Centre: 25K ended lives due to unemployment

New Delhi: As the issue of unemployment is being discussed in Parliament during the debate on Union Budget, the Union government on Wednesday informed the Rajya Sabha that more than 25,000 Indians died by suicide due to either unemployment or indebtedness between 2018 and 2020. As many as 9,140 people died by suicide due to unemployment and 16,091 people due to bankruptcy or indebtedness during the time period, the government told the upper house.

The information was provided by Minister of State (Home) Nityanand Rai in a written reply to a question on the issue in Rajya Sabha. Rai said that the government figures are based on data provided by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). According to the data, suicides among the unemployed have been increasing and touched the highest (3,548) in the pandemic year of 2020. While 2,741 ended life due to unemployment in 2018, 2,851 did so in 2019. The trend of deaths due to indebtedness, however, was not the same. While in 2018, 4,970 died by suicide due to bankruptcy, in 2019 the figure increased to 5,908. In 2020, it dropped by over 600 deaths to 5,213.

During the ongoing budget session, the issue of unemployment has been raised multiple times by various opposition MPs who have alleged that the budget provides little to deal with the issue facing the country in the wake of Covid-19. Rai on Wednesday said the government was looking to address the issue by focusing on mental health and creating employment opportunities.