The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: Daily wage earners constitute the single-largest category of people who died by suicide across the country between 2019 and 2021, the Ministry of Labour and Employment told the Lok Sabha in response to a question on Monday, February 14.
Housewives constituted the second biggest category of persons to take their own lives. As per data from the National Crime Records Bureau, self-employed persons, unemployed persons and students were the next three biggest categories of people by profession to have ended their lives.
In response to a question from a Congress MP from Tamil Nadu, Su. Thirunavukkarasar, who asked whether it was a fact that daily wagers are the largest group among those who have died by suicide during the last few years, the Minister for Labour and Employment Bhupender Yadav provided the three-year data of NCRB which confirmed that this indeed was the case.
To another query from the MP on whether any steps are being taken by the government to protect daily wage earners and improve their livelihood, the minister replied that “as per the Unorganised Workers‟ Social Security Act, 2008, the government is mandated to provide social security to the workers of unorganised sector including daily wage workers by formulating suitable welfare schemes on matters relating to (i) life and disability cover, (ii) health and maternity benefits, (iii) old age protection and (iv) any other benefit as may be determined by the Central Government.”
He went on to cite several welfare and pension schemes which had been launched for people in the 18-70 year category.
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Data reveals increase in three-year-period
The NCRB data revealed that there was a steady increase in the number of suicides over the three year period as they rose from 139,123 in 2019 to 153,052 in 2020 and further to 164,033 in 2021.
The data categorised these deaths into nine broad categories – housewife, professional/salaried persons, government servants, students, unemployed persons, self-employed persons, persons engaged in farming sector, daily wage earners, retired persons and others.
It revealed that suicides among daily wage earners constituted nearly 25% of all such deaths each year.
The number of these daily wage earners who died also rose from 32,563 in 2019, to 37,666 in 2020 – which happened to be the first year of COVID-19 in which a major lockdown was imposed – to 42,004 in 2021.
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In the COVID-19 lockdown, lakhs of migrant daily wage labourers were left unemployed overnight and had to make their way back to their villages on foot.
Migrant labourers arrive at a railway station in Jammu as they leave Jammu and Kashmir on October 19, 2021. Photo: PTI
The data also revealed that among housewives, numbers also rose gradually over these three years from 21,359 in 2019 to 22,374 in 2020 to 23,179 in 2021.
Sharp increase in other categories
Among self-employed persons who constituted the third biggest category among people to die by suicide, 16,098 people took their lives in 2019. The numbers were 17,332 in 2020 and 20,231 in 2021. This category showed the sharpest rise between 2020 and 2021 indicating a possible co-relation to the peak COVID-19 years.
Unemployed persons were the fourth largest category of people to die by suicide during this period. The number of their deaths rose from 14,019 in 2019 to 15,652 in 2020 but then dipped marginally to 13,714 in 2021.
Students were the fifth highest group and such recorded deaths among students rose almost 20% from 10,335 in 2019 to 12,526 in 2020. It touched a high of 13,089 in 2021.
Deaths of farmers, cultivators decreased, those of agricultural labourers increased
As for those engaged in the farming sector, NCRB data revealed that while the deaths of farmers and cultivators has declined during the period, those of agricultural labourers rose.
In the case of farmers and cultivators, the number of recorded deaths by suicide declined from 5,957 in 2019 to 5,579 in 2020 and further to 5,318 in 2021. However, in the case of agricultural labourers (as with other categories of workers) the number of deaths rose from 4,324 in 2019 to 5,098 in 2020 and then to 5,563 in 2021.