India becoming the Suicide capital of the world

Safeguarding the Wellbeing of our Children should be our Key Priority

Nabaz-e-Punjab Bureau, July 1:
Suicide, or the act of deliberately ending one’s own life, is a public health issue with India experiencing the highest rate of suicide among youth. According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) every hour one student commits suicide in India.
To draw attention of the likeminded to the exponential growth in suicide cases in India and other mental health issues, Generation Saviour Association, in partnership with The Union, Hriday, MACT, and Vital Strategies conducted a webinar on Health, Safety and Wellbeing of Children and Youth wherein 1200 students from various schools and colleges of India participated.
Ms Opinder Preet Kaur Gill, Director Programs, Generation Saviour Association, which is a non-profit organization working in public health since two decades, welcoming the participants said that the webinar is an attempt to focus on issues of children and youth, which are often brushed under the carpet for the want of social acceptance. She said, “ As Indian’s youth is becoming more progressive, their traditionalist households become even less supportive of their choices pertaining to the profession, marriage age, premarital sex, live-in relationships, sexual orientation and the like. The resulting dissatisfaction is coupled with pressure and stress from academics, the workplace, and even society.”
Adding to it Dr. Rana J Singh, Deputy Director, International Union for Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases said, “The children unable to find a support system in their parents and friends, find it easier to end the dilemmas and even their own life. Also one of the other reasons for youth suicide is the urbanization and the breakdown of the traditional large family support system.”
“When children don’t find social acceptance in their very family, they start looking for acceptance through the likes and comments of social media”, said Mr. Vivek Attray, Ex IAS, Advisor, Mentor, and Author. He further added, “Often youngsters are influenced by celebrities and try to imitate them. Their ever-growing dissatisfaction with themselves puts the children in low self-esteem. Parents and teachers should supervise these early signs in their children and should counsel them.”
Ms. Seema Gupta, Senior Counsellor, Ashiana addressing the audience said, “20% of children suffer from mental disorders like aggression, anxiety, depression, attention deficit, hyperactivity, autism, and substance abuse. Parents should not be ashamed if they see such signs in their children, rather they should take professional help”
“Without appropriate support, children with mental illness are more likely to use illicit substances, behave criminally and take undue risks,” Dr. Mahesh Rajasurya Senior Lecturer, Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka said. “WHO estimates that globally 25 to 90% of children have used at least one substance of abuse. They are more likely to be pushed from classrooms and campuses into the juvenile justice and prison systems” he further added
During the webinar, the student participants from schools across India posed many questions as to ways of fighting depression and low self-esteem, which were answered by Dr. Mira B Aghi, a behavior scientist and psychologist. She said, Safeguarding the Wellbeing of our Children should be our Key Priority. Their wellbeing includes and is not limited to emotional wellbeing, psychological wellbeing, physical wellbeing, and even social wellbeing.”
The session was coordinated by the youth wing of the Generation Saviour Association that is a voluntary group of children from various educational institutes. This was the third and the concluding session of the webinar and specifically focussed on the Wellbeing of children and youth.