Over 700 commit suicide in Northeast due to unemployment: NCRB

* The figures will be more due to the current pandemic & lockdown

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: In an alarming development altogether 690 people have committed suicide in Assam from 2016 to 2019 due to unemployment, according to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data.

The number of suicide cases for a similar cause (unemployment) is 16 in Meghalaya, 7 in Nagaland, 4 in Manipur and 2 in Mizoram in the same period (2016-2019). The figures in these NCRB records pertain to data before Covid-19 hit the country and led to further job losses in the last two years.

"The year 2020 was the worst year when the Covid-19 pandemic broke out in the country and the complete lockdown was imposed for several months. Many youths from Assam and the other NE States engaged in jobs in different parts of the country had returned to their homes after losing their jobs. So, the number of suicide cases due to unemployment and loss of jobs must have been doubled by now," a source said.

According to the NCRB report, family problems are responsible for 25.94% of suicides in Assam in 2019 followed by a love affair (15.69%), property dispute (11.77%), marriage related issues (10.21%), unemployment (6.54%), illness (6.6%), failure in examination (4.3 per cent) and drug abuse or addiction (3.8%).

"Over 1, 00,000 people commit suicide in our country in a year. There are various causes of suicide like professional/career problems, sense of isolation, abuse, violence, family problems, mental disorders, addiction to alcohol, financial loss, chronic pain etc. Now we have to study the new causes—Covid-19 pandemic, lockdown and loss of employment," a psychiatrist at the Gauhati Medical College & Hospital said.

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