Serious questions popped up last week after several suicides hit headlines. The triggers may vary, but there seems to be an abnormal pattern that requires deeper attention.

Only a scientific study can verify with statistical certainty if the headlines chosen by news outlets reveal a deep malaise, but the pattern is worrying enough to suggest that it is time that mental health be put high on the agenda of policy and politics, as India moves to be a developed economy even though its social fabric is buffeted by various pressures that spell a new normal of aggressive demands and frequent mental challenges.

The choking air in India’s National Capital Region may well be adding to pressures that stem from pervasive social insensitivity.

The Air Pollution Equation

An article on the American Psychiatric Association’s official website says air pollution is a major environmental health risk, including mental health, though that is less understood, but there is substantial evidence to link the two factors. Notably, the current president of the association is Chennai-educated Ramaswamy Viswanathan, though he does not figure in the Indian media’s storied list of overachieving desis.

In Delhi, protests erupted after a 16-year-old student from the prestigious St. Columba’s School died by suicide, allegedly due to mental harassment and threats from teachers. The boy left behind a detailed note blaming educators. The Delhi government acted quickly to set up a probe panel, signalling a political recognition of the problem, but we will have to wait to see the outcomes.

This was no isolated incident, it seemed.

A Worrisome Social Pattern

In Jaipur, a Class IV student also died by suicide after being subjected to bullying for 18 months. Elsewhere in Rajasthan, a 14-year-old boy left a suicide note seeking strict punishment for teachers and school administrators. In Madhya Pradesh, a 17-year-old high school student took her life, citing bullying by a teacher who pressed a pen between her fingers. In Maharashtra, a 17-year-old boy died by suicide after being humiliated on social media posts by local vigilantes who accused him of cow trafficking, while all he did was transport the animal to his uncle. In Mumbai, a 19-year-old student ended his life after being harassed and assaulted on a crowded local train for the mere fault of asking fellow passengers to make space in Hindi, rather than the local Marathi.

The social pattern suggests that there is more to this than just students who are at a vulnerable age. India has, in the past, too, seen a series of suicides by scientists in various state establishments, including the Department of Atomic Energy and the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research’s affiliate institutes. Analysts have pointed to systemic pressures, mental harassment, faulty institutional procedures, and caste discrimination among the reasons.

Workload Pressure

It seems government jobs, often seen to be safe, secure, and relatively easy, are not what they appear to be. A series of recent suicides by booth-level officers (BLOs), who were unable to bear the workload demands of the special intensive revision (SIR) being carried out by the Election Commission, points to a new trend of state-induced stress. Such suicides have been reported in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Kerala, and Rajasthan, and all of them are linked to work procedures that shook the mental tolerance levels of junior officials.

The big question looms: Is India, as it tries to become a developed economy with a combination of ambition, competition, and demographic pressures, acquiring a worrying track record that reminds one of Japan, which has seen youth suicides that are statistically above developed economy levels?

As per data from the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), in 2023, the suicide rate in Japan among youth aged 15 to 24 per 100,000 stood at 13.1, nearly twice the levels reported overall in recent years by OECD countries. This indicates problems in the care system and cultural attitudes towards mental illness.

The Bollywood hit 3 Idiots, which fictionally brought out various facets of life in the hallowed institutions, features a student suicide that stands in dramatic contrast to the achievements of the institutions. 

Mental Health Administration

India badly needs support systems and enforceable human values that provide checks and balances against extreme acts that show poor mental health administration.

It is well-known in India that even a visit to a psychiatrist is often seen as an indication of “madness” or serious illness, prompting charlatans and astrologers to dubiously do what educated psychiatrists and psychologists should. It is time to change that with a campaign that shows a combination of public awareness, state policy, and a proactive political agenda. A deeper audit of basic needs is required, among which is mental well-being. 

It is not as if the government is not aware of it all, but what seems to be lacking is an enforceable agenda and a matching process of cultural transformation that emphasises empathy, care, and limits in various spheres, be it in academia, schools, state institutions, or agriculture.

The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare recently appointed actor Deepika Padukone, who has led by example by “coming out” about her own mental issues, as India’s first mental health ambassador. However, the loudly announced set of new labour codes that took effect this month makes only a broad-brush emphasis on “preventive healthcare” at the workplace, with no significant emphasis on mental health.

That stands in contrast to the World Health Organization (WHO), which, in a fact sheet published last year, clearly identified a wide range of factors among mental health risks in workplaces.

Risk Factors For Workers

The risk factors for workers include long, unsociable, or inflexible working hours, a lack of control over workload or job design, toxic organisational cultures, inadequate pay, job insecurity, and conflicting home/work demands.

Student suicide notes often cite poor responses from teachers and peers in addressing instances of harassment or bullying. That is as good a smoking gun as evidence of institutionalised insensitivity. Harassment based on gender, caste, or religion is commonplace in India, involving everything from passive aggression and indifference, to explicit abuses, public humiliation, blackmail, and denials.

A Public Policy Programme

An effective public policy programme focusing on mental health, pushed with political will, can lead to widespread awareness among influential pivots such as teachers, administrators, or politicians, and even those at the receiving end.

The push for a competitive economy must be subject to healthy ground rules, rather than becoming a free-for-all that smells of feudal-era oppression in a modern society.

(The writer is a senior journalist covering a diverse range of subjects, including economy, technology, and politics. Views are personal.)