The people of the panchayat were generally soft and tend to develop intimate friendships and expectations which in some cases had led to suicides, officials said.

Chief Psychiatrist of the District Mental Health Programme Dr Periyar Lenin said such people needed frequent counselling to build a strong mind that would withstand any shock.

"We should cultivate in them the habit of being humorous, philosophical see wit and satire in ordinary things. In olden days, moral classes and religious lectures helped people to keep a mental balance," said Rajesh, a counsellor.

Absence of adequate employment opportunities to the men folk which left the women to turn the breadwinner by collecting fuel, weaving mats and other works, often leads to frequent quarrels between the couples and subsequent suicides of either of them, a study undertaken by the District Mental Health Programme says.

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme should be fine tuned in such a way to help residents of such villages. Unfortunately the programme helped only "better off villages" in the district, said P Kulandaivelu, a local resident.

One reason attributed by some of the participants at the camp to the suicides was drinking habit. In at least 30 per cent of cases, the victims were found drunk. At least five persons had ended their lives after facing false police cases.

The participants said proper education and employment were needed to end the suicides in the panchayat.

The villagers also speak of a legend for the suicide mentality.

According to Panneer, an 80-year-old man, early in the last century a girl and a boy in the village had fallen in love. Faced with opposition to their love from the villagers, the two had tried to flee the village and get married.

But they were nabbed by the villagers and set ablaze after bundling them in hay. The couple had then cursed that untimely deaths and suicides would occur in the village.