New Delhi: Over 2.35 lakh daily wagers have died by suicide since 2014 in India with the maximum number of suicides reported from Tamil Nadu (44,254 cases) followed by Maharastra (29,516), Madhya Pradesh (25,486), Telangana (23,838), Kerela (19,930) and Gujarat (17,908), the government informed the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
As per the official data, as many as 115 daily wage earners and 63 housewives ended their lives every day in India in 2021, which saw a total of 1,64,033 suicides in the country, the Lok Sabha was informed. Sharing data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai said a total of 42,004 daily wage earners and 23,179 housewives committed suicide alone in 2021.
Altogether, 20,231 self-employed people, 15,870 salaried people, 13,714 unemployed, 13,089 students, 12,055 involved in business, and 11,431 involved in private sector enterprises, committed suicide last year, he said in a written reply.
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Rai said 10,881 people engaged in the farming sector, 5,563 agricultural labourers, 5,318 farmers or cultivators, 4,806 people who used to cultivate their own land with or without the assistance of agricultural labourers, 512 people who used to cultivate on lease land or work on lease or on other's land with or without the assistance of agricultural labourers also committed suicide in 2021.
As per the recent NCRB report, the suicide rate in India increased by 6.2 in 2021. The suicide rate is the number of suicides per one-lakh population. The all-India rate of suicides was 12 in 2021. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands reported the highest rate of suicide (39.7), followed by Sikkim (39.2), Puducherry (31.8), Telangana (26.9) and Kerala (26.9).
Maharashtra reported the highest number of suicides among all the states, followed by Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh, as per NCRB data. "Majority of suicides were reported in Maharashtra (22,207), followed by 18,925 suicides in Tamil Nadu, 14,965 suicides in Madhya Pradesh, 13,500 suicides in West Bengal and 13,056 suicides in Karnataka, accounting for 13.5 per cent, 11.5 per cent, 9.1 per cent, 8.2 per cent and 8 per cent of total suicides respectively," the NCRB report said.
These five states together accounted for 50.4 per cent of the suicides reported in the country. The remaining 49.6 per cent cases were reported from the 23 other states and eight Union territories. Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state with a 16.9 per cent share of the country's population, reported a comparatively lower percentage share of suicidal deaths, accounting for only 3.6 per cent of the suicides.
