According to the WHO suicide is the second leading cause of death in the age group of 15-29 years globally. In India also, instances of young people committing suicide have been reported widely in recent times. It is all the more disturbing that such a phenomenon is increasingly visible in urban and prosperous areas. (a) What are the reasons that render people vulnerable to taking such drastic steps as suicide? (b) Also, discuss the role that you as an individual, the society and the government can play in addressing this issue.

• decline in the social fabric
• irreversible loss to the family, specially parents who are getting older
• a blot on the level of governance & failure of society to help people in such situations.
• loss to the society → an individual potentially capable of contributing to social & economic capital.

(a) REASONS

• Increasing isolation amongst the youth
• cut-throat competition in the world of scarce resources
• Social Media issues
  • Online harassment & bullying
  • Blue whale, Kiki Challenge etc asking people to undertake dangerous activities
• Globalisation causing a feeling of relative deprivation in the world marred by consumerism.
• Poor moral education & parenting which may evoke a sense of inferiority.
• Society appreacting materialistic values adding to the insecurity

(b) Roles

Individual → Help any friend in need & stay in touch with peer group

• discuss any issues, insecurities being felt with parents

Society → Parents → active discussion with the child. → giving assurances through failure & commending the successes → Democratic parenting instead of Authoritative → giving freedom in career & activity the child wants to pursue → Not criticising or mocking the failures of others, if they can't support → Counselling in case of any issue → stop looking at persons through the prism of competition or success & failure

Government → Child friendly policies, specially homeless → Better opportunities for education & employment → Identifying areas of risk in advance & targeting them. eg. Engineering colleges have high number of suicides → Protection to Women who may take such step after abuse → Include suicide as a mental issue in the policy making instead of crime (Section 309 of IPC) → Mental Healthcare & counselling in government hospitals.