23 Sept 2013

Just like the 2002 Japanese horror film ‘Suicide Club’, Goa is notorious for unconnected suicides. By this norm, the week was not exceptional though, but three suicides on one day ~Tuesday, the week following the joyous festivity of Ganesh Chaturthi, though unnoticed, were indeed disturbing as the trend of self destruction continues in Goa. Two young women, one from Goa and another from Jharkhand and a Britona youth committed suicide by hanging themselves in three unconnected incidents.

The 24 year old from Britona, who was residing alone after his father died just about 45 days prior, was found hanging from the rafter. The young woman from Jharkhand residing at Sangolda and the other from Sanguem both hanged themselves with a dupatta. 

Though these may be just three silent statistics, which will slide into dusty police registers, the question is, is the government or ivory tower academics interested to study the phenomena that bedevils the state, in which they are employed and get paid from the public exchequer? 

The stark revelation is that at on an average least one person commits suicide every day in Goa, with the number of suicides crossing 277 in 2011 and 291 in 2012. This year, by August 22, suicides had crossed 193 in this devastating trend. While majority of those doing themselves to death include Goans, there is sizeable population from other states who choose to end their lives here. In 2009, there were 278 cases of suicides, while 2010 was the worst year with 310 suicides.

In India, the more prosperous southern states such as Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala show a higher suicide rate than the northern states. It is estimated that half million people die of suicide every year worldwide, of which 20% are Indians. A recent India study suggests that family problems and illness account for 25.6% and 20.8% respectively. Drug abuse, love affairs, bankruptcy, dowry disputes which account for 3.3%, 3.2%, 2%, 1.9% and 1.6% respectively were the other causes of suicides in India. 

Suicides due to drug abuse or addiction have risen, whereas those caused by fall in social reputation, failure in exams, property dispute have shown a decreasing percentage rate during last three years. 

In Goa, too the trends show that teens, adults and even aged are not immune from suicides, and family problems, illness (physical and mental), love affairs, unemployment and dowry, are the main reasons for suicides. Academic pressure, marital problems, old age loneliness, work related pressures and competition also drives people to suicide.

Emile Durkheim, whose study is still considered the most influential for more than 100 years posited that, suicide cannot simply be explained by individual psychological problems-otherwise suicide rates would be static. Therefore, the need to critically analyse the trends, behind the disturbing behaviour in Goa. On observing macro trends in suicides, Durkheim’s explanation seems plausible that suicides as a social phenomenon are linked to integration, or the extent to which people feel attachment to society, and regulation, or the degree of external controls on people. Durkheim’s four-fold typology explains suicides around these two social facts ~ Egoistic suicide which result from a lack of integration, loneliness and alienation from a group, peers or family results in suicide; altruistic suicide which results from too much integration with a deviant group of maybe peers; anomic suicide which results from too little regulation and freedom bordering on licence; and fatalistic suicide which result from too much regulation from domineering authority or parents. Though these explanations are contested, the necessity to have authentic studies on rising trends in all suicides, but especially among the youth is exigent, given Goa’s rising economic prosperity, decline from traditional and family values and alienation faced by individuals vis-a-vis society, so as to look for credible measures to arrest the disturbing trend and prevent loss of especially precious young lives.