7/26/2019 Suicide Farmer

1/5

Srijit Mishra, IGIDR, January 2006

psychological illness and be allowed to reer cases or !ore personali"ed care#$hereshould be a process o certi%cation and regulation o these centres to ensure

&uality andade&uacy o care pro'ided by the!# (etwor)s o 'arious crisis centres

should beencouraged so that they can learn and support each other*s wor)#

+

Helplines

Introduce helplines and disse!inate the nu!bers in the 'illages so thatindi'iduals

in distress can turn to so!eone# $o begin with, the helplines o

organisationsoperating in urban areas li)e (agpur and Mu!bai can bedisse!inated#

+

Community groups

De'elop a protocol or starting sur'i'or support groups# -or!co!!unity.ar!er

groups in rural areas# $hese groups can discuss ar! related andother socio/econo!ic proble!s#

+

Socio-religious activities

$he help o socio/religious organi"ation li)e

$he rt o 1i'ing

or

ipassana

!ay be sought to !itigate the general state o despair a!ong people#

+

Responsible reporting

7/26/2019 Suicide Farmer

2/5

Guidelines by the 3orld 4ealth 5rganisation 3457 onsuicide reporting should be

disse!inated a!ong the !edia raternity to pro!oteresponsible reporting o

suicides# Go'ern!ent/Media/cade!ia can co!e together toi!pro'ise on the

guidelines to suit to the local condition# 8nable the !edia personnel toor! a

regulatory and sel/!onitoring syste!# Sensationali"ing, graphical

depiction, pro'iding too !any personal details and depicting the act to be a !ethodo resol'ing personal crisis should be a'oided#

+

Administration-media coordination

Reporters usually get their inor!ation ro!go'ern!ent o9cials# $he latter too

ha'e an i!portant role in shaping the report that!edia presents to the public#

59cials should rerain ro! a :no co!!ent* response;should a'oid dictating how

the suicide should be reported and help by gi'ing accurateand responsible

responses to the reporters* &ueries# $here is a case or coordination between the

ad!inistration and the !edia#

+

Reduce social

e

xpenditure

5ne o the reasons or indebtedness is e

7/26/2019 Suicide Farmer

3/5

healthcare during ti!es o e!ergency including the consu!ption o

pesticides.poison7#ppropriate inter'entions !ay be designed#

+

Research

More !ulti disciplinary research should be encouraged#

@#A#A 5n Docu!entation and Bo!pensation Briteria

+

Decriminalize attempted suicide

person atte!pting suicide is not a cri!inal# She.heneeds psychosocial help#

Decri!inali"ing atte!pted suicide and widely disse!inatingthat will help reduce the

sha!e and stig!a attached to the act# $his will change thesociety and the

caregi'ers approach to the!# $his will also i!pro'e reporting anddocu!entation o

suicides#

+

Clear guidelines

In India, all suicides are supposed to be reported to the police# $he police should

ha'e clear guidelines to identiy ar!ers* suicide cases and inor! theci'ic

ad!inistration so as to acilitate scrutiny or co!pensation# $he ci'icad!inistration

should also report to the police i any suicide case is reported to itdirectly#

+

Streamline collection and maintenance of data

co!!on electronic or!at should be used to collect and !aintain data on

ar!ers* suicides# $he entry in this or!atshould be done at the source preerably

$alu)as and i not possible Districts7# -ro!$alu)as it should be sent to the concerned

District head&uarter, Di'isional head&uarter and Mantralaya electronically at the

sa!e ti!e# $his electronically entered coded unitle'el data without re'ealing basic

identi%cation o the deceased should be !adea'ailable on the Internet to help

research and public discourse#

+

Criteria for compensation

$he criteria or co!pensation should be clear,una!biguous and !ini!ise scope

or subjecti'e interpretation# s !entioned earlier,there was not !uch diCerence

between suicide case households considered eligible andthose considered not

7/26/2019 Suicide Farmer

4/5

eligible in ter!s o land ownership or indebtedness# $he scope or subjecti'e

interpretation while scrutinising should be !ini!i"ed#

o

De%nition o ar!er.culti'ator should be broad# 1egal ownership o land should

not be the only criteria or considering an indi'idual to be a ar!er# It should

includeindi'iduals who culti'ate land without ha'ing the legal ownership spouse,

children,other a!ily !e!bers and also tenants7# Inor!ation on ar!ers should

be!aintained at the 'illage le'el and updated regularly#>

Srijit Mishra, IGIDR, January 2006

o

1oan ro! !oneylenders and other inor!al sources should be includedwhilee'aluating indebtedness status# It will always be di9cult to 'eriy inor!al

loans#4owe'er, this can be reduced i the operation o !oneylenders is regulated#

o

Independent o indebtedness status, crop loss should also be another criterion

or pro'iding co!pensation# It is generally obser'ed that crop loss can be

'illagespeci%c or localised in a group o 'illages, but situation leading to crop loss by

anindi'idual ar!er due to thet, %re or other reasons should also be considered#

+

Minimizing error

3hile ad!inistering any co!pensation there can be two possibleerrors E7 not

gi'ing co!pensation to a deser'ing case and 27 pro'iding co!pensationto an

undeser'ing case# Foth errors should be !ini!i"ed, but their nature is such

that!ini!i"ing one !ight increase the error o the other# 3hile stri)ing a balance,

decisionsshould be ta)en to !ini!i"e the or!er error, which we consider to be

!ore serious#

+

uic! processing

$he ti!e ta)en or scrutiny and receipt o co!pensation should bestrea!lined and

!ini!ised# n appropriate routine !ay be designed or this# -or instance, the last

Monday o e'ery !onth can be allotted or this and decision ta)enthrough a single

window# 5nce decision is ta)en it should be con'eyed electronically or by a< to the

7/26/2019 Suicide Farmer

5/5

districts and there should be standing order or the district ad!inistration

to proceed i!!ediately#

+

Help all suicide case households

3hether an indi'idual is eligible.ineligible or recei'ing co!pensation, the

'ulnerability o the sur'i'ing !e!bers o a householdincreases and !ore so i the

deceased happens to be one o the !ajor inco!e earners# Inact, it would be

appropriate to pro'ide help to all suicide case households# =reerence!ay be gi'en

under e