Chronic exhaustion
January 11, 2012
Twisting his toes and letting out deep breaths while lying on the floor, Ram Kumar, 27, a trooper from the Border Security Force (BSF) is in the middle of a hectic yoga session along with his colleagues at the camp premises in the Indian capital, New Delhi.
In another fortnight, he and 20 others will be posted to the harsh border between conflict-prone Jammu and Kashmir - for a year and without leave.
"It is a hostile environment and I will be separated from the family for most of the year. I volunteered for these classes to combat stress and fatigue," says Kumar.
"To help bust mental, emotional and psychological problems, yoga is a great healer. It helps concentration and make one emotionally secure," explains Yogi Anoop, the director of Medi Yoga, which holds yoga camps for paramilitary personnel.
Yoga classes are one measure to help make life easier for troops who are deployed to stressful areas such as Indian-administered Kashmir or on the borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Occupational stress
The authorities have been making determined efforts to improve conditions since the release of a disturbing report by the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD) that emphasizes tremendous stress among soldiers on India's western and eastern frontiers.
The findings of the "Emotional Intelligence and Occupational Stress" report are based on interviews with 160 troopers and officers out of a total of 170,000. Reportedly, some 70 percent are not getting adequate rest or sleep with a higher figure among the lower ranks.
Many of the interviewees said they were getting as little as four hours sleep a night on a regular basis and that chronic stress and physical exhaustion were affecting their performance.
Troopers said that they also faced verbal abuse from their seniors and were worried about committing errors.
The heightened terrorist threats at these tough postings have also taken a toll.
High suicide rate
According to Home Affairs Ministry figures, 250 BSF personnel who guard sensitive frontiers have committed suicide in the past eight years because of occupational stress. Others have opened fire on their colleagues, damaging morale even further.
"A posting in Kashmir where hours are long and the tense situation can be sapping," Ravinda Jadeja, another BSF soldier at the yoga class in Delhi, told Deutsche Welle. "I eagerly look forward to coming back home and I count the days."
Psychologist S.K. Sharma suggests that the government "take a hard look at this report and come out with some remedial measures. There is an urgent requirement to provide trained counselors and psychiatrists who are professional."
"Paramilitary personnel put their lives on the line to defend our borders. They need a caring environment," he said.
The report concludes with the ominous sentence: "This is just the tip of the iceberg and much more needs to be done."
Author: Murali Krishnan
Editor: Anne Thomas