Defence Notes

New Delhi, 2 January 2007  

Cowards commit suicide, wisemen face the stress, a way of life, bravely. The old saying comes to mind as one repeatedly learns of increasing number of suicides in India’s armed forces.  A record number of military personnel have succumbed to fast emerging trend to which the defence policy planners have concernedly woken up at long last.  They have seriously started thinking about the causes of suicides, of continuing stress that leads the men in uniform to take the extreme step.  The latest worrisome incident is the pulling of the trigger on himself by Lt.-Col Pankaj Jha. Why did he take the extreme step?

For one who has been associated with India’s armed forces for nearly five decades, the reasons are not far to seek: Faulty selection at recruitment stage, lack of interest in military career and bad management of the forces.  According to Jha’s mother, Lalita Jha, “there were no tensions, no problems. I just can’t understand why he did it.” This sad incident is not the rare one of its kind. During the last three years, that is during 2004-06, more soldiers have taken their lives than those killed in militant attacks. As many as 408 soldiers have taken their lives, killed colleagues or died after colleagues ran amok. Of them, 333 killed themselves.

The increasing number of such incidents is rightly attributed to the fact the even though the Indian Army has not fought any full blown war after 1971 (Kargil in 1999 was not a war in the right sense), the million strong force is bogged down in deployment in Jammu and Kashmir and the north-eastern area for fighting militancy, guarding the borders and duties in aid of civil power, a very bad trend which requires examination at greater length another time.  Several retired officers of the glorious days of the Indian Army attribute the trend to low morale, bad service conditions, inadequate home leave, better options available to the youth and communication gap between the Officer and his men.

This kind of a diagnosis of the problem is undoubtedly correct. But it does not take one to the root of the crisis, as stated earlier in this column: gradually deteriorating quality of personnel in the forces, especially the officer cadre whose responsibility is to look after the men (and now women also) under their command. That reminds me of a controversy in early 1950s between those who favoured the selection of boys for entry into the armed forces on the criteria prescribed by the psychiatrist and those opposed to it. In fact, the entire 13^th course at the Indian Military Academy had undergone the same pre-selection exercise at the Services Selection Boards to ensure if the Gentleman Cadets were proving true to the psychiatrist’s assessment to which the GTOs (group testing officers) in the SSBs did not always agree.

The basis of selection is continuing since then.  And now the Director-General of Armed Forces Medical Service, Vice Admiral V.K. Singh has disclosed that the army has planned to recruit as many as 400 psychiatrists to cope with the stress within its ranks that has led to an increase in fratricidal killings and suicides. Although the Army has enough psychiatrists, including those who help in the selection of boys at the SSBs, the new plan has stipulated recruitment of post-graduate psychiatrist officers, who are good at counselling. The reason why such persons are proposed to be recruited in officer rank is  to ensure that other officers in the Army feel free to approach them.  However, the need for counselling should not arise if the rejection of a candidate for recruitment at the SSB itself is respected.

At the recruitment level, the psychiatrist plays a prominent role in selection.  He determines through the answers of questions he prepares for the candidates at the SSB whether or not he is fit temperamentally to join the armed forces. But it is unfortunate that in view of the fact that not enough young men with the required OLQ (officer-like qualities) are willing to join the forces, the guidelines for selection are being increasingly relaxed.  The result? Boys temperamentally unfit for military life get into the officer cadre of the forces. Even after years of services, they are unable to face the stress and take the extreme step of taking their lives themselves.

What creates stress while on duty?  The greatest thing, to my mind, is the deployment of the Army to handle insurgency and in aid of administration under the control of civil officers.  This kind of deployment keeps the Army personnel on duty at a stretch without home leave due to them. They are allowed leave for two months in a year, but only a few are permitted to go home for full entitled leave.  The situation is made worse by the shortage of officers in almost every Army unit.  Only the other day, I met a Lt.-Col. posted in Bhopal.  He was given leave for only 13 days, because there were only nine officers against the authorized strength of 19.  Being the 2 I/C (second-in-command) he could not be relieved for more time.

It needs to be clearly understood, as stated by the DGAFMS the other day, “if there is one weakness of the Indian soldier it is the family. Most have committed suicides in the recent past after returning from home and in most cases the cause has been found to be domestic rather than professional.” This reason seems to have been registered at the highest level. Defence Minister A.K. Antony has written personal letters to all the Chief Ministers, advising them to keep in touch with the families of military personnel doing duty away from home. Their problems should be resolved on priority basis. Looking at the present trends in the administration at the State level, there is little possibility for the implementation of Antony’s advice.

The reality is that the men in uniform do not get the “izzat” they used to receive during the earlier years of independence.  This, naturally, discourages the youth from joining the armed forces, which in our times was considered a prestigious career.  Any student in a college/university selected for training in the Indian Military Academy (IMA) was considered as a great pride for the institution he attended.  Today, things are different. When my son graduated from Delhi University I advised him to have a try for a military career. He and his mother ridiculed me. Good, intelligent young men today opt for other careers which offer them on entry higher salaries than what a General gets after going through the rigours for 35-40 years. And, unfortunately, there is no point in arguing with the youth in favour of a military career.

There is no denying the fact that the Government of India has taken several initiatives to improve the lot of the armed forces; two cadre reviews have been undertaken and more promotion avenues with higher salaries created. But certain serious shortcomings mentioned earlier need to be taken care of. Hoping the policy planners will seriously look into militarymen’s genuine problems soon, I wish the Army a very happy and prosperous new year. Today, they need to resolve: They should not kill themselves like cowards, they are trained to kill the enemy. ---INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)