14 INDIANS COMMIT SUICIDE EVERY HOUR, SAYS GOVT REPORT

NEW DELHI, Feb 25 (Bernama) -- India continues to grapple with one of the
most dreadful social problems, suicide, where 14 people kill themselves every
hour across the country.

In its latest report, the National Crime Records Bureau (NRCB) revealed that
125,017 Indians committed suicide in 2008, compared with 122,637 a year
previously.

Like in previous years, debt-ridden farmers were the highest in the suicide
category, with 16,196 cases -- though a slight drop from 2007's 16,632 suicides.

But a surprising fact, which the Times of India reported citing the NRCB
study, was that poverty, which often drives people to suicide in India, was not
the prime cause in 2008.

"Poverty was surprisingly not the major instigator as more people committed
suicide due to family (23.8 per cent) and health problems (21.9 per cent), than
love affairs, bankruptcy or sudden change in economic status, dowry disputes and
poverty," said newspaper.


According to the NRCB, backward states like Bihar, Orissa or Uttar Pradesh,
with history of high suicide rates in the past were replaced by more progressive
and urbanised states -- Karn ataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu -- which topped
the 2008 casualty list.

Four metropolitan cities -- Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad
-- witnessed a high trend of suicides among India's 35 major cities.

Every year, over 100,000 suicide cases were reported in India, which is
about 10 per cent of the world's total suicides.

-- BERNAMA