Dinesh Kamath's Editorial (Suicide is not the answer to any problem) that was published in Newsband

Suicide is not the answer to any problem

The findings of a recent study by British medical journal Lancet have identified suicides as the second leading cause of death among the young in India. Why is this so? What is the reason that leads many of our youngsters to take resort to ultimate step? It is high time we analyzed the reasons behind our youngsters committing suicide.

It is indeed strange that no worthwhile research on this has been done by a national agency. The research was conducted by the British surveyors.

Indian government must study in details about this suicide issue in our country and find remedies to minimize or nullify it. During the research, it was found that 40 per cent victims of suicides in India are from four southern states of Andhra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Is this because South Indians feel that it is a taboo to approach a psychiatrist in case you happen to feel mentally disturbed? In this modern world, the psychiatrists are as much necessary as physical doctors.

All across the world people suffer from depression which is treated, but in India it usually goes untreated until it develops into a more serious form. There is a need of public education program to convince people that there is nothing hopelessly wrong with being depressed and that there are remedies for it. People must realize that there is nothing wrong in approaching the psychiatrist when one suffers from mental problems. This is as natural as going to a doctor when you have a common cold of flu. In both the cases, the patients get treated and they become normal.

The high suicide rates in South India might be partly attributable to a combination of prevalent suicidal thinking or planning and social acceptance of suicide as a method to deal with difficulties, but this requires to be studied more closely.

The survey report also says that around half the 1.87 lakh people who committed suicide in India in 2010 consumed poison, mainly pesticides, to end their life. This underlines the need to ban the most toxic pesticides and to educate the rural masses about safe storage of pesticides.

Another fact that the survey report exposes is that farmers are most prone to committing suicide. The fact that has come out is that over three in four suicide deaths in India occur in other occupational groups including the unemployed and homemakers.

It is high time that the Indian government did something drastic to prevent rise in suicide cases in India. Suicide is certainly not a solution to any problem. Any human life is not that cheap that it can be given up anytime whenever its owner wishes. It is high time that people began to realize the value of human life.