#dnaEdit: Courting death

It could be anything — troubles on the career front, a domestic fight or depression. But the response to a crisis has been both extreme and tragic: committing suicide. In just three days, from last weekend to Monday, five people from different backgrounds and financial strata chose to end their lives on separate occasions. These are not isolated cases in the glittering metropolis called Mumbai that lures thousands from all over the country every year with the promise of success and a good life. The city of dreams is also the country’s suicide capital — where everyday struggle for survival is compounded by loneliness.

If the National Crime Records Bureau figures are anything to go by, Mumbai’s emotional health is in dire straits. In 2012 alone, 1,200 cases of suicides were reported. The figure jumped to 1,322 the following year. 

A marker of the worsening situation is the growing popularity of the helplines. One suicide helpline claims that the average number of calls per month has increased to 1,400.

Admittedly, there is nothing heroic about this self-destructive urge. But in times of distress, when there is no one to talk to, the temptation to put an end to miseries, once and for all, becomes overwhelming. It’s ironic that in a city, home to 12,655,220 people and counting, companionship is hard to come by. The punishing pace of life and the mad scramble over the finite resources leave very little time for compassion, let alone for nurturing relationships. The migrant workforce, far away from home, finds it extremely difficult to cope with the hardships. An emotional support system — perhaps the only succour in the face of adversities — is a luxury. With their meagre salaries the migrants can’t afford to rent a tiny dwelling place for their families. Where real estate prices have weathered a slumbering economy only to shoot up, house rents in the city are exorbitant. The high-rises — next to the sprawling slums in awful conditions — with cutting-edge amenities, are a world apart and inhabited only by a miniscule minority. Their success stories are the fodder and fuel for the faceless millions who are striving to make it big.

On the other hand, family disquiet plays a major role in suicides, evident not just in Mumbai but in other metros as well. The NCRB data shows that between 2007 and 2011, four out of every 10 suicides in Mumbai were caused by domestic squabbles. Illnesses — especially cancer, AIDS and paralysis — turned out to be the second-most critical factor, followed by dowry issues. The epidemic of depressive disorders is no less scary. What earlier was restricted to adults and the elderly is now affecting children, grappling with school and tuitions. 

The home ministry’s decision to repeal Section 309 of the IPC, to decriminalise suicide deserves unstinted praise. But, progressive legislations alone won’t be enough when there is a near-collapse of the mental health-care system in India. According to the last nationwide survey on mental health carried out in 2002, there were only 2,219 psychiatrists for 1.2 billion people. This year a similar survey is supposed to be undertaken by the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences. 

It’s a precarious situation — one that needs urgent attention, right from setting up infrastructure to sensitising people about mental problems. To delay matters would amount to endangering the lives of thousands, perhaps lakhs, who desperately need assistance.