Kamal Ghorui
MUMBAI: The death of a student by suicide at IIT-Kanpur on Tuesday again swivelled the spotlight on a mental health crisis on the campuses of India’s premier technical institutions: over a dozen young lives lost every year on average over the past five years.At least 65 students have taken their own lives across the Indian Institutes of Technology between Jan 2021 and Dec 2025, show figures kept by the Global IIT Alumni Support Group. As many as 30 suicides were recorded in the past two years (see box), raising concerns about institutional responsibility, and accountability. The deaths have occurred across undergraduate, PG and doctoral programmes, often followed by official statements attributing them to “personal” or “academic” stress.Also read | IIT-Kanpur shocker: PhD scholar jumps to death from 6th floor; probe underwayStudent bodies and alumni said such explanations flatten a more complex reality: one shaped by ‘relentless evaluation’, competitiveness, isolation and, in some cases, caste or language-based exclusion. Faculty members privately admit that warning signs are often missed, and interventions tend to arrive when distress has already reached a critical stage.The numbers at IITs sit within a far larger national tragedy. India recorded more than 13,000 student suicides in 2023, according to NCRB data, which translates into roughly 36 incidents every day.IIT Kanpur campus saw 30% of suicides over 2 yrs, fix accountability at top level: AlumnusSupreme Court has formed a task force to address mental health concerns and prevent student suicides. Dheeraj Singh, an IIT Kanpur alumnus (2004 batch) and founder of the Global IIT Alumni Support Group, called for direct accountability at the highest level. “The hon’ble Supreme Court has reaffirmed that mental health is an integral part of the Right to Life under Article 21,” he said.“Further, in the Saha vs State of Andhra Pradesh case, the court has ordered that student mental health be treated as a constitutional and institutional responsibility,” Singh added.
Singh wants accountability and hopes it will drive a change in mindset towards mental health.“Given that this is the ninth suicide death on IIT Kanpur campus (in 2 years), education ministry is urged to hold the director accountable for the serious state of mental health and consider bringing in a new head to improve the situation,” Singh said.The IIT Kanpur alumnus argued that figures show 30% of the suicide deaths over the last two years have been at IIT Kanpur, which is the highest toll in any of the 23 IITs in the country. IIT Kharagpur was a close second, recording seven suicides during this period.IIT Bombay, Singh pointed out, had only one suicide during this period though it has a higher number of students enrolled than Kanpur.
