NEW DELHI- As per official data, a total of 173 BSF personnel havecommitted suicide in the last five years while 11 such deaths have happenedthis year. These figures are much more than operational deaths in the lineof duty, that took place during the same period.
The jawans of the force are deployed for long stints in inhospitable andharsh climate areas along the Indo-Pak and Indo-Bangla borders, where theycannot keep their families for years together.
The Border Security Force (BSF), that guards India’s frontiers withPakistan and Bangladesh, has initiated a maiden research project to analysevarious triggers behind suicides by its troops and to formulate an actionplan to reduce these instances. The country’s largest border guarding forcehas also decided to introduce a wellness quotient assessment test in theabout 2.5 lakh personnel-strong paramilitary after a pilot project launchedon the subject last year was found to be successful.
BSF Director General (DG) K K Sharma told PTI in an interview that theissue of suicides in the force has been “recognised” as a priority area ofwork and a number of steps are being taken to check and reduce them. “Aresearch is being conducted on?suicides that took place in the BSF duringthe last 5 years. It will go into the reasons as to why such an instancetook place and if there is any common factor,” the DG said.
He added that a study in this context has already been completed and thefinal outcomes of all these exercises will be implemented as a policymeasure in the force, that guards two of the most important Indianfrontiers with Pakistan and Bangladesh.
The BSF chief also informed that the pilot project of the wellness quotientassessment test, introduced last year, has been successful and it will nowbe linked to the annual medical test of jawans and officers.
“The aim of the project was to detect early traits and trends. Out?of a fewthousand people who were examined (during the pilot project), hardly adozen have been identified as those who are high-risk prone. Once a personhas been identified who is under tremendous stress or depression, then wedon’t give them any duty with arms as they may harm themselves or someoneelse.”