Accidental, unnatural deaths and injuries: India
Contents |
TYPES OF ACCIDENTS
Electrocution
2011-15 (India); 2015-19 (U.P.)
July 27, 2019: The Times of India
;_and_U.P._(2015-19).jpg)
From: July 27, 2019: The Times of India
From: February 12, 2020: The Times of India
See graphics:
People who died of electrocution in India (2011-15); and U.P. (2015-19)
Deaths by electrocution in India, state-wise, 2015
With inputs from Pankaj Shah and Pankul Sharma in UP, Pjoychen Pulinkalayil in Rajasthan, Amarjeet Singh in Bhopal, Chittaranjan Tembhekar and Somit Sen in Mumbai
ELECTROCUTION KILLS NEARLY 30 INDIANS A DAY
Fatalities are high across states, and they are rising in many places as authorities turn a blind eye and discoms pass on the buck year after year
Saleem Saifi, 29, was on his way home when an overhead wire fell on him on a waterlogged road in Delhi’s Fatehpur Beri. Saifi was electrocuted along with passerby Hoshiar Singh who had rushed to his rescue. Both families have been distraught after losing their sole breadwinners. But the tragedy isn’t theirs alone.
Every year thousands of Indians are getting electrocuted in freak accidents on streets dotted with damaged power cables. In 2015 alone, 9,986 electrocution deaths were recorded across the nation with Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan each witnessing over 1,000 casualties, according to latest data available with the National Crime Records Bureau. The numbers may be shocking but they have done little to prompt authorities into action or get them to put safety checks in place. In fact, the problem seems to be getting worse.
TOI accessed data from the Directorate of Electrical Safety (UP) which showed that electrocution deaths in the state have almost doubled in the last seven years — from 570 in 2012-13 to nearly 1,120 in 2018-19. Authorities only swing into action when something big — like when 50 kids in UP’s Balrampur district were injured after a high tension wire fell on a school — gets into national headlines. The UP government then directed officials to prepare a list of schools with high tension wires passing above them. The state now plans to shift overhead lines and strengthen power infrastructure by repairing dilapidated wires and replacing bamboo poles with conventional electricity poles. Such measures were long needed in a state where more than 5,700 people have been electrocuted in the last seven years.
Experts said that in developing countries like India, there is less awareness on safety and electric equipment is often not used as per standards laid down. While the normal distance between two electric poles should be 50 feet and pillar height at least 18 feet, these guidelines are mostly flouted. Power lines have remained above ground where they are prone to physical deterioration and outages. Gusty winds can snap even the strongest lines and towers, letting them fall on unsuspecting victims, like in a recent incident in UP’s Sambhal where four kids were electrocuted in June as a live wire fell on a tube well pool where they were bathing. Sarvesh Saini, father of two boys who perished in the incident, told TOI, “There is no joy left in our lives.”
Such heart-rending incidents can be avoided through underground cabling. European countries like Germany and Denmark have already done that. A major reason power companies resist burying wires is that it costs several times than stringing it overhead. Thus, many in India continue to reside in houses where high-tension wires are very close to the roof. In July, Riya Devyani, 10, was playing on the terrace of her house in Housing Board Colony, Ajmer, when she suffered 70% burn injuries; her right hand was amputated.
In Madhya Pradesh, high tension wires electrocuted 1,708 in 2016. Sukhveer Singh, MD of Madhya Pradesh Power Management Company Limited (MPPMCL), said people are advised to build houses at safe distance from power lines yet only a few heed this warning. According to chief personnel officer of Jaipur Vidyut Vitran Nigam, Rakesh Sharma, 293 electrocution deaths and 108 injuries recorded in Rajasthan in 2018-19 were attributed to negligence of power companies. In April and May this year, power firms have been held responsible for 63 fatalities.
Public representatives have been demanding shifting of electricity cables underground. But no one wants to foot the bill. Power companies argue that most colonies where cable lines are dangerously close were unapproved and came long after the power infrastructure was already in place. “It is the local administration that regularised the colonies. They should pay to move power infrastructure underground,” said an electricity official in Mumbai.
Consumer rights activist Anil Galgali said, “We are demanding inspection of all areas by power firms to point out any flaw or exposed wires which can lead to electrocution.” But an official from a power utility firm categorically said it was not possible. “We check regularly for faulty wiring but it is not possible to check every building daily,” he said.
