The parliamentary committee has expressed concern over the high number of suicides among students and unemployed youth in India
As a result, the health ministry has received recommendations from the committee to establish a 24×7 helpline to provide support to youths who fail in competitive exams and to offer counseling to prevent suicide.
The committee also advised the ministry to strengthen its National Suicide Prevention efforts to better understand the underlying factors leading to these suicides and work towards reducing their occurrence.
The committee highlighted that while the number of student suicides surpasses that of farmer suicides, the latter is often classified as a national crisis, whereas student suicides have not received sufficient attention and have been addressed on a case-by-case basis.
To tackle this issue, the committee emphasised the need for mental health awareness and education campaigns to combat the stigma surrounding mental health.
In line with these recommendations, the committee called upon the government to establish provisions under the 24×7 helpline, allowing young individuals who narrowly miss qualifying in competitive exams such as UPSC-CSE, NEET, SSC, JEE, etc., to receive telephonic counseling and support to prevent them from resorting to suicide.
