Lok Sabha Question No. 1047 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-07-22
Subject: Stress Level of Defence Personnel
Ministry: DEFENCE
Asked by: LAXMI NARAYAN YADAV, PRATAPRAO GANPATRAO JADHAV

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF DEFENCE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE

## LOK  SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1047

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 22 ND  JULY, 2016

## STRESS LEVEL OF DEFENCE PERSONNEL

1047.  SHRI LAXMI NARAYAN YADAV: SHRI PRATAPRAO JADHAV:

Will the Minister of DEFENCE j{kk ea=h be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has conducted any study to determine the factors causing stress among defence personnel;
- (b)
- if so, the details and the outcome thereof; and
- (c) the  steps  taken  by  the  Government  for  minimizing  stress  level  of  defence personnel?

## A    N    S    W    E    R

MINISTER OF DEFENCE                                      (SHRI MANOHAR PARRIKAR)

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(a) & (b): Defence  Institute of  Psychological Research  (DIPR) under DRDO has carried out a number of studies from time to time on this subject details of which are as under:-

- (i) Suicide and Fratricide in Counter Insurgency areas (December 2006);
- (ii) Impact  analysis  of  the  study  in  counter  insurgency  areas (March 2008);
- (iii) Suicide and fratricide in peace areas (December 2009);
- (iv) Impact analysis in counter insurgency and peace areas (October 2010);
- (v) Psychological autopsy of suicide cases (January 2011);
- (vi) Suicide Risk Assessment Inventory (September 2012) and
- (vii) Study of factors causing distress among young officers (2015).

…..2/-

Besides,  Armed  Forces  Medical  Research  Committee has also conducted various studies regarding stress among Armed Forces Personnel, which are given below:-

- (i) Presumptive Life Stress in Soldiers:  A study to scale the life events.
- (ii) Ecology of stress among serving soldiers.
- (iii) Assessment  of  level  of  stress  and  to  work  out  preventive measures against stress among troops in operations scenario.
- (iv) Changes  in  stress  markers  and  immune  markers  and  their correlation  amongst  troops  in  counter  insurgency  operations scenario.

The general findings of the above studies indicated that occupational factors like increased workload, non-grant of timely leave, lack of adequate sleep and rest,  staying  away  from  home  and  not  being  able  to  attend  to various  pressing  family  issues  were  reported  as  some  of  the  factors causing stress.

- (c) The  Government  has  taken  a  number  of  steps  to  reduce  stress amongst defence personnel, which includes conduct of Yoga and meditation as part of unit routine, Psychological counseling by psychological  counselors,  liberalized  leave  policy,  improvement  in  living and working conditions through provision of better infrastructure facilities, improved accessibility of  leaders and  frequent  interaction  among  leaders and  the  led,  provisions  for  sports  and  recreational  facilities,  various training on stress management, provision of married accommodation etc. Further,  a  High  Powered  Committee  viz.  Psychological  Evaluation  and Remedial Action Committee (PERAC) is also monitoring various actions in the field of stress management and suicide prevention regularly.  The steps taken to reduce stress level amongst troops have had positive impact.
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