Insight Bureau: Centre on Wednesday informed in the Rajya Sabha that over 25,000 persons died by suicide in India due to either unemployment or indebtedness between 2018 and 2020.

The data provided by the Government showed that as many as 9,140 people died by suicide due to unemployment and 16,091 people due to bankruptcy or indebtedness during the time period.

The information was provided by Minister of State (Home) Nityanand Rai in a written reply to a question on the issue in Rajya Sabha. Rai said that the Government figures are based on data provided by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).

According to the data, suicides among the unemployed have been increasing and touched the highest (3,548) in the pandemic year of 2020. While 2,741 ended life due to unemployment in 2018, 2,851 did so in 2019.

The data said that in 2018, 4,970 died by suicide due to bankruptcy, in 2019 the figure increased to 5,908. In 2020, it dropped by over 600 deaths to 5,213.

With 19,909, the majority of suicides were reported in Maharashtra. It was followed by Tamil Nadu (16,883), Madhya Pradesh (14,578), West Bengal (13,103) and Karnataka (12,259). These states accounted for 13%, 11%, 9.5%, 8.6% and 8% of the total suicides, respectively.

The Minister said the Government was looking to address the issue by focusing on mental health and creating employment opportunities. “To address the burden of mental disorders, the National Mental Health Programme is being implemented, along with  supporting the District Mental Health Programme in 692 districts in the country,” he said.

The Government has been cornered by the Opposition on the issues of unemployment in the past few weeks. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday hit out at the Government on the issue of unemployment and cited a survey to say that the good days are elusive.