Seven people end lives in Punjab daily
BATHINDA : As per the NCRB report, Punjab witnessed an average seven suicides a day in 2019. The report, however, fell short of making vocational classification of these deaths and attributes ‘illness’ as the single largest contributing reason behind the suicide cases reported in the state at 27.7%. A total of 2,357 suicide cases were reported in Punjab last year. The report shares only national figures for farm suicides. Even the state-wise breakdown of the allIndia numbers has not been released by the bureau. Experts and rights associations claim that small and marginal farmers and farm labourers form a sizeable section of those taking their lives due to financial stress.
What makes them equally worried is that Punjab witnessed a surge of 37.5% per 1 lakh population in 2019 than number of suicides reported in the previous year. The report says Punjab was the second state after Bihar (44.7%) that saw the highest spike in suicides in percentage terms over the last year.
Of the 1.39 lakh suicide cases reported in all states last year, 10,281 (7.4%) were associated with the farming sector. Of these, 5,957 were farmers/cultivators and 4,324 agricultural labourers. The report’s claim that ‘bankruptcy or indebtedness’ was behind only 4.2% suicides across India has been contested by the farmer bodies.
Joginder Singh Ugrahan, state chief of BKU Ugrahan, raised finger at the figures of suicide cases in Punjab. “As per our estimate, about 3,000 farmers ended their lives in Punjab whereas the NCRB pegs the overall figure at less than 2,400. Projection of linking only 4% deaths to indebtedness reflects dilution of facts,” he said. Central University of Punjab chancellor SS Johl, an agriculture economist, said the debt waiver scheme the Congress government launched has not helped the farmers in distress. “Following local waiver scheme announcement, small and marginal farmers stopped repaying loans. As the Captainled government did not implement the plan in letter and spirit, farmers are in now more miserable situation as interests have spiraled,” said Johl.
Suninder Tung, a psychology professor at GNDU, said it is important to identify the vulnerable sections. “The suicide rate is alarming. It is important to identify the reasons behind such a high rate of suicides in a holistic manner,” she said.