A suicide occurs every two hours in Uttar Pradesh

LUCKNOW - A suicide takes place every two hours in India’s most populous state, according to a study.

What was even more glaring was that Lucknow, the state capital, had topped the list with as many as 22 suicides in the past 20 days.

According to a study carried out by the State Crime Records Bureau here, the trend has been on the rise over the years.

In comparison to 4,008 suicides in 2008, the figure crossed the 5,000 mark in 2009.

The highest number of suicide victims were students, who invariably chose to take the extreme step because of increasing academic pressure or failure in examinations.

This was followed by those who ended their lives because of family problems.

Significantly, there were more cases of suicides triggered by failure in love affairs than those induced by drug abuse.

The study points out that the tendency to commit suicide was highest among those in the 15-29 and 30-34 age group.

While prolonged illnesses such as AIDS, cancer and mental imbalance were the key factors behind victims in the higher age groups , poverty too was a major reason for driving many to end their lives.

The number of men who committed suicides was much higher than that of women.

When asked to comment, well known psychiatrist Harjeet Kalra told IANS here: “Yes, we can see a rising tendency, particularly among the youth to end their lives; more often than not it is induced on account of pressure in office, in schools, colleges and even homes.”

Another leading psychiatrist S.C.Tiwari said: “You will find students pursuing professional courses like medicine, engineering or management and they seem to be falling prey to suicides largely because of peer pressure.”

Advocating the need for better understanding and a closer rapport between students and their parents, he felt: “It was important for teachers to play some role in inculcating positive thoughts among students and keeping the morale of their students high.”