We’re Losing Lives Every 3 Minutes—It Doesn’t Have to Be This Way

every three minutes, someone in India takes their own life. While you’re reading this, somewhere, someone just gave up. Someone who might have held on a little longer if they had the right support. With 1.71 lakh people dying by suicide every year, India has earned a heartbreaking title—the suicide capital of the world. That number isn’t just a statistic. It is a person. A student who felt like a failure. A mother trying to hold everything together. A friend who was always there for everyone else but had no one to turn to when it mattered. Families are left with unanswered questions. Could this have been prevented. What if they had someone to talk to. What if someone had just listened. Mental health issues are everywhere. They don’t care about age or background. They exist in classrooms, in workplaces, in homes. But we don’t talk about them. We tell people to be strong, to stop overthinking, to push through. We treat depression like a mood swing and anxiety like a bad habit. Meanwhile, 150 million people in India need mental health care but only 30 million actually get it. The rest are left to figure it out on their own. Some of them don’t make it. This silence is costing lives. It doesn’t have to be this way. This petition is a call for change. It demands that mental health education be made a compulsory subject in schools from the very first standard. Because mental health isn’t something you should have to figure out on your own. It should be taught the same way we teach math and science. Kids should grow up knowing how to handle stress. How to deal with failure. How to ask for help without feeling ashamed. Most mental health issues start before the age of fourteen. That means the earlier we start, the more lives we save. Imagine a world where children don’t grow up thinking they have to suffer in silence. Where talking about feelings is normal. Where schools don’t just prepare students for exams but for life. This is about changing the way we see mental health. Because this isn’t just a personal issue. It is a national crisis. Untreated mental health issues are linked to 95 percent of crimes. That is not a coincidence. When people don’t get the help they need, things spiral. Pain turns into anger. Despair turns into reckless decisions. This isn’t just about preventing suicides. It is about preventing future crises. Lowering crime rates. Creating a society that is safer and more compassionate. And beyond that, ignoring mental health is draining the economy. The World Health Organization estimates that by 2030, untreated mental health issues will cost India over a trillion dollars in lost productivity. That is money lost because people are too mentally exhausted to function. Because burnout and breakdowns are ignored until they become unfixable. We have one chance to turn this around. One chance to prove that mental health matters before another life is lost. This petition needs 10 lakh signatures in 100 days before it is taken to the Supreme Court. That’s all it takes to make a difference. One signature. One moment. One decision to say that mental health should be a priority. If you have ever known someone struggling. If you have ever lost someone and wondered if something could have been done. If you are tired of hearing about suicides and feeling helpless. This is your chance to do something. Sign the petition. Share it. Start the conversation. Because every three minutes, another life is lost. And one life lost is one too many.

Apr 5, 2025 - 08:57

We’re Losing Lives Every 3 Minutes—It Doesn’t Have to Be This Way

every three minutes, someone in India takes their own life. While you’re reading this, somewhere, someone just gave up. Someone who might have held on a little longer if they had the right support.
With 1.71 lakh people dying by suicide every year, India has earned a heartbreaking title—the suicide capital of the world. That number isn’t just a statistic. It is a person. A student who felt like a failure. A mother trying to hold everything together. A friend who was always there for everyone else but had no one to turn to when it mattered. Families are left with unanswered questions. Could this have been prevented. What if they had someone to talk to. What if someone had just listened.
Mental health issues are everywhere. They don’t care about age or background. They exist in classrooms, in workplaces, in homes. But we don’t talk about them. We tell people to be strong, to stop overthinking, to push through. We treat depression like a mood swing and anxiety like a bad habit. Meanwhile, 150 million people in India need mental health care but only 30 million actually get it. The rest are left to figure it out on their own. Some of them don’t make it.
This silence is costing lives. It doesn’t have to be this way.
This petition is a call for change. It demands that mental health education be made a compulsory subject in schools from the very first standard. Because mental health isn’t something you should have to figure out on your own. It should be taught the same way we teach math and science. Kids should grow up knowing how to handle stress. How to deal with failure. How to ask for help without feeling ashamed. Most mental health issues start before the age of fourteen. That means the earlier we start, the more lives we save.
Imagine a world where children don’t grow up thinking they have to suffer in silence. Where talking about feelings is normal. Where schools don’t just prepare students for exams but for life. This is about changing the way we see mental health. Because this isn’t just a personal issue. It is a national crisis.
Untreated mental health issues are linked to 95 percent of crimes. That is not a coincidence. When people don’t get the help they need, things spiral. Pain turns into anger. Despair turns into reckless decisions. This isn’t just about preventing suicides. It is about preventing future crises. Lowering crime rates. Creating a society that is safer and more compassionate. And beyond that, ignoring mental health is draining the economy. The World Health Organization estimates that by 2030, untreated mental health issues will cost India over a trillion dollars in lost productivity. That is money lost because people are too mentally exhausted to function. Because burnout and breakdowns are ignored until they become unfixable.
We have one chance to turn this around. One chance to prove that mental health matters before another life is lost. This petition needs 10 lakh signatures in 100 days before it is taken to the Supreme Court. That’s all it takes to make a difference. One signature. One moment. One decision to say that mental health should be a priority.
If you have ever known someone struggling. If you have ever lost someone and wondered if something could have been done. If you are tired of hearing about suicides and feeling helpless. This is your chance to do something.
Sign the petition. Share it. Start the conversation. Because every three minutes, another life is lost. And one life lost is one too many.