Suicide and Society in India
Routledge/Asian Studies Association of Australia (ASAA) South Asian Series

In India about 123,000 people take their own lives each year, the second highest total in the world. There is a suicide death in India almost every 4 minutes, and it is the leading cause of death for rural Indians especially women in early adulthood. This book presents a comprehensive analysis of suicide in India based on original research as well as existing studies, and looks at the issue in an international, sociological and historical context.

The author looks at the reliability of suicide data in India, and goes on to discuss various factors relating to suicide, including age, gender, education and marriage. Among its findings, the book exposes a hidden youth suicide ?crisis? in India which is argued to be far more serious than the better known crisis of farmer suicides. The book dispels many myths that are commonly associated with suicide, and highlights a neglected public health problem. Suicide in the region of Pondicherry is looked at in detail, as well as in the Indian Diaspora. This book is a useful contribution to South Asian Studies, as well as studies in Mental Health and Sociology.

1. Introduction 2. Previous Studies of Suicide in India 3.The Reliability of Indian Suicide Data 4. The Aetiology of Suicide in India 5. The Methods of Suicide 6. Trends in Suicide in India 7. Gender and Suicide 8. Age and Suicide 9. Urbanisation and Suicide in India 10. Education and Suicide 11. Occupation and Suicide 12. Marriage, the Family and Suicide 13. Alcohol and Suicide 14. Suicide in the Indian Diaspora 15. Suicide in Pondicherry 16. Conclusion

Peter Mayer is Associate Professor in Politics at the University of Adelaide. His research interests include suicide in India; the privatisation of state-owned enterprises; the masculinisation of the Indian population; civic engagement and social capital in human development and state weakness in South Asia. He is series editor for the Routledge/ASAA South Asian Series.