Indian army suicides blamed on 'poor leadership'

[Areesh]

Former Indian army officers have blamed "a lack of discipline" and "poor leadership" in the forces for more than 1,300 suicides by soldiers since 2001.

On Wednesday, the government said that stress and personal problems were the main reasons for the deaths.

Analysts say the figures show that more soldiers have died "fighting internal demons" than militants.

Indian army operates in some of the toughest conflict regions in the world, including the Siachen glacier.

Tens of thousands of soldiers are deployed in Indian-administered Kashmir and the northeast where they are battling low-intensity conflicts and insurgencies.

According to the latest government figures, since 2001, 1,362 soldiers from the army, navy and air force have killed themselves while 83 have lost their lives in cases of fratricide - soldiers killing colleagues.

A majority of the cases have been reported from the army soldiers deployed in the Kashmir Valley and the northeast.

"Possible causes for soldiers committing suicides or fratricide are stress, personal problems and financial problems," Defence Minister AK Antony said in a written statement in parliament on Wednesday.

"The physical and mental well-being of the personnel is factored in while planning deployment for counter-insurgency operations," he said.

The minister said that the government had taken several steps "like counselling, improvement in food and clothing, married accommodation, leave concessions" to improve the situation.

Retired officer, Major-General Ashok Mehta, however, says that the numbers are "not alarming" in an army of a million soldiers.

He said the figures were higher when the insurgency was at its peak in Indian-administered Kashmir.

But, he says the soldiers work under tremendous pressure and that "very little work is done in post-conflict psychosomatic disorders" in the army.

They are separated from their families for long periods and often denied leave during tough counter-insurgency operations.

Maj-Gen Mehta says "if suicides are happening and soldiers are killing each other, it is a manifestation of a lack of discipline which goes straight to the leadership - unit level and above".

BBC News - Indian army suicides blamed on 'poor leadership'

 

[Areesh]

More than 1300 suicides in just 11 years. Oh boy!!!

 

[Abingdonboy]

Let's get this right 1,300 soldiers in 11 years averages ~118/year. And with the Indian military having 1.5 million personel (excluding reserves) in total this is 0.0125333333% of the armed forces committing suicide obviously a tiny,tiny proportion. Of course any life lost is tragic but you have to understand the majority of these are from the IA and of the IA personal the majority are those deployed in violence stricken normally uninhabited by human kind- under incredible pressure. And the armed forces as a whole is an incredibly high pressure environment and some people are bound to break. The fact is it is the forces themselves who are bringing the issue to the fore and this shoes their professionalism. If you actually compare this to other armed forces deployed in similar environments (say Iraq and Afghanistan) then this percentage is incredibly low relatively. PTSD has affected the lives of thousands of personnel from Western/NATO nations with thousands of these unfortunately taking their own lives.



1,300 is a sickening number and I hope the forces do all they can to reduce this number as much as possible but it is easy to get swept away by numbers- you need to look at the figures relatively and proportionally.

 

[shuttler]

I wonder which country can top the number in peace time. probably they will kill themselves even more in the next war.
another indian hallmark - incredible india!

 

[janon]

More than 1300 suicides in just 11 years. Oh boy!!!

Of the people deployed in some of the harshest regions in the world and facing the toughest challenges faced by humans anywhere, 0.0125 percent commit suicide a year. Oh boy!

It's sickening that internet warriors without a shred of humanity in them can gloat gleefully at something as sad as suicides and use that to take pointless jabs at a country - the chinese guy above included.

 

[yyetttt]

It's because Indian Soldiers are poor farm villager boys... The Indian Soldiers don't get good pay, therefore cannnot support their poor families back at the villages, and do suicide to not be their when the land lord humiliates his parents..

 

[Abingdonboy]

I wonder which country can top the number in peace time. probably they will kill themselves even more in the next war.
another indian hallmark - incredible india!

Peace time in name only- the IA is deployed in active conflict zones in J&K, Siachin and (to some extent) NE. The AOs the IA finds themselves deployed in are some of the fierciest and most horrible places on earth.


Of course due to the shady nature of China we have no comparative figures for China but I'd bet my house the suicide figures in Chinese forces are far higher than of their Indian counterparts.

