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35,950 students died by suicide in 2019-21, govt tells Parliament

By, New Delhi
Dec 06, 2023 07:10 AM IST

As many as 35,950 students died by suicide in 2019, 2020, and 2021 in the country, the ministry of social justice and empowerment informed Parliament on Tuesday.

As many as 35,950 students died by suicide in 2019, 2020, and 2021 in the country, the ministry of social justice and empowerment informed Parliament on Tuesday.

HT Image
HT Image

Responding to a question by Janata Dal (United) member Alok Kumar Suman in the Lok Sabha, on the number of suicides committed by Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) students in the country, minister of state for social justice and empowerment Abbaiah Narayanaswamy said the data was not available.

Asked about steps taken to prevent social discrimination across national institutions in the country, the minister said: “The department of Higher Education has established counselling cell and various mechanisms such as SC/ST students’ cells, equal opportunity cells, students grievance cell, student grievance committee, student social club, liaison officers, liaison committee in various national institutes to proactively address the issue…”.

The question comes amidst reports of a few students from underprivileged backgrounds dying by suicide in some premier educational institutions on account of either not being able to cope with the academic pressure or discrimination by students or faculty.

“Further, the protection of civil rights (PCR) act 1955, that prescribes punishment for enforcement of any disability arising from the practice of ‘untouchability’, and the Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) (prevention of atrocities) (PoA) Act, 1989, is in force to prevent the commission of offenses of atrocities against members including students of SCs and STs,” the minister added.

Suman also sought to know the number of suicides among SC and ST students due to loans and poverty, and social discrimination in the country.“NCRB has no information regarding the details and the number of SC and ST committed suicide due to loan and poverty,” Narayanaswamy said.

He said 10,335 student suicides were recorded in 2019, to 12,526 in 2020, and 13,089 in 2021.

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