Reduce stress in Forces: Antony

Concerned over the suicide cases and clashes between armed forces personnel, Defence Minister A K Antony on Thursday told the top brass of the three defence services to take urgent measures to mitigate the stress-inducing factors.

In recent months, the Army has seen issues in forward units spiraling into full blown scuffles or stand-offs between officers and jawans. As per data, since 2000 India’s Army, Navy and Air Force have lost a total of 1,362 personnel in fratricides and another 83 soldiers to suicides. The high number of fratricide incidents indicates the high stress level amongst the troops. “The Defence Minister directed that incidents of fratricide should be brought to almost nil,” sources said. Antony had convened a special meeting of the Army, Navy and Air Force to discuss the issues of fratricide and suicide. The meeting was attended by Vice-Chiefs of the the three services.

Earlier this month, Antony had informed the Parliament that in  2011, 10,315 soldiers opted for premature retirement, while the corresponding figure for 2010 and 2009 was 7,249 and 7,499 respectively. Antony said that a separate study should be conducted for officers only, “to find out reasons behind increase in their stress levels and to suggest possible ways of reducing it to reasonable levels”.

Studies conducted by the Armed Forces had cited communication revolution as the major reason behind increasing stress levels, as soldiers in the gruelling forward areas were constantly disturbed with problems faced by their family back home. In view of this, the Defence Minister asked the Armed Forces to request the chief ministers of all states and the lieutenant governors of the Union Territories to create ‘redressal cells’ in all districts to look into the problems of Armed Forces personnel on a priority basis.