NEW DELHI — Of the 164,033 people who committed suicide in India last year, 25.6% were daily wage labourers, that means that every fourth person who committed suicide was a labourer.
A total of 42,004 daily wage labourers committed suicide in the year 2021. Among them are 4,246 women, according to the latest report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
According to the report, Tamil Nadu (7673), Maharashtra (5270), Madhya Pradesh (4657), Telangana (4223), Kerala (3345) and Gujarat (3206) recorded the highest number of suicides of 42,004 daily wage workers.
The report further says that a large segment of people who committed suicide were those who ran their own businesses. A total of 20,231 people committed suicide in this category, which is 12.3 per cent of the total suicides in the country.
Of these 20,231 persons, 12,055 had their own business and 8,176 were engaged in other forms of self-employment.
In the report, agricultural labourers and daily wage labourers are counted separately and they are placed under the category of ‘persons engaged in agricultural sector.
A total of 10,881 people committed suicide in the year 2021 under the category of ‘persons associated with agricultural sector’. Of these, 5,318 were farmers and 5,563 were labourers in the agricultural sector.
According to the report, the number of suicides in the professional or salaried category in 2021 was 15,870.
Unemployed and 13,089 students are among those who committed suicide and 23,179 housewives are also among those who committed suicide in 2021 in he country. In the category of ‘other persons,’ who do not fall into any of these categories, a number of 23,547 people committed suicide.
The NCRB report shows that the rate of suicides in the country is continuously increasing. A total of 139,123 people committed suicide in 2019, while in 2020 it increased to 153,052.
The latest figures released for the year 2021 put the total number of suicides at 164,033.
