Rakhi (name changed) was an engineering student in a happyrelationship for three years. She and her boyfriend discussed marriage plansand their life ahead, looking forward to a future together. But, the blissended when her parents were adamant that she marry a boy from her caste andforced her to break ties with her boyfriend. Depressed, suffocated and in paindue to the thought of an arranged marriage to someone that she did not love,Rakhi made the decision to end her life. She consumed sleeping pills.
Goa is sliding down a slippery suicide slope and thealarming thing is that that even the shocking number of 300 suicides a yeardon’t tell you the full picture. For every suicide, those who deal with theissue say there are over 20 attempts. Ifthat be the yardstick then Goa has had over 6000 suicide attempts alone thisyear.
The Goa police records revels that from 2008, 1425 peoplehave ended their lives. (See graph)
In November 2012, an estimated 15 cases of suicide had beenregistered. The spurt in the spate of suicides, one every two days in Novemberalone has rattled the state of Goa. It's turning out to be a serious socialproblem as every year on an average at least 295 people are taking their lives,irrespective of age and sex.
Studies by Porvorim based NGO Sangath reveal a number offactors that drive people to take such extreme steps. In the case of an adolescent, it is anxiety,peer pressure, depression, decision making, whereas in adulthood,responsibility and commitment, particularly problems in finance, are majorcauses for suicide. Relationship issues and isolation provoke some to take thisextreme step, while depression is a major risk factor. The deep despair andhopelessness that goes along with depression can make suicide feel like theonly way to escape the pain. Thoughts of death or suicide are a serious symptomof depression.
“The most common reason behind majority of suicides is aform of mental illness commonly known as depression. Other common reasons areuse of alcohol and drugs. Changes in the social structure where people do nothave adequate support system is another reason where stress is high and peopleend up committing suicide,” said a consultant of IPHB, Dr Anil Rane.
Also the survival instinct among human beings is comingdown, and as a result, the number of suicide cases is increasing. One can easily make out a person withsuicidal tendencies. They keep themselves aloof or shun food or try to expresstheir feeling of unhappiness in life to their dear ones. Suicide does not takeplace all of a sudden. They first look for people who may console them and thentake the hasty decision. “If any person shows such behavioral symptoms one needsto attend to them immediately even though it is an odd hour and try to find outthe exact cause for their misery and thwart their plans of ending life saysRane.
And the depression continues, with the family of the suicidevictim forced to live with the fact that one of their members killedthemselves. “She did not even think twice when she took her life. The boy forwhom she died has moved on in life but how can we ever forget that she was withus for 21 years,” says Nolan Miranda. Miranda lost his daughter, Maria, whenshe consumed poison to end her life after a lovers’ tiff. Her parents had noqualms about her marrying a boy from a different community but Maria wasn’tsure.
For a state whose population is under 15 lakhs, 300 deathsmay not look enough to worry the government, but for a state where the averagelife expectancy is highest in the country, the rising suicides need urgentattention.
Suicides in numbers
| Year | Male | Female | Total |
| 2008 | 183 | 104 | 287 |
| 2009 | 184 | 94 | 278 |
| 2010 | 236 | 86 | 322 |
| 2011 | 195 | 98 | 293 |
| 2012 (till date) | | | 300+ |