Experts believe that basic precautions by public such as getting wiring and earthing checked in their premises can also curb down such incidents. According to electrical expert K K K Nair, whose firm manufactures electrical safety equipment, said that even normal domestic electric supply (230 volts) with 100 milliampere (mA) current can prove fatal if wires do not have proper earthing and effective electrical circuit breakers (ELCBs). The real measure of an electric shock’s intensity lies in the amount of current (amperes) forced through the body and not the voltage.
2004-15, 17: unnatural deaths
October 21, 2018: The Times of India
From: Atul Thakur, 39 lakh deaths in last 12 yrs were avoidable: Govt data, October 21, 2018: The Times of India
From: October 21, 2018: The Times of India
While road and rail accidents contribute the chunk of avoidable deaths, incidents involving explosions and house collapse, mostly as a result of regulatory lapses at factories and in construction, too, account for a sizeable number of such casualties. Further, National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) data for 2004-2015 shows that falls and electrocution were big killers. each claiming over 1 lakh lives during the 12-year period.
After roads, drowning is the second-largest killer, accounting for more than 3 lakh deaths between 2004-2015. While over 8,000 people were killed because their boat capsized, the remaining deaths were caused by people accidentally falling into water bodies. The data shows that like traffic accidents, cases of death by drowning also increased over the years.
In 2004, drowning caused over 21,000 deaths with figure increasing to about 30,000 for 2015. “It has been noticed that there are certain spots where drowning incidents are common. But because of various administrative issues very little can be done about these spots. For instance, the Bawana canal in outer Delhi has steep walls on both sides at several spots; a person who accidently falls into the canal will have little chance of climbing back. Because of administrative issues, very little can be done to rectify that”, said a senior official.
Railway tracks and crossings are deadly spots, too. Between 2004 and 2015, over 26,000 lives were lost in accidents at railway crossings alone. A senior IAS officer says that the removal of illegal structures that stand alongside railway tracks can significantly reduce the number of such deaths. However, these constructions prove difficult to remove because of political reasons. Other major causes of avoidable deaths are fire, falls and electrocution, each of which kills lakhs of people.
All accidents are avoidable, but the Amritsar tragedy would rank among the most avoidable ones. If only organisers of the event had appealed to the people to get off the railway tracks, instead of lauding them for being there. If only the train could have been stopped or slowed. If only the effigy was lit a few minutes later. Any of these could have saved 59 lives on Friday evening.
Ironically the count of avoidable deaths—classified as unnatural accidents by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB)—is very high in India.
Such accidents killed more than 39 lakh people between 2004 and 2015. Accidents at railway tracks and crossings alone caused over 26,000 deaths during the period, that’s six deaths a day.
Among deaths caused by unnatural accidents, road mishaps are the largest killer, claiming about 15 lakh lives during the 12-year period. In 2015 — the latest year for which data is available — about 1.5 lakh people were killed in road accidents, a figure 64% higher than road accident fatalities in 2004.
“Faulty traffic engineering and poor enforcement, awareness and regulation are to be blamed for many of these accidents”, said a senior IPS officer, who added that weather conditions and topography further contribute to making many spots accident prone. After roads, drowning is the second-largest killer, accounting for more than 3 lakh deaths between 2004-2015. Other major causes of avoidable deaths are fire, falls and electrocution, each of which kills lakhs of people.
2007-13
See graphic, 'Accidental deaths: 2004-13'
2013: an increase in accidental deaths
34% of accidental deaths take place on roads
Deeptiman Tiwary
The Times of India Jul 01 2014
More people died of accidental causes in 2013 than the previous one with men out-numbering women in all kinds of such casualties except `fire accidents'. The latest data from National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) for 2013 shows that a total of 4,00,517 people died of accidental deaths in 2013, an increase of 1.4% over the previous year.
Road accidents continue to be the major cause of unnatural accidental deaths recording 34.3% of all deaths, followed by `sudden deaths' (7.8%), `drowning' (7.5%), `poisoning' (7.3%), `railway accidents' (7.2%) and `fire accidents' (5.5%).
In the last category , 65.7% of those killed were females, as compared to 34.3% males.
The data show that the rate of deaths per thousand vehicles has decreased from 1.4 in 2009 to 0.9 in 2013, but is highest in Bihar and Sikkim at 1.6 followed by West Bengal at 1.5.
