Another happy family came to an end after getting trapped in the debt trap. Bullion businessman Saurabh Babbar and his wife Mona Babbar from Saharanpur, UP committed suicide by jumping into the Ganga river. Both of them took a selfie before jumping. Sent it to my friends. There was also a suicide note along with it, in which it was written – ‘He is drowned in debt. They are troubled by paying interest. Now we are not given any more interest. That’s why we are going to embrace death. Will send selfies from wherever they commit suicide.
Saurabh and Mona were residents of Saharanpur. Both reached Haridwar after traveling about 100 kilometers by bike. Then after taking the last selfie from there, he committed suicide by jumping into the Ganga river.
At present Saurabh’s body has been found. His last rites have taken place in Saharanpur. Mona’s body is being searched.
Saurabh and Mona were married 18 years ago. Both have two children. The elder girl is 12 years old and the boy is 7 years old. A happy family has come to an end due to his suicide.
In our country, cases of suicide due to debt or financial crisis are increasing continuously. It may be remembered that last year an entire family in Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh, had perished due to this reason. In Bhopal, a couple first poisoned their two small children and then committed suicide by consuming poison themselves.
In May this year, six people of the same family had tried to commit suicide by consuming sleeping pills in Faridabad. The family was deep in debt. Fortunately, five people were saved, but a 73-year-old man died.
Lives are being snatched away by debt!
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 an entire family.
National Crime Records Bureau i.e. NCRB is an agency of the Central Government. Its figures show how deadly debt is becoming in India. The agency has data on suicides till 2022. This shows that every fourth suicide out of a hundred in India is due to debt or financial crisis.
In 2022, more than 1.70 lakh people committed suicide across the country. Of these, there were more than seven thousand people who committed suicide due to debt problems. Accordingly, an average of 19 people committed suicide every day.
Statistics show that in the five years between 2018 and 2022, 29 thousand 486 people have committed suicide due to debt problems.
How many families are becoming indebted?
The debt of Indian families is continuously increasing. The result is that savings are not being achieved. According to government data, the savings of Indian families are continuously decreasing because the debt of the people is increasing.
Domestic savings had reached Rs 23.29 lakh crore in 2020-21. This is a record so far. But since then it has been continuously declining. In 2021-22, this figure fell to Rs 17.12 lakh crore and in 2022-23 it further fell to Rs 14.16 lakh crore.
RBI data shows that net household savings in India is at its lowest level in 47 years. 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 earnings goes to repay the loan.
At the same time, data from the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) shows that in 2012, 22.4% of the families in urban areas were in debt. Even in 2018, this figure remained only 22.4%. But during the same period, the number of indebted rural families increased from 31% to 35%.
NSSO data shows that till June 2018, rural families had an average debt of Rs 59 thousand 748. Whereas, this debt on urban families was almost double. Urban families had a debt of Rs 1,20,336. This figure is about six years old and obviously it must have increased.
Recently, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das had also said that people are taking loans and investing in share market and mutual funds. He had expressed concern that on one hand the credit growth of banks is increasing and on the other hand deposits are decreasing. There is also a danger of banks sinking due to this.