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GROWING TREND OF SUICIDES IN KERALA – CAUSES AND SOLUTIONS
Suicide means to kill oneself. A person commits suicide when he/she believes
that his/her life can serve no good, or that he/she has no means to live or when
he/she reaches a point in life where death could be considered better than the
life he/she has now.
National statistical figures show that 15 out of every 1000 deaths in this
country are suicides. However, in the state of Kerala, 28 out of every 1000
deaths are suicides. So, what could be the reasons for such alarming increase in
the suicide rates? How can one stop a person from resorting to the extreme step
of ending the life that God has given? Since the past two years, financial
constraints have been noted as the main reason for ending one’s life. Most of
the families living in the semi-urban areas take loans from ingenious money
lenders for various purposes like construction of a house, daughter's wedding,
etc. These money lenders are either individuals or chit fund companies (widely
known in the state as 'blade companies'), who charge higher rates of interest
than the normal banks. When the head of the family is unable to pay off the loan
after the fixed period, he resorts to suicide. Such suicides are also usually
resorted to by the family as a whole. This explains the high number of suicides
in Kerala. The mass nature of this kind of suicide can be explained. Some
psychologists and social scientists believe that harassment by the other members
of the family, public disgrace of the family followed by the death of the head
are various reasons for the growing trends of family suicides.
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Kerala
is a highly literate state. Every year, lakhs of students appear for their board
exams. The expectations bestowed upon the students by their parents, relatives,
teachers, family friends and society as a whole are very high. Every year there
are hundreds of students who fail in these exams, thousands more who fail to
achieve their target. These students sometimes resort to suicide after their
dreams have been shattered. They usually fear facing the wrath of their family,
the anger of their teachers, disgrace from family friends and contempt from
society as a whole. As a result of the stress, tension, fear and sorrow they
face, these students are not in their normal frame of mind in their last days.
They not able to live with themselves. This motivates them to commit suicide. |
A person can feel very lonely if his family and friends are not to support and
respect him. Sometimes, parents thrust their views upon their children. There
are times when a teenager is not given the freedom to make decisions on matters
that concern them, such as the field to be pursed for higher studies. Such
growing pressures on students drive them to suicide.
Kerala is a state where people
prefer arranged marriages to love marriages. There are instances where girls are
forced to marry a boy of her parent's choice, in spite of being in love with
someone else. Families usually do not consent to a marriage where the boy and
the girl belong to different religions. This
is usually because they feel that the family will be disgraced in society and
that the future of their other children could be in danger. So the young couple
in such cases, commit suicide. Society needs to understand that apart from
religion, we are all human beings and that we have the right to spend our lives
with whomever we want.
In the rural
areas, where people depend mostly upon farming for their livelihood, people tend
to commit suicide as they have no other means to feed their family during
natural calamities. Other reasons for suicide include alcohol and drug abuse,
mental illness, self-immolation for political causes, unemployment problem,
insufficient dowry etc. Suicides are becoming more common today. This is a
very dangerous trend. This can wreck the society and hinder the development of
the nation as a whole. The problem needs to be solved as soon as possible.
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People need to give each other the breathing space that is necessary for every
relationship to survive. We must learn to live by resolving all our differences
as regarding to religion, caste etc.
People should learn to spend
their money more wisely. They should try to borrow loans from banks rather
than from money lenders. This can reduce their financial pressures to a
certain extent.
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Students should not be pressurized to perform in their examinations. They
need to be given some leisure time so that they can recharge their grey
cells. Students who are disappointed because of failing an exam must get a
little support from their families as this is a time they have lost their
self-esteem and are badly in need of love and care from their families.
There are various helpline agencies that one can contact like ‘Mythri’ where
help is provided to prevent people from committing suicides. People are
also counseled to keep away from alcohol, smoking, drugs etc.
Apart from all else, we need to realize that all of us will face
problems. God has given us the gift of life and we must learn to cherish it
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