Gandhinagar: The Gujarat government on Monday informed the legislative Assembly that more than 25,000 people, nearly 500 of them students, have ended their lives due to various reasons in the state during the last three financial years.
As per data shared by the state government on the floor of the House, as many as 25,478 people have committed suicide in different parts of Gujarat during the last three years and of these, 495 were students.
In reply to a question by Imran Khedawala (Congress), Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, who handles the Home portfolio, said in a written response that 8,307 people ended their lives in financial year 2020-21, 8,614 in FY 2021-22 and 8,557 committed suicide in FY 2022-23.
Among these, the maximum number of suicides was reported in Ahmedabad city at 3,280, followed by 2,862 in Surat city and 1,287 in Rajkot city.
Some of the reasons for the suicides, as cited by the government, included mental health matters, love issues, serious illness, family problems, financial crisis and fear of failing in exams.
To stop people from taking the extreme step, the state government provides counselling through '181 Abhayam' and '1096 Zindagi' helpline numbers. The government has also deployed 'SHE' teams at different police stations to provide counselling to depressed people, said the CM in his reply.
As per the data shared by CM Patel, 249 male students and 246 female students (total 495) ended their lives during the last three financial years.
To stop students from taking their own lives, the CM said various steps are being taken such as conducting awareness seminars at educational institutes, inviting motivational speakers to remove fear of examinations from the minds of pupils and their counselling by experts ahead of board exams.
Published 26 February 2024, 16:58 IST