87 addicts ended life, 13 died of overdose in 2019: NCRB

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 2

As many as 87 people committed suicide due to drug or liquor addiction while 13 died of overdose in the state in 2019, reveals the National Crime Record Bureau's (NCRB) report on 'Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India-2019'.

In 2018, 137 people had committed suicide due to drugs or alcohol addiction while 86 had died of overdose in Haryana.

However, in neighbouring Punjab, 102 committed suicide due to addiction and 45 people died of drug overdose in 2019. Also, 78 people lost their lives due to overdose and 55 committed suicide because of addiction in 2018. So, there were more suicides due to addiction in Punjab in 2019.

Major reasons

There were 4,191 suicides in Haryana in 2019, a jump of 18.2 per cent from 2018, when 3,547 people had taken their lives. In Punjab, there is a rise of 37.5 per cent in suicides as 2,357 ended their life in 2019 while there were 1,714 such cases in the previous year.

If we analyse the reasons, the highest number of suicides had taken place due to illness (753), family problems (649), marriage-related issues (317), professional or career problems (63) and the causes are not known in 587 cases.

Among marital issues, 43 men and 17 women, ended life due to non-settlement. Also, 20 suicides were due to extra martial affairs, which included 15 men and five women.

Mental illness was the reason behind 302, including 242 men and 60 women, suicides in Haryana, while 422 cases were of prolonged illness. Meanwhile, 17 committed suicide due to issues in love affairs, which included 10 men and seven women.

In case of professional issues, 402 housewives committed suicide. It comprised 45 per cent of total women suicides in the state.

In all, 179 students, including 123 men and 56 women, ended life. As many as 503 suicides by unemployed, included 464 men and 39 women.

Suicide by farmers

Though there were no farmers' suicides as per the report, but 219 labourers had ended life in 2019 while in the previous year there the number was 104. So, more than double labourers took their lives.

However, Punjab saw rise in farmers' suicides. In 2019, as many as 239 farmers committed suicide, including 203 cultivating their own land and 36 working on leased land. Besides, there were 63 suicides by labourers. In 2018, there were 229 suicides by farmers, including 202 by those cultivating own land and 27 working on leased land. There were 94 suicides by farm labourers in 2018.

Modus operandi

Hanging is the most common way of ending life in Haryana as 1,177 (28.1 per cent) people committed suicide this way, while 686 took poison (16.4 per cent), which included 336 consuming pesticide, in 2019. There were 172 suicides by touching electrical wire and 16 by self-inflicting injuries.

If we see the economic status, then a majority of suicides had taken place in low-earning groups in Haryana. There were 2,336 suicides (55.7 per cent) among people whose earning was less than Rs 1 lakh and 1,391 (33.2 per cent) among those with income between Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh.

from The Tribune https://ift.tt/2ERIP2a