THE RELEVANCE OF EMILE DURKHEIM’S ANOMIC SUICIDE AND COVID-19 IN INDIA: FAILURE OF INDIAN POLITICAL ADMINISTRATIVE GOVERNANCE

AUTHORS – Dr. NAGHMA FAROOQUI, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR AT DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY,ALIGARH.

BEST CITATION – Dr. NAGHMA FAROOQUI, THE RELEVANCE OF EMILE DURKHEIM’S ANOMIC SUICIDE AND COVID-19 IN INDIA: FAILURE OF INDIAN POLITICAL ADMINISTRATIVE GOVERNANCE, ILE JOURNAL OF GOVERNANCE AND POLICY REVIEW, 1 (1) OF 2023, PG. 118-127, APIS – 3920-0032 | ISSN – 2583 – 8032

ABSTRACT

Concept: This article is a short commentary note on the relevance of Durkheim’s anomic suicide in India during COVID-19. The previously disorganized socio-economic upheavals, adding the prolonged lockdown phase strating from three months to an endless restrictive mobility from one place to another stimulated a mental state of alienation and disintegration among the ‘Proletariat’ class in India.

Aim: The paper argues that persistent maniacal policies and unempathetic governance have institutionalized suicide among the destitute prone to individual alienation. The idea pressed by the paper is that it isn’t the pandemic that undermines the concept of Durkheim’s ‘organic solidarity’ but the lack of strategic vision to rebuild a malleable community orientation that speculated depression, over-anxiety, and suicidal thoughts among the most marginalized.

Conclusion: Durkheim’s comprehension regarding the hyper-industrialization in developing societies spur sociological and mental instability that trigger suicide as an eventual destination for a human mind and body struggling from poverty, economic crisis, caste-dilemma so on and so forth. The usual upsurges after socio-economic disturbances or contingent pandemics require deep-seated collective representation advocating egalitarian functioning.

Limitation of the Study: The study is not based on primary statistical data due to which a generalization on mass-basis is not possible.

Keywords: Anomic Suicide, Organic Solidarity, COVID-19, Social Integration, Collective Representation.