In a mixed report card, Puducherry has topped the nation in the rate of accidental deaths while continuing to register a decline in suicides as per the latest report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
According to the NCRB’s Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India 2019, the highest rate of accidental deaths per lakh of population was reported from Puducherry (72.8), followed by Chhattisgarh (68.6), Maharashtra (57.4), Haryana (54.3), Goa (51.5) and Madhya Pradesh (51.4) against the national average of 31.5 deaths per lakh of population.
Puducherry led 19 States/Union Territories which reported higher rates of ‘accidental deaths’ than the all-India average. In absolute numbers, Puducherry recorded 1,103 accidental deaths during 2019, against 1,213 the previous year.
During 2019, traffic accidents involved a total of 1,401 cases with 156 deaths, including 20 women while those who sustained injuries were 1,619 — 1,270 men and 349 women. In the road accidents category, the Union Territory recorded 1,392 cases and 147 deaths.
The other fatalities comprised sudden deaths (heart attacks): 81including six women; accidental poisoning: 24 including six women and one transgender; electrocution: 15 deaths (one woman); drowning: 51, electrocution: 15 and fall from a height: six.
Poor governance
The cases reported and percentage change in traffic accidents were 1,597 in 2018 to 1,392 in 2019 (minus 12.8).
“If a small place like Puducherry is topping the country in accidental death rates, it reflects poorly on the efficacy of governance, especially given the administrative talent available here,” said Sunaina Mandeen, member of Pondy Citizens’ Action Network.
In the case of suicides, Puducherry recorded 493 suicides (348 men;145 women) in 2019 accounting for 0.4% share of all suicides in the country with a rate of 32.5 per lakh of population. The Union Territory witnessed a minus 1.4% variation in incidence of suicides over the previous year and did not record a single event of mass/extended suicide.
Debilitating or chronic illness, family problems, bankruptcy and debt were the leading cause of suicides in Puducherry followed by much lesser degree factors such as mental illness, marital discord/dowry-related issues, failure in examinations, unemployment and unrequited love.
As a group, unemployed persons (97), students (78) and daily wagers (35) topped the list of those ending lives. All the victims belonged to the income bracket of less than ₹one lakh annually.
Suicide rate down
In a decade between 2006 and 2016, Puducherry witnessed a 33.6% reduction in suicide rate, said Rasaiya G., Associate Director of the Youth Helpline run by the Trust for Youth Leadership, an organisation with consultative status for the United Nations.
The data collated by TYCL from the Puducherry police department through Right to Information Act revealed that there was a significant reduction in the youth suicide rate.
Analysis showed that more youth suicides are recorded in rural Puducherry and that men were more prone to suicides than women, said R. Suresh Krishna, TYCL administrator.
