Member of Parliament Mahesh Poddar has expressed concern over the incidents of suicide due to depression by the youth of the country, especially the students. He said that increasing depression among the youth is a big problem and in a country like India where most of the population is young, it is a matter of top priority to overcome this problem. Poddar took up the matter in the Rajya Sabha during zero hour. He demanded to seriously discuss the matter in the House and the government should take necessary measures to control depression among the youth.
Poddar said in the House that according to the data provided by the Ministry of Human Resource Development in the Parliament recently, some shocking details about depression and mental anguish of students in our country have come to light. Data provided by states and union territories shows that between 2016 and 2018, around 10,000 students committed suicide every year in India. There have been 29,542 incidents of suicide in the country in the last three years, of which 4,235 occurred in Maharashtra, 2,744 in Tamil Nadu, 2,658 in Madhya Pradesh and 2,535 cases in West Bengal.
India has the highest suicide rate among children aged between 15–29 years globally and a recent NCRB report states that an average of 28 students commit suicide every day. The common belief is that youth are depressed due to studies and career and are motivated to commit suicide. But an analysis has shown that academic stress is no longer the primary cause of youth suicide. According to the NCRB 2018 data, only 1,529 suicides occurred due to failure of examination, out of an average of 10,000 suicides occurring annually. The remaining incidents were due to family issues, love affair and illness.
Poddar said that there is still not enough discussion in our society about depression and suicide. “The solution to any problem is possible only when we consider it a problem. The problem is that we are not ready to treat depression as a disease and treat it properly. The breakdown of joint families, neglect of our traditional family-social values and blindness of western physical lifestyle is also a big reason for this problem. There should be an open discussion on this subject in all the forums of family, society, politics, etc.
The solution of this problem is possible only if psychiatric consultants are appointed in educational institutions and workplaces,” he said.