Badi (Madhya Pradesh): There have been large numbers of suicide cases in the Badi village of Madhya Pradesh’s Khargone district. This village is officially one of the country's 250 most backward districts and has reported 381 suicides in the past one year.
According to a Times of India report, Rajendra Sisodiya, a newly elected sarpanch of Badi village in Khargone district of Madhya Pradesh has been under pressure of his responsibilities.
Sisodiya was made sarpanch two months ago after his cousin 38-year-old Jeevan Sisodiya, former sarpanch of Badi village who allegedly committed suicide two months back by hanging himself from a tree infront of his own house.His mother and brother, too, had killed themselves. After the mishap the family seem to have fallen apart.
With a population of around 2,500 of Badi district, there have been more than 350 suicides in the last two decades.
"In the first three months of this year, 80 Badi villagers have killed themselves," said Khargone SP Amit Singh.
Many of the villagers believe that these cases are a result of demonic interventions, while others are of the opinion that it is just sheer depression that has led to these suicides.
Sisodiya, the village sarpanch also believes that the cause of deaths is a "demonic presence" in the village, but psychiatrists said that the reason behind high rate of suicide cases is rational causes.
Every household in the village of Badi (Madhya Pradesh) has had a suicide. "There are 320 families in our village and at least one person from each has killed himself or herself," said Sisodiya.
Indore-based psychiatrist Dr Srikanth Reddy told the suicides are related to depression and schizophrenic episodes among villagers, possibly due to excessive use of pesticides, apart from financial stress.
"Depression isn't something people here are easily able to relate to or identify. When they are unable to find any reason, they associate it with locally explainable phe nomenon like demonic presence," said Dr Reddy.
He added, the issue needs urgent notice of authorities.
"Apart from financial distress, there could be other causes for this depression. In a study some years ago in China, where a large number of farmers in a particular area were committing suicide, it was found that insecticides used their contained organophosphate, which is highly toxic and causes depressive mental conditions. Suicides in Badi and in Khargone at large, therefore, need to be probed," Dr Reddy told a daily.
Most Khargone villagers grow cash crops like cotton and its failure hits them hard, sending them into financial agony.
Khargone collector Ashok Verma on seeing such alarming cases of these unnatural death has decided to make an arrangement so that a committee could be formed to probe the suicides.
Verma told "This is a very grave situation and we need to act fast. The villagers lack confidence and motivation and it's very important to counsel them."
They are groups of women who counsel their men. This step has given a new ray of hope in the village as their activism has led to a ban on sale of liquor in the village.
Although one of a Badi resident Sunita Singh claimed "But even if liquor is prohibited in Badi, our men go to adjoining villages to get drunk."
"Even when these villagers get hurt, they go to quacks instead of hospitals. Many suicides were psychologically ill.They were not taken to doctors for fear of social stigma." said Jitendra Kushwaha, a police chowki in-charge.
