KV Network

Life is precious

Life is precious
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Numerous examples of people who had faced desperation in life but emerged triumphant can be cited to pacify those who are disillusioned with life. The people who faced difficult situations through their sheer grit and determination passed the bad phase and created an lesson for us that hope should never be let slip from ones hands.
However, what is being witnessed in our society presently is that people tend to get impatient and take matters in their own hands and decide about their fate by ending their lives.
Ending one’s life is considered as a gravest sin in Islam but despite this suicides in the Muslim majority region of Jammu and Kashmir have been showing an upward trend over the past many months. Though the incidence of suicides was witnessing a rise over the years but the past few months have witnessed suicides quite alarmingly.
Suicide, a hitherto unknown phenomenon in Kashmir till the late eighties, has consumed many lives during the past three decades. A study conducted by a former Professor of Sociology wrote in his book that 62 per cent of the suicides in the Valley involved women while men comprised 38 percent. The reason is very obvious, due the ongoing turmoil in Kashmir women have been the silent sufferers. However, over the past few months many a young men have ended their lives prompting some to seek immediate remedial measures.
What is compelling our young generation and even some elderly as well-to take this extreme step, is a question that haunts us all. The social scientists though have tried to answer this riddle but as of now no solution to this grave issue has been found.
Jammu and Kashmir has been witnessing an unprecedented spell of violence since the past three decades now. And this extra exposure to violence is considered as one of the major factors, though not the only one to lead people to take this extreme step.
What is interesting to note is that the National Crime Bureau Records (NCBR) suggests that the rate of suicides in Jammu and Kashmir is much higher than many other states in India.
The staggering figures reveal that Kashmir has a higher suicide rate at 2.1 percent than the other states of Uttar Pradesh (1.7) and Bihar (0.7). Since 1989, the rate of suicide in Kashmir has increased. Before 1989, the rate of suicide in Kashmir was 0.5 per 100,000 people. And, by 2007 it reached 20 per 100,000, double the all-India average. Most of them, around 60 per cent are the females.
The point we are missing while discussing and debating the issue is that no attention is being paid to the status of mental health care in the state, especially Kashmir. Those who are associated with mental health care have been saying that during the pre-1990 era the mental health institute in Srinagar used to witness a mild rush of patients comprising 7 to 8 patients a day.
However, as per a study on Mental Health in Kashmir by an NGO, 1.8 million (45%) adults in the Kashmir Valley have significant symptoms of mental distress, approximately 1.6 million adults (41%) in the valley are living with significant symptoms of depression, with 415,000 (10%) meeting all the diagnostic criteria for severe depression.
Given the scenario everyone in the society and the government too needs to put in efforts to raise awareness about mental well being so that the loss of lives due to suicides can be put to end. That will be a great service to the community and the society at large.

 


KV Network

Kashmir Vision cover all daily updates for the newspaper

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