Citation

Srivastava K, Chaudhury S, Bhat PS, Prakash J. Ind. Psychiatry J. 2020; 28(1): 1-3.

Affiliation

Department of Psychiatry, AFMC, Pune, Maharashtra, India.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Association of Industrial Psychiatry of India)

DOI

10.4103/ipj.ipj_77_19

PMID

31879439

PMCID

PMC6929231

Abstract

Suicide in farmers has been grabbing headlines in India for the past decade. In addition to farmers, suicide also occurs frequently among students, the self-employed, unemployed, and homemakers. A great deal of discussion and debate that has taken place on this topic, in print and electronic media, is high on rhetoric but short on reasoned analysis. Let us attempt to make a rational analysis.

Official figures of suicide in India are available from the National Crime Records Bureau. Comparison of total suicides in 2000 and 2015 indicates a whopping 23.05% increase in total suicides, which should grab the headlines and send alarm bells ringing. However, in the same period, the estimated population of India has increased by 25.65%. Therefore, while the total number of suicides has certainly increased, this is in proportion to the increase in population, and there has been no increase in the rate of suicides.

Suicide is a complex multifactorial phenomenon. Among the many causal factors, occupation does figure prominently. Most studies agree that unemployment is an important cause of suicide. Among the working population, studies indicate that certain occupations are associated with a higher suicidal risk than others. Despite the importance of the topic, the literature is sparse

Language: en