India reported the highest suicide rate in its history in 2021, with 12 suicides for every 1 lakh people. But people who choose to die by suicide are considered cowards and criminals. But we don’t pause to reflect that those whom we call perpetrators are, in fact, victims. They need our empathy not judgments, helping hands not cruel whips. If the right to live with dignity is essential, then so should be the right to die. This, too, is freedom.
Suicide isn’t just a philosophical question. It is also a societal, political, economic and cultural question. It is a public health question.
Creating a world where women can openly discuss their mental health struggles and seek help is crucial
Rebuilding one’s life after a suicide attempt is akin to painstakingly reassembling a shattered piece of crockery
Death has no vocabulary in Indian families—so how does a daughter find a way to mourn her father’s ‘accidental death?’
The debate around taking one's own life has remained alive over the years, but ambiguity remains
Insensitive media coverage of deaths by suicide is a blatant contravention of the prevalent guidelines
Sushant Singh Rajput’s suicide was too complex for many to process. So the country indulged in a baffling alchemy: converting suicide to murder
The situation of suicides worsens for men, constrained by traditional gender roles and hetero-machismo. Failing to conform to these roles results in social sanctions, bullying and a sense of worthlessness.
Lakhs of young students arrive in Kota every year with dreams in their eyes. These dreams turn into nightmares for many students and their families
According to a report, one lakh farmer families in the Marathwada region have been categorised as “highly sensitive suicide prone”.
In classic Yash Chopra fashion, our story is not just about one individual, but also about the collective spirit of society. Our city was reborn from the ashes of despair, its vibrancy and heritage shining even brighter.
For 42 years, Aruna Shanbaug lay in a vegetative state after she was sexually assaulted at the hospital where she worked as a nurse
Barring a few films made recently, Indian cinema hasn’t quite probed the deeper, more fundamental meaning of suicide
Shimla’s devastation is due to unplanned construction, disregarding alerts about its susceptibility to landslides, seismic vulnerability, overpopulation exceeding its capacity, and ecological instability
There is a pattern of natural disasters in the Himalayas, which leaves the local population caught in a cycle of construction and destruction
Modi has successfully furthered his cult by the diplomatic engagements surrounding this summit. But there are limitations
A process for gauging poverty in India covering select dimensions has been institutionalised, but many are critical of this approach
The Shimla disaster was waiting to happen and worse can come to pass unless the government wakes up and enforces strict rules for construction activities besides conducting a structural audit of all existing buildings.
