Over 800 cases of suicide in the Armed Forces: Why our soldiers are so stressed

The Centre has said 819 armed forces personnel died by suicide over the last five years, with the Indian Army accounting for 642 such cases alone.

Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt, in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, said the Indian Air Force reported 148 cases of suicide, while Indian Navy saw 29 such cases.

The minister’s reply on Monday came following a question on the number of servicemen and ex-servicemen who committed suicide in the last five years.

This isn’t a new concern either.

As per The Times of India, 1,100 Indian defence personnel died by suicide between 2010 and 2019 with the army recording most cases.

The army has been losing more personnel every year through suicides, fratricides and other non-combat incidents than in the actual line of duty.

Armed forces in the country have been losing over 100 soldiers every year due to non-combat reasons, with one soldier dying nearly every third day by either suicide or an attack by a brother soldier.

But why are our armed forces so stressed? Let’s take a closer look:

Long duty hours, lack of sleep

A piece in The Quint noted long hours of duty, sometimes, up to 15 and 16 hours a day, as the core contributor to high stress.

The piece also blamed lack of adequate and continuous sleep due to extended hours of duty.

The situation is made worse by frequent and prolonged withdrawal of troops for non-core functions, the piece noted. During elections to state Assemblies in 2021 and 2022, almost a third of the border forces on such duty for nearly three months.

Little surprise then that CAF troops suffer from high stress as they have to face disrupted sleep throughout their deployment, the piece noted.

As per News9, a 2019-2020 study conducted by the United Service Institution of India (USI) showed that over half the army soldiers are “under severe stress” and noted a “significant increase in stress levels” among Indian Army personnel over the last two decades due to operational and non-operational reasons.

Deployment in conflict areas

News9 cited research by USI Senior Research Fellow, Colonel AK Mor showing “prolonged exposure of Indian Army personnel to a CI (counter-insurgency) /CT (counter-terrorism) environment has been one of the contributory factors for increased stress levels."

A piece in The Frontline noted that academics seem inclined to link the trend with stress and trauma related to the soldiers’ active duty in operations ‘since most of these incidents take place in Jammu and Kashmir or in the northeastern region’.

There is widespread agreement that deployment in counter-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir and the northeastern region is likely to impact the mental health of security personnel, the piece noted.

The Times of India noted that soldiers posted in forward or “field areas” undergo tremendous stress for not being able to take care of the problems facing their families back home, which could range from property disputes and harassment by anti-social elements to financial and marital problems.

“Earlier, the news from the home-front came periodically. Now, they get updates 24x7 through mobile phones, which have certainly added to the rise in stress levels,” a senior officer told the newspaper.

Leadership issues, apathy of authorities

The USI study also blamed army leadership for low morale amongst juniors.

It stated that some of the major organisational causes of stress amongst officers were “inadequacies in the quality of leadership, overburdened commitments, inadequate resources, frequent dislocations, lack of fairness and transparency in postings and promotions, downgradation in pay and status, inadequate promotional avenues, lack of motivation amongst juniors, non-grant of leave, indifferent attitude of civilian officials and short command tenures.”

As per The Quint, leadership’s expectation of zero errors on duty is also to blame.

Senior leadership, unaware of the ground realities, fails to realise that factors such as terrain, weather, crime pattern and shortage of troops make achieving flawlessness an uphill task, the piece noted.

“The domination systems remain manpower-intensive with outdated technology. The full potential of intelligence efforts as a force multiplier aimed at reducing the burden on troops has not been realised. Better technology and intelligence efforts will go a long way in reducing the stress and strain on troops,” the piece added.

The Times of India noted that the  Defence Institute of Psychological Research (DIPR) had blamed the “perceived humiliation and harassment, over and above their occupational and familial causes, at the hands of their superiors often served as the final trigger for soldiers to commit suicide.

Speaking to The Times of India, a senior officer said police and civil district administrations around the country are largely unresponsive to grievances of soldiers and their families. “A battalion commander could earlier talk to the civilian district authorities to resolve personal problems of his soldiers but that is no longer the case,” the officer added.

‘Armed forces continuously evolving measures’

“For management of stress and suicides in services, the armed forces are continuously evolving measures to improve the stress mitigating mechanisms. An elaborate mental health programme has been formulated and is in vogue since 2009,” Bhatt said.

He said various mechanisms to observe and identify armed forces personnel with problems such as depression and suicidal tendencies are in place.

“Personnel at high risk of stress are identified and counselled by unit commanding officers, regimental medical officers and junior leaders as per laid down procedures,” the minister said.

He said all the personnel returning to the units after leave are interviewed, counselled and medically examined by the regimental medical officers.

“Sessions for stress management are organised by commanders and psychiatrists at all major stations. Counselling is an intrinsic component of 23 psychiatric centres in the Army manned by well trained and qualified psychiatrists and psychiatric nursing assistants,” Bhatt added.

The Rajya Sabha Secretariat uploaded the questions on its website on Tuesday.

With inputs from agencies

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