Suicides rise over years despite army chief’s denial, shows govt data
Meerut: The Indian army chief said in January that suicides among army personnel have fallen over the years, but an investigation reviewing parliamentary disclosures and data accessed through Right to Information Act reveals cases have either been near-constant or on the rise in recent years in the army and armed forces at large.
Minister of State for Defence Shripad Naik tabled yearly numbers on suicides among armed forces personnel for 2010–19 in Lok Sabha on 16 September 2020 and consolidated numbers for years 2014–21 in Rajya Sabha on 22 March 2021.
While there have been dips, numbers have risen recently.
Numbers for the period of January 2020-March 2021 have been calculated from an analysis of Naik’s consolidated numbers (see below) and RTI replies.
In an RTI reply dated 15 March 2021, the Indian Navy informed four personnel died by suicide in 2020. Juxtaposing it with Naik’s yearly numbers till 2019 and consolidated numbers for 2014–21, the number for 2021 until March comes to four.
Therefore, the number for January 2020-March 2021 is eight, four from 2020 plus four in 2021 till March.
In an RTI reply dated 10 March 2021, the Indian Air Force informed 37 personnel died by suicide in 2020. Juxtaposing it with Naik’s yearly numbers till 2019 and consolidated numbers for 2014–21, the number for 2021 until March comes to seven.
Therefore, the number for January 2020-March 2021 is 44, 37 from 2020 plus seven from 2021 till March.
Unlike air force and navy, the army has not provided yearly numbers so far in response to RTI queries.
For the Indian Army, juxtaposing Naik’s yearly numbers till 2019 and consolidated numbers for 2014–2021, the number for January 2020-March 2021 comes at 92 — the sharpest spike in recent years.
Govt cited stress as cause for suicides, army chief denied it
In January this year, Chief of the Army Staff General Manoj Mukund Naravane junked a government-run think tank’s report that underscored high stress level among army personnel and attributed it to suicides and fratricides.
He had said, “Maybe there is stress. Even I am stressed. But stress is not always a bad thing. Stress can also result in good work.”
MoS (Defence) Naik, however, attributed stress among reasons for suicides, citing studies by Defence Institute of Psychological Research (DIPR).
“DIPR after conducting a number of studies since 2006, has, inter-alia, listed domestic and personal problems, marital discord, stress and financial problems as the major causes of suicides by armed forces personnel,” said Naik in Lok Sabha on 4 March in response to a member’s question.
The think tank’s report junked by Gen. Naravane had highlighted army loses more personnel to suicides, fratricides, and other stress-induced incidents than in operations, and it was covered in an earlier blogpost.
Navy reports as many suicides in 3 months as it did in entire 2020
While trend in recent years in itself is troubling, numbers for January-March 2021 for navy are more troubling that reported four suicides in the period — which is equal to the yearly number from last year.
Notably, navy has reported the least number of suicides over the years.
The numbers for the army for 2021 could not be calculated because their RTI replies do not have specifics. In a reply dated 5 May, the army gave a broad estimate, writing “approx 1600 suspected suicide cases (sic)” were reported in years 2004–20.
However, data compiled independently shows there have been at least nine apparent suicides among army personnel so far this year. Actual numbers could be more and could only be known through parliamentary disclosures or RTI replies in future.
Military suicides can’t be treated like civilian suicides
As per a report by Rajat Pandit of The Times of India, the suicide rate in the army is around half of the national rate, but it’s worrying as usual causes such as abject poverty, farm distress out of bad crops or poor finances, and unemployment do not apply to service personnel.
The United Services Institution of India (USI) report, which was junked by Gen. Naravane, noted most stressors are non-operational in nature, arising from causes not directly related to everyday job-profile.
These stressors, the report noted, have an adverse effect on health and combat efficiency.
The way forward
It’s high time the issue is looked at since the ongoing pandemic will likely only aggravate stress. Acknowledgement from the brass that there is indeed a problem ought to be the first step. Trivialising stress and mental health among the services ought to be done away with.
Then, as Colonel AK Mor noted in his USI report, an institutionalised approach ought to be taken that would review stress-mitigation measures implemented over last 15 years as they have clearly proven to be inadequate.
This is the second post in the series on suicides among armed forces personnel. Please read the first post here.
Read RTI replies from army, air force, and navy cited in the blogpost here.
This is a personal newsblog and I don’t have any professional, financial or any relationship with any of the subjects covered, cited, or quoted.
