• Self-Employed, unemployed died most by suicides
• Cases among students decline by 50%
• Most victims earning less than Rs 1 lakh per annum
Moa Jamir
Dimapur | September 1
Economic as well as relationship issues were the leading causes of suicide in Nagaland in 2021, while men are more prone to take such extreme steps than woman or other genders.
The latest National Crimes Records Bureau (NCRB) report, 'Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India 2021’ further cited ‘Family Problems’ as the single-largest causes of suicides in the State, though issues related with economic issues were also prominent.
However, on a positive note, after increasing from by 17.1% to 48 in 2020, suicides cases in Nagaland declined by 10.4% to 43 in 2021.
This is in contrast with the All-India data which increased from 1,53,052 suicide deaths in 2020 to 1,64,033 in 2021, indicating a 7.2% increase.
The number of suicides per 1 lakh population also declined from 2.2 to 1.8 during the same period in Nagaland against the national average of 12.0.
Among the States and Union Territories (UTs), Bihar had the lowest rate of suicides in 2021 at 0.7 followed by Manipur, Uttar Pradesh and Lakshadweep at 1.5 each.
Nagaland had the third lowest rate, while it was highest in Andaman & Nicobar Island (39.7), closely followed by Sikkim (39.3). Chhattisgarh was next at 31.8 suicides rate.
In absolute terms, Nagaland also had the third lowest suicide deaths, beat to the bottom by Ladakh with 11 and Lakshadweep with 1.
Causes
Specifically, however, ‘Family Problems’ at 10 (23%) cases was cited as the leading causes of the suicides, followed by marriage related issues (1 Extra Marital affair and 1 divorce), unemployment and professional/career problem at 5 each or 11% of the total deaths.
Other causes included Bankruptcy or Indebtedness (2), Illness (2), Drug Abuse/Alcoholic Addiction (2), Fall in Social Reputation (2), Love Affairs (4), Poverty (2), Property Dispute (3), and Other Causes (1).
If family problems, marriage related issues’ and ‘love affairs’ were collectively slotted under ‘relationship issues,’ the total would be 19 or over 44% of the total death in Nagaland by suicides.
Combining Bankruptcy or Indebtedness, Poverty, Property Dispute, Unemployment, Professional/Career Problem and fall in Social Reputation under economic issues would take the combined total to 19.
Family problems due to economic issues also cannot be ruled out, though it was not specified in the report.
Economic hardship, a trigger?
Accordingly, despite low incidences, data on Nagaland pointed to ‘economic’ hardship being one of the leading causes of suicides in the State, if not the top. Analysis of the economic and professional status of those people committing suicides in 2021 affirms such a conclusion.
For instance, in terms of professional profiles of the deaths, out of 43 people, 22 were either categorised as ‘Unemployed Persons’ (13) and ‘Self-employed Persons’ (9), denoting 51.16% of the total deaths.
In addition, 8 were Professionals/Salaried Persons, 2 in farming sectors and 2 daily wage earners.
Again, 30 (69.76%) out of 43 were in the income category of earning less than Rs1 lakh per annum, while 10 were in the 1 lakh to less than 5 lakh bracket, indicating the economic primacy. One in three persons committing suicides had annual income of Rs 5-10 lakh.
However, the new report highlighted that instances of suicides fell by over 50% among students, from 13 in 2020 to 6 in 2021. Likewise, ‘Love Affairs’ cases also declined by 50% from 8 in 2020 to 4 in 2021 while the death among ‘House Wifes’ remained at 3 during the same period.
Meanwhile, in concurrence with the national data, most people dying by suicide in Nagaland were males. In 2021, out of 43 deaths by suicides, over 86% (33) were males and 6 were females. In terms of education, almost all the cases (41) were graduates or below.
In Nagaland, most cases of suicides were by hanging (40), while there were two cases of using Firearms and 1 ‘Self Inflicting Injury.’
Across India majority of suicides were reported in Maharashtra (22,207) followed by 18,925 in Tamil Nadu, and 14,965 in Madhya Pradesh.
Family Problems’ and ‘Illness’ were the major causes of suicides which accounted for 33.2% and 18.6% of total suicides respectively during 2021. ‘Drug Abuse/ Alcoholic Addiction’ (6.4%), ‘Marriage Related Issues’ (4.8%), ‘Love Affairs’ (4.6%), ‘Bankruptcy or Indebtedness’ (3.9%), ‘Unemployment’ (2.2%) ,‘Failure in Examination’ (1.0%), ‘Professional/Career Problem’ (1.6%) and ‘Poverty’ (1.1%) were other causes of suicides.
Seeking Help
In Nagaland, the District Mental Health Programme (DMHP) was launched in 2016-17 as a part of the National Mental Health Programme, under the Directorate of Health & Family Welfare (DoHFW), catering to the needs of the people particularly with mental disorder/illness.
Among others, the programme is to create awareness generation activities on social stigma associated with mental disorders, suicide prevention, other mental illness etc through training, interpersonal communication, IEC, schools & churches visits, outreach activities etc.
The Mental Hospital Kohima has also been renamed State Mental Health Institute Kohima (SMHIK) to help remove the stigma attached to the word Mental Hospital and thus able to render to the needs in greater and better ways.
The DMHP programme includes one State Level SPO under DoHFW and 1 Psychiatrist or Trained MO as Nodal Officer at District.
As per the DoHFW’s website, the districts helpline are:
• Dimapur (District Hospital Dimapur) -9774780330
• Mokokchung(IMDH) - 8119074577
• Kohima (NHAK) - 9402079798
• Phek (District Hospital Phek) -6009541233
• Longleng (District Hospital Longleng) – 6009109696
Source: https://nagahealth.nagaland.gov.in/programmes_details?id=MTM2
