More suicides among businessmen than farmers: NCRB data

Ground Report | New Delhi: More suicides among businessmen; The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data for the year 2020 shows that there has been a 50 percent increase in suicide cases from the business community in the year 2020 amid the economic crisis caused by the pandemic.

This year the highest number of suicides have come from the business class as compared to 2019. In the year 2020, more traders have committed suicide than farmers.

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According to NCRB data, 11,716 traders committed suicide in the year 2020 and this figure was 10,667 among farmers. Of these 11,716 suicides, 4,356 were 'businessmen', 4,226 were 'sellers' and the rest are classified as 'other professions'.

Traditionally, the business community has always seen fewer such deaths than the farmers. During the pandemic, and the resultant lockdown, small businesses and traders suffered heavy losses, forcing many to close shutters or default on loans.

Meanwhile, the total suicide figures in the country saw an increase of 10 per cent from 1,53,052 in 2020 - the highest ever in India.

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The data is contrary to the traditional trend where the trading community has always seen fewer such deaths than the farmers. During the pandemic, and the resultant lockdown, small businesses and traders suffered heavy losses, forcing many to close shutters or default on loans.

“In the Covid year, small businesses have been hit very badly. Till now it was believed that more farmers commit suicide due to crop failure and rising debt. But this shows that businessmen are not under less stress and the pandemic has made it worse,” Indian Express quoted Anil Bhardwaj, general secretary of Federation of Indian Micro Small and Medium Enterprises, as saying.

A detailed account of businessmen shows that most of the suicide victims were men (93 percent) and mostly vendors (36 percent) and traders (37 percent), and were from highly developed states.

Karnataka recorded the maximum number of businessman suicides (1,772) in 2020. This is a jump of 103 percent from 2019 - when only 875 businessmen died by suicide in the state. After Karnataka, around 1,610 businessmen died in Maharashtra (a 25 percent jump) and Tamil Nadu at 1,447 (a 36 percent jump).

These three states alone accounted for nearly 40 percent of the total business suicides. However, the number of suicides by businessmen is much lower than that of unemployed (15,652) and daily wage earners (37,666).

In India, a total of 153,052 people committed suicide last year, according to official figures. That is, about four hundred people commit suicide every day. For the first time since 1967, there have been so many suicides in India in a single year.

However, this is the number that the police department has declared a suicide and then the government agencies also recognized and registered it, otherwise, a large number is left without a report.

 Of the total number of male suicides last year, the highest number of deaths were among daily wage earners and 33,164 workers committed suicide. This is followed by 15,372 self-employed people. The third highest number is the suicides of unemployed people and 12,893 such people died due to suicide.

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