It's because Indian Soldiers are poor farm villager boys... The Indian Soldiers don't get good pay, therefore cannnot support their poor families back at the villages, and do suicide to not humiliate their family infront of the greedy land lord.

It is an infiantly small figure so it is not fair to generalize like this.

 

[shuttler]

Peace time in name only- the IA is deployed in active conflict zones in J&K, Siachin and (to some extent) NE. The AOs the IA finds themselves deployed in are some of the fierciest and most horrible places on earth.


Of course due to the shady nature of China we have no comparative figures for China but I'd bet my house the suicide figures in Chinese forces are far higher than of their Indian counterparts.

this is another statistics amongst the long list of irregularities in indian army. indians killing indians engaging in de facto civil war, death casualties in large no.. Glorious human rights record and the largest democracy! what a MESS!

We dont have a civil war. our pilots wont crash Mig 21s. Our soldiers are strong, bright and in much better shapes!

Medals table_2011_Military_World_Games

 

[Bl[i]tZ]

The Indian Soldiers don't get good pay,

What is starting salary of a lieutenant in Indian army?

40000 pm

What is the salary of Pakistan army lieutenant?

Not more than 30000

one Indian rupee = 1.70228037 Pakistan rupees

That's 68,000 Pakistani rupees. An Indian soldier's salary is 2.27 times that of his Pakistani counterpart.

Next time when you call an Indian soldier poor keep these figures in mind!

land lord humiliates his parents..

India had land reforms after Independence, there are NO landlords in India. Feudalism is a characteristic of Pakistani society in the 21st century.

Again, know what you write!

 

[shuttler]

That's 68,000 Pakistani rupees. An Indian soldier's salary is 2.27 times that of his Pakistani counterpart.
Again, know what you write!

this makes indian army a lot more pathetic than their Pakistani counterparts !

 

[janon]

this makes indian army a lot more pathetic than their Pakistani counterparts !

High IQ syndrome.

 

[Shinigami]

High IQ syndrome.

i think we had previously concluded that, based on the comments of the chinese members here, the average chinese IQ is in the late 50s

 

[Areesh]

Of the people deployed in some of the harshest regions in the world and facing the toughest challenges faced by humans anywhere, 0.0125 percent commit suicide a year. Oh boy!

It's sickening that internet warriors without a shred of humanity in them can gloat gleefully at something as sad as suicides and use that to take pointless jabs at a country - the chinese guy above included.

What gloating. I just posted a news about your army in Indian defense section which you guys wouldn't have posted ever. I neither gloat at their death nor I am happy over it. It might be a small figure if we look at the percentage you calculated but still it is a big figure. And the reason is the "poor leadership". Do something about it instead of attacking the reporter.

What is starting salary of a lieutenant in Indian army?

40000 pm

What is the salary of Pakistan army lieutenant?

Not more than 30000

one Indian rupee = 1.70228037 Pakistan rupees

That's 68,000 Pakistani rupees. An Indian soldier's salary is 2.27 times that of his Pakistani counterpart.

Next time when you call an Indian soldier poor keep these figures in mind!

But still they don't commit suicides nor they kill each other. Unlike their "rich" Indian counterparts.

 

[COLDHEARTED AVIATOR]

It's because Indian Soldiers are poor farm villager boys... The Indian Soldiers don't get good pay, therefore cannnot support their poor families back at the villages, and do suicide to not be their when the land lord humiliates his parents..

That was real funny man.

Do you know the salary of an IA jawan?..Its 25,000.00 Indian Rupees which is equal to 42,407.01 Pakistani Rupees

How much does a Lieutanant in Pakistan Army earns btw?

 

[danger007]

That was real funny man.

Do you know the salary of an IA jawan?..Its 25,000.00 Indian Rupees which is equal to 42,407.01 Pakistani Rupees

How much does a Lieutanant in Pakistan Army earns btw?

and they will get upto 40% discount on their home needs...... even electronic,vehicles,alcohol etc....

may be they have family or personal problems ...... what it suppose to do with poor leadership.... you guys want an entertaining news to blame on India.... that is why, digging internet to find that kinda news....... armed personals are also humans.....