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| Olive blurred by increasing incidents of suicides, fratricides | | Jawans crumbling under COs' surging career curves | | Abodh Sharma
JAMMU, Feb 27: With Army top brass busy conducting studies to devise ways to curb increasing incidents of suicide and fratricide in the rank and file, sources disclose that ambitious commanders of operational battalions have been pushing Jawans to extreme conditions of physical and mental stress, which finally manifests in such incidents.
Though it has been commonly perceived that Jawans who have put in fewer years of service constitute the vulnerable group, the recent incidents involving those who have put in longer years in service would force the researchers within and outside the Army to review their findings.
The Directorate of Medical Services has concluded after conducting a comprehensive survey in the Army that lack of sleep and leisure, use of abusive language by the seniors, inability to pursue higher education and domestic problems were the reasons for extreme stress amongst the Jawans and other ranks. The report said that most soldiers were not getting even 3-4 hours of sleep in 24 hours and those who joined Army while pursuing college were deprived of opportunities to continue their studies which put them under stress.
Sources within the Army said that ambitious COs, who were worried about their own career prospects, were suffering from 'Second to None' syndrome. They always kept the troops on their toes so that they got favourable entries in their APRs from their seniors. "The career graph of a CO is directly related to the performance of the unit in various inter battalion competitions in military training, sports etc. and hence he always pushes his men to perform" agreed a retired senior officer.
While studies are being conducted to find out the reasons behind incidents of suicide in the Army, a thought needs to be given to delink the career progression of Commanding Officers with the showing of their troops so that they did not push them beyond bearable levels of stress to make them perform. |
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