Over 16,000 people committed suicide due to bankruptcy or indebtedness while 9,140 people ended their lives due to unemployment between 2018 and 2020, Rajya Sabha was informed on Wednesday.
Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai said 5,213 people committed suicide due to bankruptcy or indebtedness in 2020, 5,908 in 2019 and 4,970 in 2018.
A total of 3,548 people committed suicide due to unemployment in 2020, 2,851 in 2019 and 2,741 in 2018, he said replying to a written question.
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Economists and Opposition politicians have accused the government of doing little to alleviate unemployment before and amid the pandemic, and castigated this year’s budget for offering nothing to the jobless and the beleaguered farmer.
Rai, in his written reply to a question on the number of suicides arising from the “unemployment and financial crisis”, told the Rajya Sabha the suicide data were provided by the National Crime Records Bureau.