Indian Youth more suicide prone?

By Ila Garg

Suicides have lately become a great cause of worry. More and more children are seeing suicide as an easy escape route for their problems. Of late, the suicide rates have been on an alarming rise, especially among Indian youth.

According to a study conducted by WHO, every year about 8,00,000 people commit suicide worldwide. Among these 17% are Indian residents, mostly falling in the 15-29 age group. The reasons for these can be variable. However, the one thing that can be clearly observed is that the Indian youth is under pressure and the high expectations, peer pressure, falling grades, lack of job opportunities, workplace harassment, etc. can be the driving force towards the path of ending their lives.

Akash Shukla, a print journalist from Lucknow says, “One must have the right to end something that they don’t like. They should have the right to reject life. Suicide is, in a way, liberation – a liberty from a screwed-up life that you never wanted but became yours, inadvertently. We all have a sense of responsibility towards ourselves. No matter how close someone is to you, no one can understand the deepest pain that a heart hides, except the self. That’s why a man is responsible for any choice he takes – either life or death.”

The youth thus, fails to understand that suicide doesn’t end the pain, but simply passes it on to those you love. They are so blinded by their sorrow that they see suicide as the means to end it; not giving it a second thought.

source: http://blog.askiitians.com

“Suicide should be the end of extreme problems, but not every problem,” says an ardent blogger, Shwetabh Mathur.

If reports are to be believed, Indian youth residing abroad are most prone to committing suicides. A recent data reveals that majority of suicides in Fiji are among the children of Indian descent. The statistics are nearly same for Indians in Malaysia too, as quoted by the Asia-Pacific Psychiatry journal Indians account for about 40% suicide deaths in Malaysia.

Poisoning and hanging from the ceiling have emerged as the most used methods to commit suicide.
With the number of suicide cases increasing, the Minister for Education Mahendra Reddy has expressed his concern, “There needs to be an investigation… Everyone here is important – the parents, the school.”  In addition, he suggested that passing a law to cut down on volatile substances that may lead to death might help in bringing the suicide rate down among children.
Earlier, in 2003, the draft of Volatile Substance Abuse Decree could not proceed due to constitutional requirements. This draft, spearheaded by the national substance abuse advisory council, stated that the wholesalers and retailers who are found selling the banned products can be punished. Reddy believes that legalising this decree might help to some extent but still the question that remains is why the children are driven to commit suicide!

Social isolation has been found as one of the major reasons for committing suicides. A feeling of being the odd one out or not wanted in the peer group has also compelled some to become self-centered and a victim of depression. A prolonged case of depression then leads to suicide attempt.

“Suicide isn’t something natural. Unless one has conjured up a philosophical reason to die, the person is usually depressed, psychotic, severely impulsive, or is simply crying out for help and doesn’t really want to die. So, it’s almost always an avoidable step,” says Roshni Chakrabarty, who hails from Kolkata.

“We need to be more aware of the people around us in order to notice any behavioral changes and also give them the chance to reach out for the help they need,” she added.

The article first appeared on NewsGram.

True Grit: Meet 5 Indian women who have stood tall against Mt Everest

By Ila Garg (for NewsGram)

Mountaineering has always been popular in India. As much as the activity is thrilling, it has a huge amount of risk involved. What is astonishing is that even after keeping their life at stake, how many of these mountaineers actually get the recognition that they deserve!

In an attempt to bring forth some of them, NewsGram features five Indian female mountaineers befitting to the definition of ‘courage’. These mountaineers include Krushnaa Patil, Malavath Poorna, Santosh Yadav, Arunima Sinha, and Premlata Agarwal. These climbers have displayed extraordinary determination and dauntless valour to turn their dreams into reality.

Krushnaa Patil is one such Indian mountaineer who started climbing at the age of 19. Consequently, she became the pioneer woman from Maharashtra, and also the second youngest Indian woman to successfully scale Mount Everest in 2009. Patil is a go-getter and her ambitions led her to be a part of several other expeditions which included an international expedition as well. Cycling, rafting, rowing, paragliding, and horse riding are some of her interest areas.
In her pursuit for action, she became the youngest mountaineer to attempt the Seven Summits Challenge but it was later abandoned pertaining to several technical errors. In Patil’s opinion, sports in India require self-assertion. You need to create opportunities for yourself in order to progress.

“My mother is the strongest woman I know. She was more enthusiastic about my climbing than probably I was! Her strength gives me confidence.” Patil told NewsGram, recently.

A motivated person can accomplish wonders. Raised in poverty, 13-year-old Malavath Poorna scaled Mt Everest on May 25, 2014. She successfully tackled the challenges posed in front of her by the cold weather, discomfort of the attire, and her young age.

Her accomplishment is now an inspiration for all young girls in the country. Hailing from a small tribal village, she learned to climb at her school. For a daughter of a farmer, reaching the height of 29,029 feet seemed next to impossible but her enthusiasm and zeal for life were her constant companions. It was her determination that made her a record breaker at such a tender age.

The sheer love for mountains gave Santosh Yadav the requisite encouragement to scale the Mount Everest twice in one year, leaving everyone in awe. She has also left a mark as the first woman to successfully reach Mount Everest from Kangshung Face. Being a woman, her journey was not a cakewalk at all. The dreams that she cherished in her heart became her only support against the hostility of her family.

Everest attracts a lot of mountaineers from all across the world. In the quest to reach on top, even the amputees are now keenly participating. Arunima Sinha, a former national-level volleyball player lost her leg when she was thrown from a moving train. She later went on to become the first female amputee to scale the heights. It was her unflinching desire that kept her excelling the Mount Everest even with a disability. This created a great stir among the denizens who started seeing her with respect.

While we have records by the young women, at 48, Premlata Agarwal became the oldest woman to dare to scale the Everest. Trained and mentored by Bechendri Pal, the first Indian woman to successfully scale the Mount Everest in 1984, Premlata despite her age showed unparalleled courage and set an example.

This article first appeared on NewsGram.