Armed Forces’ suicide rate dipped in 2013
Defence Minister AK Antony's recent submission to Parliament that suicide rates in the Indian Armed Forces have dropped, following the implementation of a slew of preventive measures, is both welcome and well-timed. Steadily rising stress levels has meant that more Indian soldiers have lost their lives in battles against internal demons than were felled by enemy bullets in this past decade. In fact, throughout 2013, there were reports of indiscipline and insubordination from the Army. For a force that prides itself for being as professional as it is powerful, these incidents of soldiers turning their guns at themselves or at their peers, instead of pointing it at the enemy, have naturally been a cause for concern. More than 1,300 cases of suicide were reported from the Armed Forces between 2001 and 2011; in fact, at the start of this decade, the death toll stood at a menacing 132 suicides (for 2011) and the Army alone accounted for more than a hundred of the lives lost in that ill-fated year. Comparatively, 2013 saw the figure dip significantly to 91 suicides. Critics, of course, may say that the figure is still worryingly high — less than a month ago a soldier serving in Kashmir shot himself dead. But even if that’s the case, the Armed Forces deserve credit for crafting an effective and comprehensive solution and implementing it in a manner that has now produced tangible results.
Thorough studies that included proper psychological evaluations showed that the suicides were often the result of domestic pressures — as a result of which many of the cases happened soon after the soldiers returned from leave. Ideally, this is when they should have been at their personal best having been rejuvenated after a relaxing holiday. However, a trip back home had quite the opposite effect as the soldiers were faced with personal problems from marital discord to land disputes. In response, the Defence Minister took the extra-ordinary step of writing to all State Governments and urging them to ensure that the concerns of Armed Forces' personnel are dealt with in a sympathetic manner. Additionally, the Services have also incorporated yoga and meditation practices to de-stress the soldiers, liberalised their leave policies, bettered living and working conditions and firmed up the grievance redressal mechanism. They have also sought to foster better relations between officers and jawans. This is crucial given how terse relations between the two have fostered discontent in the rank and file. In October last year, there were at least two incidents — one in Meerut, the other in Batala, Punjab — of jawans getting into a brawl with their commanding officers. The year before that, in May, the artillery regiment in Nyoma in eastern ladakh went on a rampage after officers reportedly bashed up a jawan. Soon after, a similar incident was reported in Samba where jawans protested when one of their colleagues committed suicide after being refused emergency leave.