NEW DELHI — The ban on highly hazardous pesticides (HHPs) currently being debated in India will not only protect the environment and improve the public health but will also achieve another rarely acknowledged goal: a rapid and major reduction in the number of Indians dying from suicide. The Supreme Court, which is currently deliberating the case challenging the government’s delay in banning HHPs identified by the Anupam Verma Committee, has a major role to play. The case emerged following a public interest litigation by Kavitha Kuruganti and others filed in 2017. Statistics on suicide are notoriously unreliable due to stigma […]
