On Monday, a 40-year-old farmer from Bhadradri Kothagudem district of Telangana committed suicide by consuming pesticide, unable to pay his debts. G Mancha took the extreme step after he was refused seeds on credit, as he could not repay the earlier amount. According to the police, he could not get a good price for last year’s crops and faced a similar situation this year as well, as half his crops got damaged. However, Mancha is not the only person in the state in the past few days to have taken the extreme step.
On Sunday, a 35-year-old woman employee of Bank of America (BOA), G Padmaja, was reportedly found hanging from the ceiling of her residence at Sudarshan Nagar, Gachibowli. According to reports, Padmaja had sent an SMS to her husband informing him about the decision to kill herself. The family has alleged that she was being harassed by her husband, Gireesh Narasimha, for dowry.
Another recent instance of the double suicide of a beautician in Hyderabad, and a Sub-Inspector in Kuknoorpally also attracted media attention. Vijaya Lakshmi alias Sirisha, had committed suicide in Hyderabad in the early hours of June 13, while SI Prabhakar Reddy shot himself with his service revolver the same day.
According to Roshni, a Hyderabad-based NGO working to help people overcome depression, nearly six suicides take place every day in Telangana.
“This is sad that people in India do not take depression and such problems seriously. Due to this, several people commit suicide every day,” says Ananda Diwakar, an outreach in-charge of the NGO, who counsels people.
The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report states that Telangana registered sixth highest number of suicide cases with a total of 10,140 suicides in 2015.
“Every day we get a minimum of 30 calls from people who get suicidal thoughts and need counselling. We assure them that their identity will be kept secret. We attend a minimum of two high risk calls, where people are in on the verge of committing suicide or have made up their mind to take the extreme step. We counsel them and calm them down,” says Ananda.
Depression is the main cause of suicide
According to the NGO, in Telangana, most of the suicides take place due to relationship problems.
“Mostly due to unhappy marriages, dowry deaths are high in Telangana where women call us and say that they are being harassed. Some of the spouses get involved in extramarital affairs and there are family disputes as well. In these cases, we counsel them continuously for a few days, so that they find various options to come out of it,” says Ananda.
The NCRB data reveals that 27.6% of the total suicides are due to family problems while marriage related problems cause 4.8% and love affairs account for 3.3% of all suicides.
She says that apart from relationship problems, people have financial issues which leads them to depression. The NGO has counselled people who have been facing depression over financial problems or debts they are unable to pay. However, she says, the issues of depression and mental tension which have been critical health issues for a long time are not taken seriously.
“People do not address the problem of depression. Every day, we see some or the other suicide cases in the media. The main cause of suicide is depression. When people feel there is no other way they can resolve the issue, they take the extreme step. However, not many people come forward to seek help,” she says.
The Times of India has reported that over 15 lakh people in Telangana suffer from depression.
However, experts have pointed out that no programme has been launched by the government to create awareness on depression.
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