Kota: In the infamous "suicide capital" of Rajasthan, Kota, walls of a Radha Krishna temple in the Talwandi area of Kota read several concerning notes from engineering and medical students. One of the notes read "Please God ye ho nahi sakta, possible kar dijiye (God, this is impossible. Please make it possible)."
Following that, another scribble read "Mere mata pita ki raksha karna prabhu. Aur meri ek choti si manokamna ko pura karna. Aur meri wajah se koi dukh na rahe Prabhu (God, please save my parents, please fulfill my one wish and nobody should suffer because of me.)"
Kota is known for its engineering and medical colleges, however, in line with a few reports, the pressure that students undergo has caused a total number of 25 suicides in this year alone.
Students voice their opinions about pressure:
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Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Chandrasheel Thakur emphasized on the pressure faced by students. "In 45 calls, students said they no longer wish to live. We also received other complaints through field visits. We have a standard operation procedure. When we get information about students facing depression, my teams inform me."
In addition, students from Kota who study for 12-14 hour on an average on daily basis have opined about being under pressure. This pressure ultimately leads to making oneself feel worse if not scored up to the mark.
Students also voiced their opinions about how this pressure forces them to get addicted to intoxication such as cigarettes and alcohol.
According to Naveen Mittal, who is the president of the hotel administration necessry steps have been taken. He also mentioned several ways such as conducting outings for students to lessen down the pressure.
According to reports from Kota Police data, a total number of 17 students died by suicide in 2015. The figures since then are 16 in 2016, seven in 2017, 20 in 2018, and eight in 2019. Next to that, there was a fall in the number of suicides during the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021 — four and zero respectively — as students left the city amid the lockdown.
In 2022, the figure was back up to 15. This year, 25 students died by suicide till August.
In addition, according to data tabled in the Assembly last December, male students accounted for 87 per cent of the suicides and the rest, 13 per cent, were female students.
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