Although suicide among indebted farmers and the rural poor were frequently reported, they now accommodate only 5% of Indian suicides according to Indian government statistics. The bigger proportion of the suicides come from political dissent, family conflict, love affairs and illness. "The deaths illustrate the increasing stress on young people in a nation where, elections notwithstanding, the masses often feel powerless" say mental health experts. “Young people see this as a way to give meaning to what seem like meaningless lives,” said Sudhir Kakar. "It is a way to become a hero, to take a stand."
I think it is unfortunate that people try to become heroes by committing suicide. Some of the people such as Sai Kumar Meegada, a 20-year-old straight-A chemical engineering student at a prestigious university, have such bright futures and I think that they could have helped their region in India better through using their education, money, social status etc, as opposed to killing themselves.
While there are many working to discourage this suicide phenomena, there are also many encouraging it. "'Those who commit suicide for Telangana, we salute you,” the text on the poster says. “Wake up people and fight for Telangana.'” -Hari Kumar (Telangana is another region in India where there is much political dispute)
Don't you think it is a bit self centered to encourage other people to commit suicide so your region can be liberated?
3 comments:
Instead of encouraging suicide, I think they should encourage people to stop having kids, but since many people use kids (well the males anyway) as a source of income in India because of the dowry, I'm not so sure how that would work.
Yeah...
-Yuzo Yanagitsuru
I think this is sort of related to the "deadly cycle" we see with prostitution and sexually transmitted diseases, except with suicide instead of herpes. The people feel powerless so they kill themselves, and in turn they remain powerless and more people (the youth mainly) kill themselves. I think you're right Jenny Yeonhee, they should be using their education (and consequently social status? maybe not) to rise above rather than kill themselves. But I think they see the act of suicide as symbolic rather than literal, because the quote states that "Young people see this as a way to give meaning to what seem like meaningless lives". Even though it's not the BEST way, it has some representation to it.
But pretty much I think it's crazy that people are encouraging others to commit suicide, I also find it pretty ironic that Hari Kumar said "Wake up" to fight for Telangana.
There should definitely be some help groups or other aids dedicated to this issue, but I also think that the posters from Telangana show something. Maybe the government should be looking to strengthen the unification within the whole nation, since it is quite apparent that there is much political unrest in the country.
-Henry Zhang
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