New Delhi: More than half of the over 13-lakh strong Indian Army personnel “seems to be under severe stress”, according to a study published by the tri-services think tank United Service Institution of India (USI). There have been over 1,100 cases of suicide among varous ranks since 2010.

The study, done by a serving Colonel and published on the USI website last month was, however, removed Friday

“Prolonged exposure of Indian Army personnel to CI (counter- insurgency)/CT (counter-terrorism) environment has been one of the contributory factors for increased stress levels,” Colonel A.K. Mor, senior research fellow at the USI during 2019-20, noted in his study.

The Army, the study further noted, lost more personnel every year due to suicides, fratricides and untoward incidents than in response to enemy or terrorist activities.

While sources in the Army have debunked the study due to its small sample size of just 400 personnel, they did admit that stress was an issue.

On 14 January last year, the USI had also organised a presentation by Colonel Mor on the topic ‘Occupational Stress in Indian Army Due to Prolonged Exposure to Counter Insurgency/ Counter-terrorism Environment’.

Welcome remarks were made by Maj Gen Rajiv Narayanan, head, Research and Centre for Strategic Studies and Simulation (CS3) at USI, followed by its Chairman, Brig Narender Kumar, SM, VSM (Retd) and distinguished fellow.

“The Director, USI suggested the scholar to focus on a selected sample size and diagnose the role and impact of stress on the unit,” the think tank had noted.

The study, which has now been completed, underlined that there has been a significant increase in stress levels among Indian Army personnel in the last two decades due to operational and non-operational stressors.

Also read: Covid dampener for Aero India, several foreign players to give event a miss

Talking about the steps taken by the Army and the defence ministry, the study also noted that various stress management measures implemented in the last 15 years “have not been able to achieve the desired results”.

It said that while operational stressors are well understood and accepted by Army personnel, non-operational stress factors are perceived as avoidable and resented against.

Indian Army officers, it added, experience much higher levels of stress as compared to the junior commissioned officers (JCOs) and other ranks (Ors).

Some of the major organisational causes of stress among Army officers have been identified as inadequacies in the quality of leadership, overburdened commitments, inadequate resources, frequent dislocations, lack of fairness and transparency in postings and promotions, insufficient accommodation and non-grant of leaves.

The main organisational stressors, as perceived by JCOs/ORs, were delay and denial of leaves, excessive engagement, humiliation by seniors, lack of dignity, zero error syndrome, unreasonable restrictions on the use of mobile phones, poor quality of ration and cooked food, besides lack of recreational facilities and conflict with seniors as well as subordinates.

However, the study added, “the overall job satisfaction and pride in uniform still remains high amongst JCOs/ORs. However, at the same time, it seems to be a growing matter of concern amongst officers, requiring urgent interventions from the highest levels of government”.

The study called for an institutionalised approach to stress prevention and management which should be treated “as a leadership role at Unit and Formation level.”

Also read: Army plans disciplinary action against soldier at farmers’ protest, troops being sensitised

Chandigarh, January 8

Air Commodore V Rajasekhar has been appointed the Air Officer Commanding, No. 3 Base Repair Depot, here, the largest establishment of the country for repair and overhaul of Russian-origin helicopters.

Commissioned into the Aeronautical Engineering (Mechanical) Branch of the Indian Air Force in September 1988, he is trained in aircraft maintenance and was involved in the induction and formulation of maintenance philosophy of various new platforms.

For distinguished service of a high order, he was awarded the Vishisht Seva Medal by the President of India in 2013. Meanwhile, Jyothi Rajasekhar took over as the president of the Air Force Wives Welfare Association (Local).

BRIGHT PUNJAB EXPRESS :09 JAN 2021:: CLICK TO OPEN NEWSPAPER

09 Jan.2021 E_Paper

जब देश आजाद हुआ था
तब भी 26 जनवरी पर ट्रैक्टर से परेड निकली थी
और हजारों लोग जमा हुए थे परेड देखने के लिए।
इतिहास दोबारा दोहराया जाएगा

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Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 7

Every year, the Army loses its personnel to suicides, fratricides and untoward incidents. In the past two decades, there has been a significant increase in their stress levels.

Major causes

• Reports blame “prolonged exposure” to counter-terrorist environment as one of the contributory factors for increased stress levels.
• Non-combat related reasons add to the operational stress and have adverse effects on health of soldiers.
• Major causes include inadequacies in the quality of leadership, overburdened commitments, inadequate resources and frequent dislocations.

