New Delhi, 31 August, 2022: A bizarre report by the ‘The National Crime Records Bureau’ (NCRB) on yesterday has revealed that in 2021 the Indian sub-continent witnessed a sharp rise in total number of suicides since 2014. The latest report stated that one in four of the recorded 1,64,033 suicide victims was a daily wage earner during last year.
According to “Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India” report, the daily wage earner remained the largest group (profession-wise) among total number of suicide victims in 2021. The group accounts for 42,004 suicides or 25.6% of the total suicide victims.
It has been reported and documented in the NCRB’s latest published report on daily wagers suicide rate that in the recent years such as 2019- 2020, the daily wage labourers suicides saw a sharp rise mainly due to the corona outbreak whose impact brought the world to its knees.
The NCRB report has reportedly further divided the suicide rates profession wise in nine categories which astonishingly puts Daily wagers in suicide rates at the top of the list holding 25% total suicide share in 2021 which again rose to 11.52 percent in the same mentioned year, while others who are in the suicide rate report are as follows.
Profession-Wise Distribution of Suicides
Profession-Category – Daily Wager, Other persons, House wife, Self Employed Persons, Professional/Salaried Persons, Unemployed Persons, Students, Person Engaged in Farming Sector, Retired Persons.
Percentage in total Suicides in 2021 and Increased Percentage in Suicides during 2021
Daily Wagers Suicide figures ranges from 37666-42002 in year 2020-2021 while their total Suicide rate was 25.6 percent in 2021 which increased to 11.52 % in the same year.
Other Persons Suicide figures ranges from 20543-23547 in year 2020-2021 while their total suicide rate was 14.4 % in 2021 which increased to 14.62 % during the same year.
House Wife Suicide figures ranges from 22374-23179 in year 2020-2021 while their total suicide rate was 14.1 percent in 2021 which increased to 3.60 % in the same year.
Self Employed Persons Suicide figures ranges from 173332-20231 in year 2020-21 while their total suicide rate was 12.3 percent in 2021 which increased to 16.73 % during the same year.
Professional/ Salaried Persons Suicide figures ranges from 14825-15870 in year 2020-21 while their total suicide rate was 9.7 percent in 2021 which hiked to 7.05 % in the same year.
Unemployed Persons Suicide figures ranges from 15652-13714 in year 2020-2021 while their total suicide rate was 8.4 percent in 2021 which increased to 12.38 % during the same year.
Students Suicide figures ranges from 12526-13089 in the year 2020-21 while their total suicide rate was 8 percent in 2021 which rose to 4.49 during the same year.
Persons Engaged in Farming Suicide figures ranges from 10677-10881 while their total suicide rate was 6.6 percent in 2021 which rose to 1,91 % in the same year.
Retired Persons Suicide figures ranges from 1457-1518 in 2020-21 while their total suicide rate was 0.9 % in 2021 which rose to 4.19 % in the same year.
Significantly, as per the report the data depicted by the NCRB shows only the profession of the persons who committed suicide while not showing explicitly the reason of their suicides.
The NCRB has sub-divided the suicide data into nine categories: students, professional/ salaried persons, daily wage earners, retired persons, unemployed persons, self-employed persons, housewives, persons engaged in the farming sector and other persons.
The latest NCRB report has also reported the number of state-wise suicide cases. Karnataka is among the top five states in the country with the highest share of number to suicides in 2021. The state stands fifth after Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and Madhya Pradesh.
The report also shows that Delhi, which is the most-populous Union Territory, has reported the highest number of suicides (2,840) among total UTs in India, followed by Puducherry (504) and Jammu & Kashmir (13.9) . A total of 25,891 suicides were reported in the 53 megacities of the country in 2021.
Aman Zutshi
