MHA introduces various measures to combat rising cases of suicides among CAPFs troops
Subhashis Mittra
Death by suicide among jawans of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) is a matter of grave concern for the security establishment in the North Block. The reasons behind the suicides range from discrimination among sub-groups, to bullying at the workplace, fear of initiation of disciplinary or legal action, and lack of communication between the company commander and the personnel.
The ministry of home affairs (MHA) has been ensuring that many more personnel get time to spend with their families as an immediate solution to the problem. The mental and emotional wellbeing is of paramount concern for the MHA. According to the minister of state for home affairs, Nityanand Rai, as many as 730 cases of suicide by the jawans of these forces were reported in the last five years—144 suicides in CAPF, National Security Guards (NSGs), and Assam Rifles (AR) in 2020, 157 in 2021, 138 in 2022, 157 in 2023 and 134 in 2024. During the same period, 55,555 personnel quit or took voluntary retirement, unable to establish a work-life balance. The data cited by the minister in the Rajya Sabha reflected that 47,891 personnel in CAPF, NSG and AR have taken voluntary retirement and 7,664 have resigned in the last five years.
Psychological disorders often lead to suicidal and fratricidal tendencies among the personnel who suffer from mental stress for various reasons like staying away from family, tough posting and denial of leave. Giving details of the working conditions of the troops, Rai said, generally, the working hours in the CAPFs are eight hourly shifts. This, however, varies depending on operational exigencies. But necessary leave/ training reserve exists in the structure of battalions so that the personnel get adequate rest and leave in spite of vacancies in all CAPFs against their sanctioned strength, including in the AR.
The sanctioned strength for AR, another force under the MHA, is 65,536 personnel but at present it’s 62,575. The current strength of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) is 2,98,033; Border Security Force (BSF) 2,55,663; Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) 1,51,925; Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) 90,000 and Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) 91,922 as compared to their respective sanctioned manpower. The total sanctioned manpower for these five CAPFs and the AR is 10,45,751 personnel but their cumulative current strength is 9,50,118. To fill this gap, recruitment process is underway, informed the MoS (Home).
The MHA has also taken steps to have a transparent, rational and fair leave policy and to regulate duty hours. “Improvement in working conditions/ amenities and welfare of CAPFs, NSG and AR is a constant endeavour of the government,” said Rai. He also said the CRPF has taken a number of steps for the prevention of suicides and for better mental health of its personnel.
“Qualitative improvement in the living conditions of troops has been made with the help of government funds,” he said, adding, “A 24×7 toll-free number 18005990019 of the department of empowerment of persons with disabilities (DEPwD) has been circulated at force level so that the force personnel could approach the psychologist for counselling.” Besides, several other welfare measures have been initiated.
The CRPF has also decided to start ‘Chaupal’ like get-together for its personnel to give vent to their mental agony. Here senior officials will interact with the troopers to know their difficulties and other issues which can lead to mental stress.
The MHA has asked all CAPFs to ensure that every personnel gets 100 days leave in a year. The MHA has asked the CAPFs to develop a software-based transfer-posting system so that the troopers get a ‘peace’ posting after a tenure of three years of ‘hard’ posting.
Besides incidents of suicide, reports show that troops of the para-military forces have to battle twin enemies—Naxals in Left Wing Extremism (LWE)-affected states and serious health issues. And, they do not emerge victorious all the time. A report submitted in Parliament reveals that 577 CAPFs personnel died due to heart attack and illness in Naxal affected areas over the last five years, with the maximum casualties coming from the CRPF.
MHA’s year-wise data for five years (2019-23), reflects that 297 CRPF personnel died due to heart attack and illness followed by 108 from the BSF. The CISF lost 76 personnel due to these medical conditions, 74 from the ITBP and 22 from the SSB. A CISF spokesperson said that thanks to ‘creditable steps’ to resolve the problems of its troops, the number of suicides in the force—which guards vital and sensitive installations in the aerospace, nuclear and government domain—is lowest in the last six years.
As per official data, the force saw 15 deaths last year due to suicide, which comes to 9.86 per lakh in the organisation—marking a decline of over 40 per cent from 2023—against the national suicide rate of 12.4 per lakh in 2022, as mentioned in the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data. It is for the first time in the last five years that suicide rate in the CISF has fallen below the national rate, the spokesperson claimed.
The comparative data of deaths due to suicide in the force, that has an operational strength of over 1.51 lakh personnel stood at 25 (2023), 26 (2022), 21 (2021), 18 (2020) and 17 (2019).
The ‘substantial’ reduction in suicides has been attributed to a series of steps to address the ‘mental health issues’ of jawans on a ‘proactive’ basis. This includes personalised engagement by the officers with the troops on the theme of ‘know your men and hear your men’, stress management through yoga and games, online grievance redressal, tele-counselling on mental health issues for 4,200 personnel till last year and taking action on mental health issues as recommended by the AIIMS.
The CISF said its new transfer and posting policy launched recently is also a step in ensuring better work-life balance for its non-gazetted rank officials, who constitute almost 98 per cent of its strength. To provide mental and emotional counselling and support to its personnel, the wives’ welfare association of the CISF—Sanrakshika—recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Aditya Birla Education Trust.
The trust, through ‘Project Mann’, will provide mental and emotional support to CISF personnel and their families by addressing and alleviating the commonly-faced challenges relating to psychological and emotional health. Counselling and awareness sessions, psychometric assessment, and a helpline for CISF families will be part of this programme.