Editorial: More Suicides...

Today’s edition carries news of two suicides reported in the preceding 24 hours. In separate incidents, two youth in their thirties joined the list of lives lost to suicide in Sikkim. Two more casualties to a continuing concern explain the return to this theme in this section yet again. Rarely does a newspaper hit the stands in Sikkim without news of a suicide reported from somewhere in Sikkim. Given the lack of public response, whether by way of outcry or introduction of NGOs dedicated to arresting suicides, one is almost convinced that a public domain fatigue has set in due to suicide reportage over-kill. But that cannot be, because fatigue sets in only after exertion, and nothing significant has been attempted by the society, its organisations or the government for anyone to have tired and given up. Meanwhile, the trend of suicides continues to grow worrying. From teenagers to senior citizens to youth at career-making ages to housewives who have only barely begun a life of domesticity... too many cases of ‘unnatural deaths’ [“UD” as all suicides are included first in police records] are getting recorded without anyone, anywhere doing anything about it.
Already, the time to express concern or bill general awareness programmes is past. What is required is a concerted investigation into why so many people are ending their own lives. The State needs counselling that percolates deeper, reaches more people than can be collected for official functions. Get real, how many people with suicidal tendencies can one find in an ‘awareness session-cum-workshop’ on suicides which prioritises the VIP list of chief guests and hangers-ons over effective communication? And no, worries and setbacks alone are never enough reasons for people to kill themselves; suicides result mostly from ignored psychiatric ailments. A jobless person will more easily turn to crime or even substance abuse than end his/ her own life. There is also no time left to engage in a political relay of allegations and counter-allegations on why so many suicides take place in Sikkim and what is causing it. For the record, none of the statements on suicides coming from the politically inclined reflects any iota of sensitivity or genuine concern.
The need of the hour is to get more experts, groom more counsellors, involve more genuine NGOs and sensitize the panchayats. Then Sikkim will be seen as going somewhere with its attempts to curtail this social malaise.