For nearly three decades, Kota was a one-word answer. Ask any small-town family in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh or the Northeast where a bright child should go to chase an IIT or AIIMS seat, and the reply came back instantly. Today, that answer no longer arrives so easily. At least 29 students died by suicide in Kota in 2023, the highest figure in eight years according to data compiled by independent researchers. Student numbers, which had peaked at around 2 to 2.5 lakh, fell to roughly 85,000 to 1 lakh