Saturday, 25 Oct, 2025
Photo courtesy: Pixabay (Representational image)
Men make up over 71% of all suicides, reflecting the strain of being primary earners in an economy marked by job insecurity and rising ambitions
The death of Haryana Additional Director General of Police Y. Puran Kumar, who allegedly took his own life citing job-related dissatisfaction and mental harassment by senior officials, has cast a harsh light on a widening mental health crisis in India’s workforce. His case, though shocking for its rank, reflects a troubling national pattern: suicide rates remain stubbornly high even as India posts record economic growth, revealing the widening gap between professional success and personal well-being.
According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), suicides in India surged 23 per cent between 2019 and 2023, with 1,70,924 deaths reported last year—the highest on record. While the suicide rate per 100,000 population dipped marginally from 12.4 in 2022 to 12.3 in 2023, that decline is more statistical than structural. In absolute terms, India now records nearly 470 suicides every day, a grim testament to deep-seated social, economic, and psychological distress.
The occupational breakdown tells its own story of inequality and pressure. Daily wage earners made up nearly one-third of all suicides last year, underscoring the fragile livelihoods that define India’s informal economy. They were followed by housewives (14.7 per cent), unemployed persons (8.4 per cent), and students (8.2 per cent) — groups for whom financial insecurity, domestic violence, or academic pressure often leave few escape routes. The share of government servants remained constant at around 1 per cent, but the death of an officer as senior as Kumar suggests that job-related despair is not confined to those at the bottom of the economic ladder.
Gender data further exposes the emotional fault lines beneath India’s growth narrative. Men accounted for over 71 per cent of suicides, reflecting the psychological toll of breadwinning in an economy where social expectations are rigid and failure is stigmatized. The male suicide rate was particularly high among businesspersons (94.6 per cent), farmers (92.6 per cent), and retirees (92.5 per cent), revealing how financial distress and identity loss can fuel crises even in later life. Student suicides showed an almost equal gender split, a reminder that performance pressure and societal expectations weigh heavily on both young men and women.
Geographically, the crisis is most acute in India’s more industrialized and urbanized states. Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, and West Bengal together accounted for nearly half of all suicides in 2023. Maharashtra alone logged over 23,000 deaths, reflecting the collision of urban alienation and rural distress. The persistence of high suicides in richer states suggests that economic prosperity does not insulate people from despair — if anything, the competitive and unequal nature of growth may be amplifying it.
Kumar’s suicide, in particular, points to the silent strain within India’s police and bureaucracy—institutions where hierarchy, overwork, and a culture of silence often breed burnout. Long hours, limited leave, constant public scrutiny, and bureaucratic politics make the police force one of the most mentally taxing professions. Yet, mental health continues to be a taboo subject within government ranks, viewed through a lens of weakness rather than wellness.
India’s mental health infrastructure remains deeply inadequate for a crisis of this scale. The National Mental Health Survey estimates that one in seven Indians suffers from some form of mental disorder, but the country has less than one psychiatrist per 100,000 people — far below the WHO norm of three. The government’s Tele-MANAS initiative, launched in 2022 to expand access to tele-mental health services, remains underutilized and largely disconnected from workplaces where intervention is most needed.
For policymakers, the data demands more than awareness campaigns — it calls for structural reform. Mental health must be embedded in workplace policy, particularly across government and law enforcement, where professional hierarchies often discourage vulnerability. Economic safety nets for informal workers, counselling access in educational institutions, and stress management programmes within the bureaucracy are no longer optional extras — they are essential for social stability.
The irony of India’s suicide crisis is hard to miss. The world’s fastest-growing major economy is losing tens of thousands of lives each year not to hunger or disease, but to despair. As the tragedy of a senior police officer reminds the nation, mental health is no longer a private struggle—it’s a public emergency hiding in plain sight.
