India's secret suicide epidemic! 2013 saw more than 150,000 deaths!

Men in India are twice as likely to commit suicide according to an Indian government agency which is responsible for collecting and analyzing crime data.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - In 2013, 134,000 people committed suicide in India, and two thirds were men said the report from the National Crimes Records Bureau (NCRB). 64,098 deaths were from men, and 29,491 were from women.

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In an interview with the Times of India, Anita Gracias-a volunteer at the Bangalore-based Sahai helpline, said that loneliness is the major factor.

"Loneliness is the biggest problem among young men these days," she said.

Gracias described one call she received from a 20-year-old student from Pune, who was complaining about loneliness and a frequent urge to do harm to himself.

Of all the suicides in India, 80,000 belonged to those in the 15-44 age group. Those between 15 and 29 made up 34.4% of the suicide victims, and 33.8 encompassed those between 30 and 44.

As many as 15 suicides took place every hour in India back in 2013.

Dr. Gururaj, the head of department of epidemiology in Bangalore-based Nimhans said that prevention of suicide becomes difficult if the cause is unknown.

Gururaj also is critical of the reasons and methodology of NCRB, citing that they are quite vague. "A blanket head like family problems does not convey much. Besides, it has only captured the cases reported, whereas many suicides go unreported."

He also has a warning about suicidal individuals. "Not every suicide is an impulsive act. The person who does it might even have thought about it for at least two years but the warning signs may have been ignored by family members."

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