Since the start of the year, a tiny village in central India has seen an unprecedented eighty suicides While locals have blamed blame it on demon spirits, some researchers say that pesticides could be behind widespread depression. In a bizarre combination of financial distress, superstition and clinical depression, Khargone, has reported 381suicides in the past year. The continuing ‘depression’ forced the village to declare a state of emergency in early April. It was reported that the youngest resident who tried to attempt suicide was just 11 years old. Russia Today reports: The village of Badi in Khargone district has 320 families and each one has lost at least one family member to suicide, the newly elected head of the village, Rajendra Sisodiya, told The Times of India. Sisodiya took over as head of the village only after his cousin Jeevan, the former head, hanged himself from a tree in front of his house. Sisodiya’s mother and brother also took their own lives. Badi, which is home to 2,500 residents, has recorded over 350 suicides in the last two decades. But recently, things became much worse —during the first three months of 2016 there were 80 suicides, according to Amit Singh, [...]
