Himalaya Harbinger, Uttarakhand Bureau
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 year
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
Student bodies and alumni said such Water Heaters upto 40% off 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: Alumnus
Supreme 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 aconstitutional and institutional responsibility,” Singh added
