Page 5 - Suicides

Strategies to prevent suicides should address risk factors: Researchers

National strategies aimed at preventing suicide should include measures to address social issues to prevent people from reaching "crisis point," even as clinical services for those in crisis are critical, argue authors of a new six-paper series published in The Lancet Public Health journal. The international team of authors, including those from the Public Health Foundation of India, New Delhi, called for a change in the narrative around suicide -- to move away from presenting it as a purely mental health issue and acknowledge the impact of social risk factors, such as poverty, domestic violence, addictions and isolation. This was particularly relevant for India, which released the National Suicide Prevention Strategy in November 2022, and grounded most of its proposed solutions within the mental health scope, despite police data showing that factors, including gender, employment, and stressful life events have important roles to play, the researchers said. The strategy is aimed at

No suicidal thoughts link to diabetes, obesity drugs, finds UK regulator

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) began a review of safety data for the class of drugs, known as GLP-1 receptor agonists, more than a year ago

Meta AI alerts Lucknow police, saves woman from committing suicide

Social media company Meta AI saved the life of a woman who was attempting to commit suicide here, as she was allegedly upset over being abandoned by her husband, a police official said. The police have arrested the 23-year-old husband of the woman. According to the police, the woman, 21, was going to commit suicide. She made a video with a noose around her neck and posted it on social media. While the video was going viral, the Social Media Centre of the office of the Directorate General of Police received an alert from Meta and the police became active. They immediately reached the spot after locating the village and stopped the girl from committing suicide. ACP Mohanlalganj Rajneesh Verma told PTI Videos, "On Saturday, around noon, an alert was received from Meta AI at the Social Media Centre of the office of the Director General of Police that a young woman was hanging from a noose. Immediately acting on the information, a police team reached the spot and rescued her safely." W

Suicide among students in Odisha rises by 58% in 3 years till 2023

Suicide among students in Odisha has increased by 58 per cent in three years till 2023, the assembly was informed on Monday. In a written reply to a question from BJD legislator Dhruba Charan Sahoo, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi said the number of suicide cases among students has increased from 119 in 2021 to 173 in 2022 and then gone up to 189 in 2023. The state has witnessed more such cases among girl students than boys during the period. Altogether 218 boys died by suicide in the three years, while the number was 263 for girl students. The state has reported altogether 17,778 suicide cases in three years from 2021. The chief minister said 5,649 suicide cases were registered in 2021, 6,140 in 2022 and 5,989 in 2023.

Rahul Gandhi urges govt to take measures to prevent rising suicide cases

Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Saturday expressed concern over the "rising" suicide rate among the youth and urged the government to make efforts to ease students' path by ensuring support instead of obstacles. The "rising" suicide rate among the youth in the country is very sad and worrying, the former Congress chief said in a post on his WhatsApp channel. In the last decade, while the population of children in the 0-24 age group decreased from 58.2 crore to 58.1 crore, the number of student suicides increased shockingly from 6,654 to 13,044, he said. India today has the largest youth population. It is unfortunate that youths are facing difficulties and compulsions instead of being provided facilities, he said. This is pointing towards very deep problems socially, economically and psychologically, Gandhi noted. "Huge unemployment, paper leaks, corruption in education, expensive studies, social oppression, economic inequality, parental pressure -- today's ..

Student suicides in India soar 4% annually, exceeding national average

In the past decade, the population of 0-24-year-olds decreased from 582 million to 581 million, yet student suicides rose from 6,654 to 13,044

Maharashtra, not Kota, tops India's student suicide statistics: Report

The rate of student suicides has been escalating at twice the rate of overall suicides in the country during the past 20 years, according to a IC3 report

Female doctors' suicide risk 76% higher than general population: Study

The study by the University of Vienna also highlighted the ongoing mental health crisis in the medical profession, worsened by the recent Covid-19 pandemic

Suicide helpline of Gujarat diamond industry gets 1,600 calls since launch

A suicide helpline number launched on July 15 by the Diamond Workers Union Gujarat (DWUG) has received more than 1,600 distress calls from those in the sector, a functionary associated with the initiative said on Monday. Citing media reports, DWUG vice president Bhavesh Tank said 65 diamond workers have committed suicide in Surat in the last 16 months, most of them taking the extreme step due to hardships caused by salary cuts and loss of jobs, a result of the slowdown in the industry. Surat is among the premier centres of the sector, with about 90 per cent of the world's rough diamonds being cut and polished here by around 10 lakh workers employed in more than 2,500 units. "We launched a suicide helpline number on July 15. So far, we have received more than 1600 calls with many of them saying they are on the brink of ending their lives due to financial stress. Most of those who call have been rendered jobless in the last few months. They also call in distress looking for ...

