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| Antony draws up plan to combat Army fratricides | | |
Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 03: Defence Minister A K Antony has said that new methods would be tried to tackle stress levels affecting soldiers in the Army that is leading to suicides and fratricides.
Speaking, at the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee headquarters here, Antony hinted at the possibility of inducting more counsellors in sensitive field areas like Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast, owing to high stress laden environment prevailing in these areas.
The recent killing of Lieutenant Colonel Saket Saxena of 28 Rashtriya Rifles (RR), has sparked off a controversy regarding killings within the army and their causes. Originally from the 5th battalion of the Jammu and Kashmir Rifles Regiment, Lt.Col. Saxena was shot dead on October 31 by a soldier of the same regiment who had returned from leave. The court of inquiry is in progress.
Recently a soldier of the 60 Rashtriya Rifles in Jammu's Rajouri District shot two of his colleagues before shooting himself with his service revolver.
In another incident, a sepoy posted in Rajouri District's Naria area, shot three army personnel dead with his service weapon and injured two others. Captain Sumit Kohli and Captain Sushmita Chakraborty committed suicide in Jammu and Kashmir.
The recently held Army Commanders Conference discussed the stress levels among the troops in the counter-insurgency areas.
As compared to the 77 suicide cases reported last year, 81 cases have already been reported this year so far. There were 100 cases in 2004 and 96 in 2003.
The Army has already come up with two Rest and Recuperation (R and R) centres in Srinagar and Dalhousie for its men and officers to combat and relieve stress. There are plans for two psychiatric centres also at the Northern and Eastern Commands, which have been approved already. Informal interaction among its junior and senior cadres is also being encouraged.
Figures indicate that the number of suicides per lakh personnel in the 1.1 million strong Indian Army is at 10.8 whereas the figure for the US Army stands at 17 and the Royal and French armies are at 14 and 18 soldiers per lakh.
Though the comparison both in size and engagement is between unequal armies, the army commanders have realised and reiterated that the figures are actually low for a force, two-thirds of which is deployed in active operations.
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