2014
2014: Rail accidents
The Times of India, Jul 20 2015
Mahendra Singh
`Rail accidents killed 25,000 in 2014'
Over 25,000 people died and 3,882 were injured in railway accidents in 2014, a government report has said. The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report said 28,360 cases of `railway accidents' were reported during the year, showing a decrease of 9.2% compared to 2013 (31,236 cases).
The majority of railway accidents (61.6%) were due to fall from trains or collision with people on the tracks (17,480 out of 28,360 cases), the report said.
Maharashtra reported the maximum such cases, accounting for 42.5% of total cases of fall from train or collision of trains with people. A railway official said most such cases were reported from suburban services in the state and that a campaign is being run to educate people not to cross the tracks.
A total of 469 cases of railway accidents occurred due to mechanical defects like poor design, rack faults, bridgetunnel aults. In Andhra Pradesh, 385 persons died in railway acci dents due to mechanical defects.
Sabotage by extremiststerroristsothers caused 13 and five railways accidents in MP and UP respectively that led to loss of 18 lives. It was found that around 60 accidents were reported due to fault of drivers that killed 67 people. Interestingly, most railway accidents (4,966 out of 28,360) were reported between 6am and 9am, accounting for 17.5% of the total.
2014: Accidents claim more lives than natural calamities
The Times of India,,Jul 21 2015
Deeptiman Tiwary
Human error a bigger killer in India than natural calamities
In 2014, over 3L lives lost in accidents
Over 15 times more people die in human error-induced (unnatural) accidents than natural calamities almost every year. Among the unnatural causes of accidents, drowning and accidental fire killed most people after road or rail accidents in 2014. Latest data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) shows that while 20,000 people died in natural calamities across the country in 2014, human error claimed 3,16,828 lives. While majority of these people (about 1.7 lakh) died in traffic accidents, drowning killed close to 30,000 people to become the second biggest killer. Accidental fire took the third spot claiming about 20,000 lives.
For the first time, the NCRB has segregated the `unnatural causes' data into two categories -one which involves hu man error and `other causes' involving incidents such as heart attack, death during pregnancy , animal attacks and hooch tragedies among others.In the `other' category , NCRB has recorded 1.15 lakh deaths.Earlier these data were part of unnatural causes'.
Human error-induced accidental deaths have been increasing every year registering a growth of over 22% in he past 10 years. If the `others' category -segregated his year -is added to this, he increase is of over 66% since 2004. The positive, however, is that deaths due to natural calamities have been contained to an average of 20,000 since 2004. In the past 10 years, deaths in this category ncreased by only 6%. Given hat the population during his period increased by over 14%, this is an achievement that successive governments can be proud of. It is in a way also a reflection of improving capability of disaster mitigation measures and response.
When adjusted to population growth, deaths due to natural calamities show a declining trend over the past 10 years. The opposite of human error-induced accidents.
According to the NCRB, the rate of accidental deaths (both natural and unnatural) -per 1 akh population -has grown from 25 in 2004 to 36 in 2014. Given that the rate of deaths in natural causes has been declining, it shows badly on human error deaths -primarily traffic accidents, drowning and fire. This points to both lack of public awareness and the government's failure to make such places safe for public.
2015, 2016
Bharti Jain, Nov 9, 2019: The Times of India
The rate of accidental deaths (per lakh of population) remained unchanged at 32.8 in 2016 as compared to 2015, though in absolute terms accidental deaths across the country rose to around 4.18 lakh from 4.13 lakh. However, both the rate of suicides and its absolute numbers declined from 10.6 to 10.3 and 1.34 lakh to 1.31 lakh respectively between 2015 and 2016.
According to data on ‘Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India’ for the year 2016 released by NCRB, a total of 8,684 persons died all over India due to causes attributable to the forces of nature, while over 4.09 lakh persons were killed in accidents due to other causes, including deliberate or negligent conduct of human beings.
Out of 8,684 accidental deaths attributable to forces of nature in 2016, 38.2% deaths occurred due to lightning, 15.4% due to heat/sun stroke and 8.9% deaths due to floods. Regarding the 4.09 lakh persons killed accidentally due to “other causes”, traffic accidents accounted for 43.4% deaths, sudden deaths for 10.2%, drowning 7.3%, poisoning 5.6%, falls for 4.2% and accidental fires for 4.1% deaths.
As per the latest NCRB data, suicide rate in cities was higher at 13 than the all-India rate of 10.3. Nearly 68.4% of the males and 64.4% of the females who committed suicide were married.
