Why 61 Indian housewives are killing themselves everyday?

Ground Report | New Delhi: Why 61 Indian housewives are killing themselves; The latest data of the National Crime Records Bureau, 22,372 housewives had committed suicide last year. According to this, there have been 61 suicides every day and every 25 minutes. Of the total 153,052 suicides in the country in 2020, housewives accounted for 14.6 percent and women committed suicide over 50 percent.

Why 61 Indian housewives are killing themselves

Since 1997, when the NCRB began compiling occupation-based suicide statistics, more than 20,000 housewives have been killing themselves every year. In 2009 their number increased to 25,092.

The report attributed these suicides to "family problems" or "marriage-related issues".

Mental health experts say a big reason for this is widespread domestic violence. In a recent government survey, 30 percent of women reported that their husbands had committed domestic violence. These daily hardships make marriages oppressive and women suffocate in homes.

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"Women are really flexible, but there is a limit to tolerance," says Dr. Usha Verma Srivastava, a clinical psychologist, as per BBC said "Most girls are married as soon as they turn 18 - the legal age for marriage. She becomes a wife and daughter-in-law and spends her entire day at home, cooking and cleaning, and doing household chores. "Their education and dreams don't matter and their ambitions slowly fade and they become hopeless. Their very existence becomes torture," she says.

"Many women face loneliness. Their children grow up and are isolated from home. Many face pre-menopausal symptoms that lead to depression and sadness," she said.

“If you look at the Million Deaths Study or the Lancet study, suicides in India are under-reported by between 30% and 100%.”

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Several reasons for suicide

Cases of suicide have also been seen more in the case of school students. Schools and colleges were closed in India during the Covid pandemic. Schools had arranged for online education, but many students had to drop out due to a lack of laptops, smartphones, and the internet.

The latest data on suicides shows that many students even took their own lives due to failure in examinations. There is also a clear difference in the behavior of girls and boys under the age of 18 when it comes to suicide. Girls lost their lives due to love affairs.

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Several reasons for suicide have also been mentioned in the report. Which family dispute is being said to be the biggest reason? Mental illness, drugs, problems related to marriage have also been cited as the reasons responsible for suicide.

153,052 people committed suicide last year

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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