The Union Home Ministry has given nod to Indo-Tibetan Border Police’s (ITBP) maiden proposal to recruit 44 ‘stress-cum-teaching’ counsellors directly in the rank of Head Constables. It is for the first time that stress counsellors are being hired directly to curb behavioural disorders including suicides amongst the troops.
Till now, paramilitary forces including ITBP either used to choose and train some of its regular combat personnel in counselling techniques or invited domain experts beyond its ranks to counsel the troops and elevate their morale and self esteem.
The ITBP with a strength of nearly 80,000 personnel is deployed in some of the most difficult terrains of the Himalayan heights amidst the harshest of weathers along the 3,488-km long icy Indo-China border.
The vacancies are open for both men and women candidates in the age group of 20-25 years. An essential qualification for aspirants is to possess a Bachelor’s degree with Psychology as an essential subject of study or a graduation with B.Ed.
Officials said these personnel will be recruited by June this year after which they will be put under routine force training before being commissioned.
The counsellors are to be rotated at all ITBP locations to not only give ‘pep talks’ but also identify and alert colleagues and superiors upon finding stress-related symptoms in an individual, they said.
Other paramilitary forces will also recruit such counselors directly in the near future, the officials said.
Over the years, paramilitary forces have witnessed a number of incidents of suicides, fratricides, troops suffering from psychological problems, in some cases, warranting psychiatric help, besides instances of emotional and mental breakdown.
Past analysis by the forces has found tough working conditions and staying away from family for long durations as some of the major reasons for these problems.
The Home Ministry had last year asked these forces to hold regular yoga sessions, make easy the mechanism of granting leave and other facilities to troops and officers working in other paramilitary forces like CRPF, BSF, CISF, SSB, NDRF and NSG.
The salary offered to these counsellors in ITBP is over `20,000 per month, excluding allowances payable to paramilitary personnel according to applicable Government norms.