But more farm hands than cultivators killed themselves
Vishwa Mohan , Nov 9, 2019: The Times of India
Even as farmer suicides in India declined by nearly 10% in 2016 compared to 2015, the latest report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) shows that the drop is mainly due to reduction in suicides by cultivators whereas the number of agricultural labourers who took their own lives increased that year.
The share of agricultural labourers in total farm suicides was higher than cultivators in 17 out of 29 states in 2016. This trend is seen even in the top 10 states where higher number of farmer suicides were reported. Five states in the list — Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Haryana — had reported more number of suicides by farm labourers than cultivators. Other such states include UP, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh and Kerala among others.
All 250 farmer suicides in Haryana were reportedly by agricultural labourers in the state — a sign of stress faced by them even though 2016 was a good crop year after two consecutive drought years.
This in effect could mean that benefits of higher farm production did not reach farm labourers who had to depend on wages decided by cultivators. The other five states in the list — Maharashtra, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Punjab — however reported more suicides by cultivators than by labourers.
2019
Dipak Dash, September 2, 2020: The Times of India
India registered 48 accidental deaths every hour last year, which was marginally higher than 2018, according to the latest report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
Deaths caused due to traffic crashes, which include road and railway accidents, accounted for nearly 44% of the total 4.1 lakh accidental deaths, which exclude fatalities due to flood, avalanche, heat stroke and lightning. Cause-wise analysis of road accidents show that nearly 60% of the total accidents which caused 86,241 deaths were due to speeding. Dangerous, careless driving or overtaking claimed 42,557 lives.
Interestingly, the report shows that the number of people killed by heart attacks increased to 28,000 last year compared to 23,900 in 2018 — the maximum jump in deaths among all causes.
Maha & MP top list in deaths due to accidents
Road accidents had a major share of traffic crashes-related deaths at 1.6 lakh out of the total 1.8 lakh fatalities. According to NCRB, the total road fatalities was around 1.5 lakh in 2018. The data also shows that nearly 28,000 “railway accidents” claimed 24,619 lives and another 17,62 people died in “railway crossing accidents”.
The report says out of 4.2 lakh accidental deaths, 8,145 were due to forces of nature and the rest were due to other causes. In 2019, there was an increase of 18.2% in deaths due to forces of nature and 2% due to other causes as compared to 2018. Maharashtra reported the highest number of accidental deaths (70,329), followed by MP (42,431) and UP (40,596). Nearly 31% of the victims of accidental deaths were in the age group of 30-45 years. As per the report, in the traffic accidents category, UP reported the maximum deaths at 27,661.
PART B
Accidents, suicides
1969-2019
September 4, 2020: The Times of India
From: September 4, 2020: The Times of India
Males account for 81% accident deaths
The gender skew in deaths due to accidents and suicides in India has got wider over the years with males now accounting for over 80% of accidental deaths and more than 70% of suicides. Half a century ago, those proportions were around 63% and 60%, respectively.
In case of suicides, this change has happened largely over the last 20 years, while in accidental deaths, the process has been more prolonged and driven mostly by road accidents accounting for a larger share of them now. Data released from National Crime Records Bureau publication Accidental Deaths & Suicides shows there were 4.2 lakh accidental deaths in 2019.
Males accounted for just over 70% of suicides in 2019
Of the 4.2 lakh accidental deaths in 2019, 3.4 lakh were males and just under 81,000 females while 37 were transgender. That’s 81% male or a ratio of over four males for every female, a significant change from fifty years ago. In 1969, males accounted for a little over 82,000 of the 1.3 lakh accidental deaths or about 63% while females accounted for a little under 49,000. That was a ratio of 1.7 male deaths for every female death in accidents.
The data also shows that of the 1.4 lakh suicides in 2019, nearly 98,000 were male and close to 41,500 were female. That makes the male share just over 70% and the male-female ratio in suicides about 2.4:1. Once again, this is considerably more skewed than in 1969, when there just under 26,000 male suicides and about 17,700 female suicides, a ratio of 1.5:1.
What explains the increased skew? In the case of accidents, one reason is the increasing contribution of road accidents. Half a century ago, road accidents accounted for just about 5% of all accidental deaths – 7,071 of 1.3 lakh in 1969. In 2019, they accounted for close to 37% of the total – 1.5 lakh of 4.2 lakh. Road accident victims have always been overwhelmingly male for obvious reasons. In 2019, 1.3 lakh of the 1.5 lakh people who died in road accidents were male. As they account for a larger share of all accidental deaths, therefore, the gender skew gets accentuated.