“At present, more than half of the Army seems to be under severe stress…. this is due to operational and non-operational reasons,” say the findings of the country’s leading think tank, United Services Institution (USI), which is compiling a book from the outcome of a seminar “Prevailing Stress Levels in Indian Army due to Prolonged

Exposure to Counter Insurgency/Counter Terrorism Environment”, which it had organised in October 2020.

Excerpts of the same have been put up on the USI website under ‘strategic perspectives’ for the period October-December 2020. Among the JCOs and jawans, the study identifies reasons, including delay and denial of leave, excessive engagements, domestic problems, humiliation by seniors, lack of dignity, unreasonable restrictions on the use of mobiles, lack of recreational facilities, conflict with seniors as well as subordinates, health problems, inadequacy of train reservation, inefficient administrative support, financial problems, lack of transparency in promotions, delay in crediting of financial claims and poor quality of rations. “There is a need to remove all shortcomings at the earliest.” says the study.

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Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, January 8

The eighth round of talks between protesting farmers and the Centre ended inconclusively yet again with Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar making it clear that the government will not repeal the Acts and ‘jathebandis’ stating that they are willing to settle for nothing less.

The next round has been proposed on January 15 with the government hoping for some resolution at the January 11 Supreme Court hearing on a batch of pleas challenging the constitutional validity of the three agricultural laws.

This also means the farmers will be celebrating the festival of Lohri at borders of Delhi.

Hardening their stance, unions have also made it clear that “whatever the courts might order they are not going to budge until they secure repeal of the laws and discussion on MSP moves further”.

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They have already given a deadline of January 26, the day when they “march into Delhi”. “It is best to leave this to the Supreme Court to decide,” Kavitha Kuruganti of the Mahila Kisan Adikar Manch said quoting Tomar at the meeting, terming today’s proceedings as a “complete breakdown of talks”.

“It is a very sad day for Indian democracy that in middle of talks an elected government, which has constantly been cheating the farmers, now says let us get this resolved through the Supreme Court. The court has already looked at the eviction-related issue and said that it is the democratic right of farmers to protest and passed orders on that,” she said.

Leaders said only “one point was taken up” at the meeting today. While Tomar kept saying they should discuss the three Acts, unions kept insisting the Bills be taken back.

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There was no discussion on MSP as leaders made their intentions clear with slogans like ‘ya jitenge ya marenga’ (either we will die or win) and ‘Bill wapsi ghar wapsi’.

They also slammed Punjab BJP leaders for giving ‘gaalis’ (abusing) to farmers and maligning the agitation. “We are not a political party. Only if you return the Bills will we go back,” they said.

After Tomar insisted that several unions were agreeable to the laws, BKU leader Balbir Singh Rajewal told him “agriculture was a state subject, still the Centre made laws on it”.

“It is an established fact that you cannot interfere on the subject of agriculture. But you get your secretary and your joint secretary to work on it, and they keep coming up with excuses (to interfere). I have a list of cases in which the Supreme Court’s full Bench has ruled that the Central government cannot interfere on the subject,” Rajewal said.

Also read: Ahead of talks, govt says hopeful of resolving farmers’ issues

Apart from Tomar, Union ministers Piyush Goyal and Som Parkash, who is from Punjab, were also present at the talks with the unions.

Meanwhile, Tomar played down his meeting with religious leader Baba Lakha Singh, a head of the Nanaksar Sikh sect, saying that the government did not approach him for mediation with farmers.

Also read: Will not withdraw from fight against farm laws, Priyanka Vadra tells Punjab Congress MPs

 “We have not approached anyone for mediation. There are those who oppose the laws and those who support them, the government gives time to everyone to hear their views.

“Being a religious leader and someone with farmers’ best interests in his heart and pained at their plight in this cold, Baba Lakha Singh wanted to discuss the issue. He spoke of farmers’ perspective while I told him about the government’s point of view. I hope he talked to unions about our discussion. We did not approach him for mediation,” Tomar said.

Ahead of the eighth round of talks with the Union Ministers, BKU leader Rakesh Tikait has already said the government can try as much as it wants, farmers will not go back home till the three Acts were repealed.

“The government still has time till tomorrow. It can make a law on MSP and take back the three laws and fulfil demands of the agitation. The tractor march was a trailer. The full movie will be shown on January 26 (Republic Day when farmers have planned a tractor parade)” he said.

New Delhi: No children aged below 15 years, less than one-fourth the usual number of participants, and no standing spectators — these are some of the changes the Covid-19 pandemic has brought to the Republic Day parade.

The 2021 Republic Day parade on 26 January will come just days before India completes a year of its battle against Covid-19 — the first coronavirus case in the country was reported last January, and the first fatality recorded in March.

