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Suicides a social crisis: Experts
She was delivering the keynote address during the two-day national seminar on ‘Suicides in India: Tendencies, Prevention and Mitigation of the Social Crisis’ which got underway at the Nizam College on Wednesday.
Hyderabad: “The act of suicide is a very complex one,” said Prof Abha Chauhan, Department of Sociology, University of Jammu and Secretary, Indian Sociological Society (ISS).
She was delivering the keynote address during the two-day national seminar on ‘Suicides in India: Tendencies, Prevention and Mitigation of the Social Crisis’ which got underway at the Nizam College on Wednesday. In her address, Prof Abha Chauhan said, “Firstly, the accuracy of the cause behind the incident is difficult to pinpoint.
The stigma or the illegality of the act pressurises the people concerned to resort to passing it off as an accident. Thus, in many cases, this subversion of the incident makes its diagnosis even more difficult.”
The academician, after giving an overview of the long period of work done by the ISS, raised a pertinent issue for the assembled participants to deliberate upon- whether a person who attempts suicide should be penalised or not? Elaborating on the merits and demerits of the Mental Health Bill passed by Rajya Sabha in August last, she said the role of the researcher was important in this context as they can effectively advocate for strengthening of redressal mechanisms.
Earlier, the function was inaugurated by Prof S Ramachandram, the Vice-Chancellor of Osmania University (OU). The seminar got off to a glittering start with the release of the book containing abstracts of the 60-odd papers proposed to be presented during the next two days. In his address, the VC admitted that suicides were a direct result of the systemic failures in various spheres and social scientists should address this issue and raise it to gain the attention of the government, to enable necessary action.
The other key invitees were Prof C Ganesh, Head, Department of Sociology, OU, who informed the audience, comprising outstation invitees and the college students that the Sociology department of Nizam College was probably the oldest in south India. In its present status, the college is offering many P G diploma courses very useful for the students of Sociology. This was affirmed by Aijaz ur Rehman, Head, Department of Sociology who added his own experiences on the issue.
Dr Vineeta Pandey, Seminar Director thanked the participants and paper presenters and revealed that they had received 86 papers in all, which would facilitate a comprehensive study of the issue. Papers had come in from many cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bhubaneshwar, Chennai and Aligarh, she added.
Prof Syed Rahman, Principal, Nizam College who was coordinating the event as its president, came up with practical solutions to address the vexed issue of suicides and detailed his own observations about the prevalence of this malaise in various classes of the society.
Sponsored by Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), New Delhi and organised by the institution’s department of Sociology, the event is being held in collaboration with a reputed NGO Centre for Action Research and People’s Development (CARPED) based in the State capital.
