Last Updated on 13/08/2024 by wccexam Desk
Another happy family got ruined after getting caught in the debt trap. Bullion trader Saurabh Babbar and his wife Mona Babbar from Saharanpur, UP, committed suicide by jumping into the river Ganga. Before jumping, both of them took a selfie and sent it to their friends. There was also a suicide note in which it was written – ‘We are in debt. We are tired of paying interest. Now we cannot pay interest anymore. That is why we are going to embrace death. Wherever we commit suicide, we will send a selfie from there.
Saurabh and Mona were residents of Saharanpur. Both of them travelled about 100 kms by bike and reached Haridwar. Then after taking a last selfie from there, they committed suicide by jumping into the river Ganga.
At present, Saurabh’s body has been found. His last rites have been performed in Saharanpur. Mona’s body is being searched for.
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Saurabh and Mona were married 18 years ago. They have two children. The elder girl is 12 years old and the boy is 7 years old. Their suicide has destroyed a happy family.
In our country, cases of suicide due to debt or financial crisis are increasing continuously. You will remember that last year in Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh, an entire family was wiped out due to this reason. In Bhopal, a couple first poisoned their two young children and then committed suicide by consuming poison themselves.
In May this year, six members of a family in Faridabad tried to commit suicide by consuming sleeping pills. The family was deeply in debt. Fortunately, five people were saved, but a 73-year-old man died.
Debt is taking away lives!
These are just a few cases. If you search on the internet, you will find many such cases in which financial crisis and debt destroyed the entire family.
The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) is an agency of the central government. Its statistics show how deadly debt is becoming in India. The agency has suicide statistics till 2022. This shows that every fourth suicide out of every hundred in India is due to debt or financial crisis.
In 2022, more than 1.70 lakh people committed suicide across the country. Out of these, more than seven thousand people committed suicide due to debt. According to this, an average of 19 people committed suicide every day.
Statistics show that in the five years between 2018 and 2022, 29,486 people have committed suicide due to debt.
How much are families getting indebted?
The debt on Indian families is constantly increasing. The result is that savings are not being made. According to government data, the savings of Indian families are constantly decreasing because the debt on people is increasing.
In 2020-21, domestic savings reached Rs 23.29 lakh crore. This is a record so far. But since then it has been declining continuously. In 2021-22, this figure fell to Rs 17.12 lakh crore and in 2022-23 it fell further to Rs 14.16 lakh crore.
RBI data shows that net household savings in India is at a 47-year low. In 2022-23, it became 5.3% of GDP, which was 7.3% in 2021-22.
Savings are decreasing because people’s debt is increasing. A part of their income goes into repaying the debt.
At the same time, the data of National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) shows that in 2012, 22.4% of the families in urban areas were in debt. This figure remained at 22.4% in 2018 as well. But during the same period, the number of indebted rural families increased from 31% to 35%.
NSSO data shows that till June 2018, the average debt of rural families was Rs 59,748. Whereas, this debt was almost double on urban families. Urban families had a debt of Rs 1,20,336. This data is about six years old and it is obvious that it would have increased.
Recently, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das had also said that people are taking loans and investing in the stock market and mutual funds. He had expressed concern that on one hand the credit growth of banks is increasing while on the other hand deposits are decreasing. This also poses a risk of banks sinking.
Source (PTI) (NDTV) (HINDUSTANTIMES)