Compensation for damanges
2019: HC awards ₹63L for ‘forced celibacy’
Srikkanth D, Nov 25, 2019: The Times of India
Forced abstinence from sex is a violation of fundamental rights under Article 21 of the Constitution, the Madras high court said while raising 12-fold the compensation awarded to a man who became a paraplegic after an electric post fell on him on a Chennai road in 2008.
N Ananda Kumar was 26 years old when the accident damaged his spinal cord and left him with 100% disability.
The Chennai civic body had appealed against the Rs 5 lakh compensation awarded by a single-judge HC bench and sought that the case be referred to a civil court. The division bench of Justice N Kirubakaran and Justice P Velmurugan dismissed the appeal, saying the civic body’s negligence not only left Ananda Kumar wheelchairdependent but also destroyed his chances of marriage.
Man stayed bachelor against his will: Court
The bench held that the victim remained a bachelor against his wish because of paraplegia and was, therefore, deprived of marital pleasure and bliss. Terming this a violation of human rights, the court cited medical literature to emphasise its point that forced abstinence has negative health consequences.
The bench suo motu enhanced the compensation to Rs 63.26 lakh, saying the reason for a court’s existence was to do justice and not to direct the parties involved in litigation to approach various forums — in this case, a civil court.
In the appeal, counsel for the city corporation had argued that the contract to repair the electric post was outsourced and there was no negligence on the part of the civic body. It said Ananda Kumar was “carelessly” walking down the road while speaking on his cellphone. “Had he avoided speaking on the cell phone, and had he noticed the work being carried out, the accident could have been avoided,” the counsel said.
The original verdict by a single-judge bench had noted that: “It was not only the contention of the victim, but also that of the electricity board that there was negligence on part of the corporation and improper welding caused the accident,” the division bench noted.
Medical certification of cause of death
2018
Rema Nagarajan, August 18, 2020: The Times of India
From: Rema Nagarajan, August 18, 2020: The Times of India
Less than one out of five deaths in India is medically certified to denote cause of death. Deaths with medical certification of the cause were a mere 2.5% of estimated deaths in Jharkhand, 3.1% in Uttar Pradesh and 4.7% in Bihar. This emerges from an analysis of data from two reports released by the census commissioner’s office.
This assumes greater significance at a time when a debate is raging on whether Covid-19 deaths are being accurately counted. The problem in states such as Bihar, UP and Jharkhand is two-fold – a low level of deaths registrations and a low proportion of even registered deaths being certified for cause. In Bihar, data from the Civil Registration System (CRS) for 2018 shows that only 35% of deaths were registered, the lowest proportion among major states. And, of those registered, only one in seven was certified for cause of death, according to the report on Medical Certification of Cause of Death (MCCD).
Over 50 years after passing legislation to make registration of births and deaths compulsory, while the registration of deaths has reached 86% of the estimated deaths, certification remains low. Among larger states, only Tamil Nadu, has about 45% of registered deaths medically certified.
In some states, a high share of registered deaths are certified but the proportion of deaths registered is low. Thus, the proportion of total deaths for which the cause is certified is low. For instance, Telangana with 37.4% of registered deaths being certified seems to perform better than Maharashtra with 35%. However, only 58% of deaths were registered in Telangana compared to over 98% in Maharashtra.
Just over 1/3rd of deaths in institutions: Report
As per the report, the MCCD scheme captures mostly deaths in medical institutions in urban areas. Thus, it largely misses out on rural India, where two-thirds of the population lives. Its coverage in urban areas too is patchy with wide variations between states. From covering just 15 states in 1991, MCCD now covers 35 states and UTs. The CRS report shows that just over onethird of deaths happened in institutions. Thus, two thirds of deaths would be outside the MCCD scheme.
There are provisions for a separate form for non-institutional deaths attended by medical practitioners. The form is in a prescribed format with the immediate cause of death recorded first and the underlying cause, the last. The underlying cause is the morbid condition that initiated the chain of events leading to death. “Though the process of MCCD is part of the MBBS curriculum, doctors should be mentored and assisted in real life scenarios,” said Dr P Giridara Gopal, researcher in community medicine in AIIMS, Delhi
