Sudden Death

Editorial:-
An eleven-year-old was brought dead to a hospital in Gangtok on Tuesday. The initial medical report on the death suggests that the child committed suicide. That is how the initial police report on the death was also recorded, reaching the crime beat reporters from there and finding its way into the newspapers. Another death by suicide was recorded in Sikkim. But wait, this cannot be considered the same as any other suicide. But that is probably how it will end up – a statistic. Sikkim has become so inured to suicides that even when a shocker like an 11 year old suspected of having taken his own life becomes news, it does not rile people into action.
When this newspaper took an editorial decision to try and report on every suicide that was recorded in the State, the idea was to convey the worry that was already being felt in some circles to the readers. News-reports on suicides are brief not because they are space-fillers, and never reported with accompanying photographs or graphic details [save information on the method used to commit suicide], because the idea is not to sensationalise the incident or cater to voyeuristic demands. The reason why these ‘unnatural deaths’ are reported with such regularity in this newspaper is to flag it as a situation that demands immediate social intervention. Unfortunately, the move does not appear to have succeeded, because even though there is a general acceptance around Sikkim that the number of suicides are too worryingly high, the next step, the social responsibility of understanding and addressing the situation is still awaited. What is worse, the only sections issuing public statements on suicides are political parties and they are poorly informed and definitely not the agencies that one would recommend for social commentary. Sikkim has had to suffer through such superficial attempts at political engagements on suicides as a claim some years back that suicides were caused by price rise. In the past, other political parties have claimed that unemployment was one of the reasons. Apart from being factually incorrect, these suppositions and statements are also disrespectful towards the lives lost to suicides in Sikkim. In the latest instance, it’s an 11 year old, at other times it has been housewives and grandfathers – neither of whom are the job-seeking types. The least that the cases of suicide deserve is a clear explanation on what caused them. Unfortunately, no academically sound study has been conducted in the State yet to explain to its people why so many suicides have been taking place here. Over the recent years, Sikkim has been averaging a suicide every second day - worryingly high number for a State as small as Sikkim since this average is for the officially reported suicides; and many suicides  go unreported. Until the reasons behind suicides are explained, the societal involvement required, cannot be nudged along in the right direction.
Sikkim has been thirsting for some positive news on this morbid situation, but none of any consequence have emerged. The professional and NGO-driven engagement which could have been the first steps in that direction have not come through because even “social service” and volunteer involvement works in an environment of donor-driven social interventions when what is required is situation-driven redressal.