Suicide raises alarm, Sikkim govt to arrest the trend

Gangtok, Feb 18 (UNI) Rising incidents of suicides in Sikkim over the last few years have forced the state government and NGOs to chalk out strategies to arrest the trend.

Of late, the cases have reached an alarming proportion with at least one case being reported with the police every three days on an average.

According to state crime branch, about 120 suicide cases were reported in 2004, 115 in 2005 and 121 in 2006, which are high figure for a small state like Sikkim with a population of little more than five lakh.

Jolted by the high suicide rate, the crime branch had analysed the cases committed during July and December 2006 to assess the reason and suggest some possible solutions to check this social malady.

The crime branch report stated that 60 suicides were committed during the period and the major reasons were mental illness and depression followed by family problems, drug addiction, prolonged illness, failure in examinations and love affairs.

The analysis ruled out poverty as a reason for suicide as the state's per capita income stands at more than Rs 26000, the highest in the country.

The East district topped the list with 27 cases followed by South district 17, West district 13 and North 13. Out of the 60 at least 39 were males and the rest were females.

The report further revealed that 35 per cent people committed suicide due to mental illness, 13.33 per cent each due to family problem and alcohol addetion, ten per cent counted for prolonged illness and five per cent took this drastic step after failing in the exams.

Interestingly, contary to the general belief, only 3.3 per cent ended their lives following failure in love affairs, the analysis said.

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