unorganized sector, but not all of them get permanent work,”
“During the time of Covid, the government had announced that it would give 1000 rupees to the labourers, and this money was to be given from the Welfare Fund, yet only 3 lakh people got this money. Now at such a time, if you cannot provide social security to the people, they will become poorer and their means of earning will be reduced a lot, and if they cannot bear the burden of poverty, they will take extreme steps like suicide,” he added.
In Gujarat, the workers' organizations also deny the claims that the labourers are getting enough employment under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).
Gujarat Labour Panachyat and self-labour employed organization General Secretary, Jayanti Panchal said, “The government makes big claims in MGNREGA, but the labourers still do not know about MNREGA that they have to go to ask for work, and after working in MGNREGA, the labourers do not get their salary immediately, and they do not even get work for the whole day. There are people who eat daily, they
need cases every day, and that's why these people do not go to work in MGNREGA.”
He further mentioned that the number of deaths due to suicide is due to the failure of the government.
(If you are having suicidal thoughts, or are worried about a friend or need emotional support, someone is always there to listen. Call Sneha Foundation - 04424640050 (available 24x7) or iCall, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences' helpline - 02225521111, which is available Monday to Saturday from 8 am to 10 pm.)