The Hindu Business Line : On suicides

WOULD sociologists call the contemporary times an era of suicides — particularly with reference to India? Almost everyday there are reports of suicide. Currently, the victims happen to be predominantly agriculturists in debt and distress. There are also instances of bright students who miss opportunities for higher studies, due to the uncertain and inconsistent educational policies committing suicides. Whilst this is so, the general trend of increase in suicides the world over appears to continue unabated. It is a little puzzling why people wish to kill themselves. How is it that suicidal tendencies grow to overwhelming proportions? The picture emerging from statistics is shocking — in cities such as Mumbai, Bangalore, and Chennai (put together), the rate was two to three cases per day in 1997. What is unfortunate is one-third of this is from the economically productive age group of 15-49! The effect of this on an economy can be imagined.

There also emerge some paradoxes. The State in India with the highest literacy, Kerala, also registers a very high suicide rate. Likewise, in 2002, Japan, one of the G-8 countries, was described as a "Suicide State"! What do we make of these? Is it that good education make the people more sensitive to routine setbacks in life? In Japan, it seems to be that high suicide rate is a fallout of an economic slump and its consequences. So much so, in 2002, the government had to allot millions of yen for measures to prevent suicides. Still, studies revealed that the remedy lay only in the country being prosperous.

There are some "asides" too, both sad and comic. In Tamil Nadu, there is so much hero worship — having matured almost into a cult — that a party leader's death or defeat in an election drives at least a few followers to self-immolation. Elsewhere, it is sad to learn that a Japanese farm couple killed themselves, overcome with profound guilt in not having informed the authorities in time of a deadly bird flu that had afflicted chicken in their poultry. This led to the spread of the disease, causing the death of thousands of birds in their locality.

Then, what to say of youngsters thinking it not worth living, when they could not afford the ticket for a Michael Jackson's concert or when a Sachin Tendulkar could not play a match due to some injury in his back!

K. Gopalan