39 suicides a day in AP

Nov.18.2009

Hyderabad, Nov. 17: Andhra Pradesh now has the dubious distinction of ranking second in the country in the number of reported suicides. On an average, 39 people a day end up killing themselves in the state.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), out of 1.22 lakh suicides every year in the country, Andhra Pradesh records around 14,224.

The large number of suicides among students and employees of IT companies has to do with increasing competition in the education and employment sectors, say experts.

NCRB analysts observe that while social and economic causes lead to most of the suicides committed by men, women are driven to suicide by emotional and personal causes.

According to the NCRB, in the past decade, there has been a 28 per cent increase in the number of suicides. Maharashtra accounts for the largest share at 12.4 per cent, followed by Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal at 12.1 per cent each.

Dr V. Pramod Kumar, the superintendent of the Mental Health Hospital, Erragadda, says, “Due to the changing economic scenario in the South, there is more competition to grab employment opportunities. Disappointed youth are developing suicidal tendencies. Mental illness can also cause people to commit suicide. The reason can also be genetic.” The NCRB report says that AP has been recording higher numbers of suicides in the past few years. The causes can vary from unemployment, to not being able to have children, to problems at work and non-settlement of marriage.

Osmania Medical College forensics department head, Dr M. Narayana Reddy, says that stress in students, failure in love affairs among the youth, poverty of farmers, unemployment, as among weavers, are “leading to frustration and the person takes recourse to death rather than life.”

Within the state, Karimnagar district has recorded the highest number of suicides, with 1,363 persons ending their lives in 2008, and 840 till September 2009. Adilabad registered 1,334 suicides and next was Kurnool. Srikakulam with 158 suicides was the lowest.

The problems that Gulf immigrants face could account for the large number of suicides in Karimnagar which has a large population of men employed in the Gulf, surmises CID IGP, Mr S. Umapathi.