In this photo taken September 23, 2021, a ‘Black Spot’ signboard is seen mounted at an accident prone area in Kohima city. According to the latest ‘Accidental Deaths & Suicides in India’ by the NCRB, over 40% of the accidental deaths in Nagaland in 2020 were due to traffic accidents. (Morung File Photo: For Representational Purposes only).
‘Incidence of Suicides’ increasing in the State, highlights NCRB data
Morung Express News
Dimapur | October 31
At 74 accidental deaths in 2020, Nagaland once again recorded the lowest rate of accidental deaths of 3.40 among the States and Union Territories (UTs) in India.
However, with a 17.5% increase, the State recorded 2nd highest percentage rise in accidental deaths after Arunachal Pradesh (28.7%) when compared to 2019 data, informed the latest ‘Accidental Deaths & Suicides in India (ADSI) 2020’ released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs on October 28.
In 2019, with total of 63 deaths, Nagaland recorded the lowest rate of accidental deaths in India of 2.9.
The ‘Rate of Accidental Deaths,’ as per the NCRB, refers to the “number of accidental deaths per one lakh (1, 00,000) of population during the reference year.”
Across India, accidental deaths decreased from 4, 21,104 in 2019 to 3,74,397 in 2020, or a fall in the rate from 31.5 in 2019 to 27.7 in 2020.
As per the report, the maximum casualties were reported in age group ‘30 years– below 45 years’ (1,12,874 deaths, 30.1%) followed by the age group ‘18 years – below 30 years’ (96,738 deaths, 25.8%) during 2020.
The rate was highest in Chhattisgarh at 68.6, followed by Puducherry (56.9) and Andaman & Nicobar Islands (53.3).
Among the North East States, it was highest in Sikkim (46.7), followed by Tripura (17.2 and Mizoram (19.1).
Accidental deaths have been grouped into two broad categories i.e. ‘Deaths due to Forces of Nature’ including the deaths due to ‘Cyclone’, ‘Flood’, ‘Forest Fire’, ‘Landslide’, Lightning’ and ‘Torrential Rain,’ ‘Earthquake’ etc; and ‘Deaths due to Other Causes’ include ‘Air Crash’, ‘Drowning’, ‘Sudden Deaths’, ‘Poisoning’ ‘Electrocution,’ ‘Traffic Accidents’, ‘Drug overdose’, ‘Collapse of Structure’, ‘Accidental Explosion’, ‘Accidental Fire’, ‘Firearms’, ‘Deaths due to Consumption of Illicit/Poisonous Liquor’ and so on.
In Nagaland, out of 74 accidental deaths in 2020, 12 were attributed to ‘Forces of Nature’ while 62 were designated as ‘Other Causes.’ The victims included 67 males and 7 females.
Over 40% due to traffic incidents
Out of 74 in 2020, 30 deaths or 40.54% were attributed to traffic accidents in Nagaland comprising of 27 casualties involving road accidents, and 3 railway crossing accidents. Instances of road accidents increased marginally by 3.8% from 26 in 2019 to 27 in 2020.
Across India, at 39.1%, ‘Traffic Accidents’ had the highest percentage share of various major causes of accidental deaths during 2020.
However, the number of ‘Traffic Accidents’ in the country decreased from 4,67,171 in 2019 to 3,68,828 in 2020, resulting in injuries to 3, 36,248 persons and 1,46,354 deaths during 2020.
Uttar Pradesh (21,156 deaths) followed by Maharashtra (13,940 deaths) and Madhya Pradesh (12,629 deaths) reported maximum fatalities in traffic accidents in 2020.
Here too, Nagaland recorded the lowest death, followed by Sikkim (42) and Mizoram (53).
Other prominent accidental deaths in Nagaland were 14 deaths due to drowning and 5 due to electrocution. Other cases included landslide and lightning, fall, sudden death, food poisoning, drug overdose and so on.
‘Incidence of Suicides’ increasing in Nagaland
Meanwhile, in a concerning indicator, the 2020 report highlighted that ‘Incidence of Suicides’ in Nagaland has increased from 41 in 2019 to 48 in 2020, indicating a 17.1% increase over the previous year.
This showed a continued increase in last two years as the NCRB’s 2019 data also showed a 13.9% increase over 2018 figure of 36.
Accordingly, ‘Rate of Suicides’ or ‘number of Suicides per One Lakh population’ in Nagaland increased from 1.9 in 2019 to 2.3 in 2020. Nagaland’s Projected Mid–Year population was given as 21.8 lakh in the report.
The national average was 11.3 with a total of 1, 53,052 suicides being reported in the country during 2020. It indicated increase in the rate of suicides by 8.7% during 2020 over 2019, the report observed.
Meanwhile, as per the report, while 13 suicides were attributed as ‘Causes Not Known,’ the leading cause of such incidences in Nagaland in 2020 was ‘Love Affairs’ with 8 cases.
‘Property Dispute’ and ‘Fall in Social Reputation’ came next with 5 each while 4 were connected with ‘Marriage Related Issues.’ 3 were related with ‘Drug Abuse/Alcoholic Addiction’ while Unemployment and Bankruptcy or Indebtedness caused two each.
Meanwhile, according to Profession-wise distribution, most victims were ‘Unemployed’ (14), followed by Students (13) and Professionals/Salaried Persons (11). There were 4 ‘Self employed’; 3 Housewife and 3 ‘Daily Wage Earner’. Status-wise, 23 were married while 22 were Unmarried and 3 Divorcees.
In India, majority of suicides were reported in Maharashtra (19,909) followed by 16,883 in Tamil Nadu, 14,578 in Madhya Pradesh, 13,103 in West Bengal and 12,259 in Karnataka. These 5 States together accounted for 50.1% of the total suicides reported in the country, the report said. Bihar reported the lowest at 0.7, followed by Manipur (1.4) and Uttar Pradesh (2.1). Nagaland was fourth lowest at 2.2.
In its disclaimer, the report stated that the data is obtained from States/UTs Police and the NCRB merely “compiled and collated the data and presented it in the form of this report” and the Bureau is “not responsible for authenticity of the information.”
The Projected mid-year population for year 2020 provided in the Report of the Technical Group on Population Projections (July, 2020), National Commission on Population, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare on the basis of Census 2011 has been used for calculation of Death Rate in States/UTs, it added.
