The Union government on Wednesday informed the Rajya Sabha that more than 25,000 people across the country 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, Minister of State (Home) Nityanand Rai said in a written reply to a question on the issue in Rajya Sabha.
Minister said these figures are based on data provided by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
3548 unemployed people died by suicide in the pandemic year of 2020, while 2,741 ended life due to unemployment in 2018, 2,851 did so in 2019.
Regarding bankruptcy, 4970 died by suicide in 2018. In 2019 the figure increased to 5,908. In 2020, it dropped by over 600 deaths to 5,213.
Speaking in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday slammed the BJP government, alleging that the Presidential address made no mention of unemployment.
He added: “You speak of providing employment, 3 cr youth lost their jobs in 2021. Today India is facing the highest unemployment in 50 yrs. You talk of Made in India, Start-Up India, but the youth did not get the unemployment they were supposed to. The one they had has disappeared.”
