Editorial: Prevent suicides

The prolonged emotional stress in the most trying working conditions is taking a heavy toll on our security personnel. The growing number of suicides among the armed forces is a disturbing trend that needs to be stopped. According to the official figures submitted in Parliament, there have been 819 suicides — 642 in the Army, 29 in the Navy and 148 in the Air Force — in the last five years. Along with suicides, fratricidal killings occur at regular intervals among the paramilitary forces, particularly the CRPF. The recurring cases of suicides and fratricide call for an overhaul of the discipline enforcement mechanisms within the ranks of the armed forces. Concrete measures are needed, not just in terms of correcting the perception about the functioning of the security forces but also improving the working conditions and the overall welfare of the personnel. It may appear non-serious for civilians but for soldiers on field duty it is important to take a break and spend time with their families. The Defence Institute of Psychological Research (DIPR), which was asked to identify the factors causing suicides among troops, found that not getting timely leave was one of the stress factors triggering suicidal behaviour. Among the recommendations made by the DIPR are rationalising the system of granting leave, counselling at the time of leave, decrease workload, reduction in tenure of deployment, increase in pay and allowances, improvement in living conditions, building better interpersonal relations between the officers and men, training programmes in stress management and psychological counselling, enhancing basic and recreation activities and redress of grievances.

A more compassionate approach is needed to manage the precious human resources in a challenging workforce. While physical, medical, written and other factors are already built into the selection process, there is now an urgent need to include psychological evaluation of candidates at the entry level. Preventing suicides becomes all the more complex at the intermediate stage of career. From the change brought upon by joining the Services to entering into a marital relationship, an individual needs to grapple with multiple life dynamics. For this, a fresh psychological evaluation should be done at the vulnerable stages of service. Any negative outcome in the psychological assessment should lead to immediate steps such as professional counselling, buddy systems, feedback on domestic issues and their resolution, and discreet watch to eradicate the possibility of soldiers taking extreme measures. The fratricidal killing is an ominous trend among the paramilitary forces. In Chhattisgarh’s Maoist-infested Bastar alone, 15 jawans have lost their lives in fratricide cases in the last three years. Similar incidents have been reported from other hotspots too. The regularity with which such incidents involving security personnel are being reported from different parts of the country should be a matter of concern. There are larger issues relating to the working conditions of the security personnel.