Over 25,000 Indians died in 2018-2020 due to unemployment

While the subject of unemployment is being debated in Parliament during the Union Budget debt or indebtedness. During that time, 9,140 people committed suicide as a result of unemployment, while 16,091 people died as a result of bankruptcy or indebtedness, according to the government's report to the upper chamber.

Minister of State (Home) Nityanand Rai supplied the information in a written response to a Rajya Sabha inquiry on the subject. The official estimates, according to Rai, are based on data provided by the National Crime Records Bureau.

Suicides among the unemployed have been on the rise, reaching a peak of 3,548, according to the data, in the pandemic year of 2020. In 2018, 2,741 people died as a result of unemployment; in 2019, 2,851 people died as a result of unemployment.

The death rate from indebtedness, on the other hand, did not follow the same pattern. While 4,970 people died by suicide as a result of bankruptcy in 2018, the number has risen to 5,908. It fell by nearly 600 deaths in 2020, to 5,213.

Various opposition MPs have highlighted the topic of unemployment several times during the ongoing budget discussion, alleging that the budget does little to address the problem facing the country in the aftermath of Covid-19.

Rai said on Wednesday that the government was focused on mental health and establishing job opportunities to solve the problem.

“To address the burden of mental disorders, the Government is implementing the National Mental Health Programme (NMHP) and is supporting the implementation of the District Mental Health Programme (DMHP) under NMHP in 692 districts of the country,” Rai said.

He further said, “The programme aims to provide suicide prevention services, workplace stress management, life skills training and counselling in schools and colleges; mental health services including prevention, promotion, and long-term continuing care at different levels of district healthcare delivery system and promote community awareness and participation in the delivery of mental healthcare services.”

Rahul Gandhi, the Congress leader, has slammed the administration on the subject, claiming that the country's jobless rate is at its highest in 50 years. He claimed that whereas the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) administration lifted 27 crore, people, out of poverty in ten years, the Narendra Modi government threw 23 crore people back into poverty.

Rai said on Wednesday that the government had launched several employment and income-generation programs, including the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana (ABRY), the National Career Service (NCS) project for job seekers and employers for job-matching, the Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana.

He noted that the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme in important industries, which aims to improve India's manufacturing capacity and exports, would also create jobs.

On February 7, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor opened a debate on Budget 2022-23 in the Lok Sabha, saying that the budget had violated the people's hopes and ambitions.

Tharoor said, “The expectation was that the government would acknowledge the unprecedented levels of unemployment which has left countless citizens, especially the young, with little prospect for a brighter tomorrow. Admit that one-fifth of India’s population has plunged a staggering 53 percent in the last five years in their income.” 

While the wealth of the richest 100 Indians has risen to Rs 57 lakh crore, 4.7 crores Indians have fallen into acute poverty and are below the poverty line, according to Tharoor.

“The unemployment rate is pegged at 6.75 percent as of January. This is a welcome improvement from 7.9 percent in the previous month. It is still higher than the worst unemployment rate in the country in the past 45 years. India’s unemployment rate has grown faster than Bangladesh and Vietnam. In the last two years, 84 percent of households have suffered a loss of income even as per capita income has fallen.”