google.com, pub-6370463716499017, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 AlfaBloggers Best Bloggers Team Of Asia : 'Suicide rates on the rise in Hyderabad'
Showing posts with label 'Suicide rates on the rise in Hyderabad'. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 'Suicide rates on the rise in Hyderabad'. Show all posts

Wednesday 12 September 2012

Why Suicide rates on the very rise in Hyderabad




Alarmed over the ever increasing number of suicides, NGOs and other organisations here held various events on Monday to mark World Suicide Prevention Day. Although according to the National Crime Records Bureau, the percentage of suicides in AP contributing to the national figure went from 11.8 in 2010 to 11.2 in 2011, city organisations claim that suicide rates are on the rise in the city.

In the past month, a string of shocking suicides surfaced in the city. The first case which caught the public attention was that of B Neelima, an Infosys employee whose mysterious death was finally confirmed to be a suicide case, followed by V Nehru, an IIT Kanpur student from the state who took the extreme step due to academic pressures and then Anil Kumar a techie working in the US who was found dead in a cab at Kukatpally. With many such cases reported, organisations are now swinging into action to prevent citizens especially the youth from ending their own lives.

Roshni, a voluntary body, organised a rally from Begumpet to Necklace Road on Monday followed by a candle light vigil and an oath taking ceremony there. Akheel Siddiqui, director of Roshni said, "Suicidal tendencies among the youth are rising alarmingly in cities with the most cases being in the age group of 20 to 40 years. The average number of calls we receive in a day too has gone from around 20 to 25 in the last one year and the most common causes are relationship problems, educational stress or financial reasons." Siddiqui added that the calls received increases significantly during the examination period too.

Tele-cousellors at Roshni said that they had been getting calls for cyber bullying and other reasons related to the internet and various social networking websites from city youngsters too lately. Aparna Ghosh Adhikari, manager of Makro Foundation, another organisation working in the same area said, "Around two years ago we did not get even one call related to problems due to social networking websites, but now we have started receiving such calls too. The total number of calls too is increasing consistently by at least 10 per cent every year." The foundation held a two kilometre walk from Raheja IT Park to Inorbit Mall and back on Monday in support of world suicide prevention day.

Adhikari added that they were focusing on young professionals as Neelima's case reiterated the need for counselling for young professionals. She then said that a many B E and B Tech graduates who are unable to find jobs end up calling their helpline too.

Counsellors said that another emerging cause for depression and suicidal tendencies among city youth is closet homosexuality. B Banerjee, a tele-counsellor with a city NGO said, "In the past couple of years, many youngsters have been calling us as they find it difficult to come clean with their families about their sexuality and adjust in society for fear of ridicule."

Meanwhile, officials at Ram Krishna Math, which is gearing up to celebrate Swami Vivekananda's 150th birth anniversary with a rath yatra across the state too said that they would concentrate on empowering the youth of AP during the yatra in order to tackle the problem of increasing suicides in the state.

Suicide rates on the rise in Hyderabad'
Times of India
In the past month, a string of shocking suicides surfaced in the city. The first case which caught the public attention was that of B Neelima, an Infosys ...