While India is set to roll out vaccines for the disease, Covid-19 continues to infect thousands of people every day. As a result, several restrictions will be in place as India marks its 72nd Republic Day with the annual parade, which is a showcase of the country’s cultural heritage and military might.

Speaking to ThePrint, senior government officials said the 2021 Republic Day parade will be a low-key affair with 25,000 spectators, as compared to 1.15 lakh last year.

The conduct of the parade, the sources added, will be similar to last year, but “social distancing has been factored into all activities”. However, the distance the parade covers will be shorter. While the parade usually goes from Vijay Chowk to the Red Fort, it will end at National Stadium this time, a difference of approximately 5 km.

Also Read: India ‘unlikely’ to have Republic Day chief guest after UK PM drops out — a first in 55 yrs

Covid protocols in place

According to senior government officials, only children aged above 15 years will be allowed at the parade, and there will be no standing spectators.

The usual tiered stands — used for seating the audience during the Republic Day parade and the Beating the Retreat ceremony (29 January) — will be missing as well. Instead, the officials said, chairs will be placed on wooden elevated platforms of three different heights — 3 inches, 5 inches and 10 inches. A suitable number of rows will be arranged height-wise at the venue to ensure physically-distanced seating, the officials added.

Other steps being taken in view of the pandemic include thermal screening at all entry points, and a thorough sanitisation of the premises. The dais, officials said, will be sprayed with anti-viral/bacterial coating.

Masks, gloves and hand sanitisers will be available at the gates.

26 tableaux this year

There will be 26 tableaux at the parade this year, including from nine central ministries and departments, and 17 states and Union Territories (UTs). Last year’s parade had 22 tableaux.

There will be two special tableaux this year — one from the Ministry of Culture, heralding “75 years of Independence” celebrations (India completes 75 years of Independence in 2022), and another on “New India” (a catchphrase of the Modi government) by the Union Information & Broadcasting Ministry, the sources said.

An expert committee under the defence ministry selects the tableaux from several applications.

A team from the Bangladesh armed forces will also participate in the parade to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War.

As many as 23 bands — 18 from the Army, one from the Navy and the IAF each, and three from the Central Armed Police Forces — are scheduled to play 24 music tunes.

Another possible difference this year is the absence of a foreign dignitary as chief guest. India had invited UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson for the parade but he dropped out Tuesday, at the last moment, citing the Covid situation. If this happens, it will be a first since 1966.

lso Read: Should Delhi’s Republic Day parade be held in a state capital every year?

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Deepkamal Kaur

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, January 8

With talks deadlocked, the Centre has started roping in heads of religious sects in Punjab to break the impasse on the farm laws.

While Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar met Baba Lakha Singh of Nanaksar Gurdwara yesterday, the BJP is now contemplating involving Giani Harpreet Singh, Akal Takht Jathedar, for mediation between the Centre and protesting farmers.

“As negotiations aren’t moving beyond ‘yes’ and ‘no’, we need a third party whom both sides look up to. There has been trust deficit and spiritual leaders can help bridge the gap. We will approach Giani Harpreet Singh — head of the highest temporal seat of Sikhs,” said BJP national spokesperson Kamaljit Soi.

Soi claimed it was tough to come to conclusion on any point with around 40 union leaders, attending talks from the farmers’ side. “It’s terribly cold and even Baba Lakha Singh was of the view that all farmers, particularly women and children, should return home,” he added.

About the proposed mediation, SGPC chief Jagir Kaur said, “Though the ongoing crisis is no way related to religion, it’s up to Giani Harpreet Singh to decide. Moreover, the Centre has a battery of intellectuals who can play mediator.”

BKU (Ugrahan) general secretary Sukhdev Singh Kokri Kalan said by roping in dera heads and priests, the Centre was “trying to play a religious card”. “If we don’t agree to what the Jathedar tells us, they might say we are not even following the Akal Takht diktat. It’s purely a legal matter and we won’t succumb to such tactics,” he said.

Baba Ram Singh, who recently died at the protest site, too was from the Nanaksar sect. Baba Lakha Singh has been running a 24-hour ‘langar’ at Singhu since the protests began on November 25.

“A farmer himself, Baba ji owns plantations and is also an environmentalist. Our minister told him the government’s point of view and he assured us he will talk to the farmers today, which he has done. We are hopeful his message to the farmers will help defuse the situation,” said Soi.

The Nanaksar sect has its headquarters at Kaleran village in Jagraon (Ludhiana), but has centres across Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand and even Canada. It was founded by Baba Nand Singh in the 1920s. The sect believes in vegetarianism and the followers wear white turbans. Giani Harpreet Singh could not be contacted.