Several steps taken to curb students' suicides, MoS Sukanta Majumdar

The government has taken several steps to curb suicide cases among students, Union Minister of State for Education Sukanta Majumdar said on Monday and added that 1.2 per cent of suicides were related to examination failures. Asked about student suicides in Kota, a hub of coaching centres in Rajasthan for competitive examinations, the minister said a number of steps had been taken by the central and the state governments. "Several initiatives have been taken by our government to curb incidents of suicide among students. According to NCRB (National Crime Records Bureau) and Accidental Deaths & Suicides in India, only 1.2 per cent of total suicide cases are related to failure in examinations," Majumdar told the House. Speaker Om Birla, the Kota MP, was not in the chair when the question was taken up. The proceedings were being managed by Jagadambika Pal. Majumdar said the Union education ministry had started the 'Manodarpan' initiative for providing psychological support to ...

India records 171,000 suicides in 2022, highest ever: NCRB report

Research indicates that 50 to 90% of individuals who die by suicide suffer from mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder

India records highest suicides globally. What are the reasons?

According to a recent report by the National Crime Records Bureau, 171,000 people in India died by suicide in 2022. Suicides have risen to 12.4 per 100,000 people.

37 suicides in IITs since 2019; Hyderabad and Madras highest, 6 from Delhi

IIT Hyderabad and IIT Madras each saw seven suicides, while IIT Delhi reported six, IIT BHU four, and IIT Kanpur and IIT Kharagpur each reported three suicides

Pune car crash: Teen's father, grandfather among 5 booked in suicide case

Police have booked the father and grandfather of the juvenile involved in the May 19 Porsche car crash in Pune, and three others, in a separate case related to abetment of suicide of a businessman's son in the city, an official said on Thursday. According to the police, a complaint in this regard was registered by a man, D S Kature, who runs a construction business in Pune's Vadgaon Sheri area, against one Vinay Kale, from whom his son Shashikant Kature, had taken a loan for construction work. After he could not pay the loan on time, Kale allegedly started adding compounding interest to the principal amount and harassing Shashikant Kature. Fed up with constant harassment, Shashikant Kature committed suicide in January this year, they said. A case was registered against Kale under IPC sections 306 (abetment of suicide ) and 506 (criminal intimidation) at the Chandannagar police station in the city. "During investigation, the role of the juvenile's father (a builder), grandfather and

NHRC notice to Andhra govt, DGP over student suicide in Visakhapatnam

The NHRC has issued a notice to the Andhra Pradesh government and the state's police chief over a college student committing suicide allegedly due to sexual harassment by a faculty member, officials said on Tuesday. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in a statement has observed that apparently, the "negligent and reckless attitude of the authorities" of the institution has led to this incident. The Andhra Pradesh Police arrested five people in Visakhapatnam on Tuesday in connection with the death by suicide of the 17-year-old girl, who made sexual harassment allegations against her college officials. She ended her life by jumping to death from a building in the intervening night of March 28 and 29, alleging that some unidentified persons had threatened to post her objectionable pictures on social media. The NHRC has taken suo motu cognisance of a media report that "unable to bear the sexual harassment by a faculty member, a first-year diploma student committed suicide by .

NEET aspirant dies by suicide in Kota, seventh such incident this year

A National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) aspirant from UP passed away by suicide in Kota. The 20-year-old has been living in Kota for the last one year and studying in a coaching centre

JEE aspirant from Bihar dies by suicide in Kota; sixth incident in 2024

Kota has been in news for rising cases of students' suicides due to stress and other factors. In 2023, as many as 26 aspirants had died by suicide in the city while preparing for competitive exams

Another IIT aspirant dies by suicide in Kota, fourth case so far in 2024

Earlier this year, a BTech student, Noor Mohammed, JEE aspirant Niharika Singh, and NEET aspirant, Mohammed Zaid, died by suicide in Kota

18-year-old girl dies by suicide in Kota, second case in less than a week

The victim was to give the JEE test in a day or two. She lived at her family home in Shiv Vihar Colony in the city's Borekheda area

Despite rising suicides, Kota faces dearth of clinical psychologists

Despite 26 cases of suicide by coaching students in 2023, the highest in a year, Kota still faces a shortage of clinical psychologists to deal with mental health issues of about 2.50 lakh coaching students preparing for various entrance exams away from their homes. The Psychological counselling Centre, set up in September this year in the New Medical College Hospital in Kota in compliance with the state government's budget announcement, has no clinical psychologist. There is only one clinical psychologist appointed at the NMCH against the demand of at least five, and it lacks an adequate number of trained staff. Non-availability of M Phil in clinical psychology in medical colleges of the state has further aggravated the issue as those serving in government medical colleges in the state are the degree holders from other states and are short against the demand. Dr Vinod Kumar Daria, professor (MD), the Department of Psychology at the New Medical College Hospital told PTI that he chalk