Heavy attrition, suicides bleed paramilitary forces 44,000 Personnel Quit In 3 Yrs; BSF, CRPF Worst Hit

Heavy attrition, suicides bleed paramilitary forces

44,000 Personnel Quit In 3 Yrs; BSF, CRPF Worst Hit

Deeptiman Tiwary TNN

New Delhi: The lure of a life in uniform, with its trappings of power and prestige, has for decades drawn youth from all corners of India to the recruitment rallies of the central armed paramilitary forces. But with 44,000 personnel having left the force since 2009, the dream seems to have soured.
    The Central paramilitary forces are facing unprecedented attrition with thousands of jawans and officers either opting for voluntary retirement or simply quitting due to difficult working conditions and stress.
    According to government figures, the worst affected are the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the Border Security Force (BSF) which together account for more than 36,000 of total attritions since 2009. While CRPF has more than three lakh men engaged in anti-Naxal operations, BSF men guard India’s over a 4,000-km-long international border and also have deployments in Naxal areas.
    An alarmed government recently commissioned a study by IIM Ahmedabad on the reasons for such high churn. What the study found comes as no surprise to those familiar with working conditions in the paramilitary forces. It said continuous posting in difficult areas, long working hours, sleep deprivation, denial of leave, lack of healthcare facilities and delay in promotions and pay parity were all leading to unbearable stress among personnel.
    As a result, not only is attrition rate rising, so are suicides. Since 2009, 398 paramilitary men have killed themselves.
THE SIEGE WITHIN
More paramilitary men (398) have killed themselves since 2009 than have died fighting terrorists (328)
44,000 paramilitary personnel have quit the force since 2009
36,000 of them belonged to CRPF & BSF
70% rise in CRPF & BSF attrition rate in 2011 over 2010
Reasons For Exodus Successive postings in hostile areas like Maoist jungles of Chhattisgarh or border regions
Fighting dual enemies: Maoists and malaria
Long working hours, leading to sleep deprivation
Denial of leave leading to alienation from family
Lack of basic healthcare
Denial of promotions and salary revisions Delay, denial of leave adds to the gloom
New Delhi: This is more than the number of men who died fighting extremists (328). The suicide figure is even higher than that in the Army (375) which has a higher strength of more than 12 lakh.
    The situation, say insiders, is grimmer than what the statistics reveal. Personnel often say it is easier to fight a war on the border than be in a continuous battle inside one’s own country. “In a war, you know where the bullet is going to come from. Fighting Naxals in the jungle, you do not even know where you are,” said a CRPF man who has served in Chhattisgarh.
    Add to it the challenge of fighting two enemies at a time – the ‘double M’, Maoists and malaria. “You are either going to die of a bullet or of a mosquito bite. The healthcare facilities are poor and at times we have to spend out of our own pocket for treatment that too after traveling great distances in treacherous terrains,” said another CRPF man.
    Living in a jungle, they say, is far worse than serving in any other terrain. “In areas such as tiger reserves, nothing is allowed to be built, not even toilets. So jawans are forced to defecate in the open. We once lost a jawan to a wild animal while he was relieving himself,” said an officer engaged in anti-Naxal operations in Bihar.
    In the Army, difficult postings are generally followed by periods in peace positions. That does not happen quite so frequently in the paramilitary. Denial or delay in grant of leave adds to the gloom. The IIM study has recorded that many jawans are granted leave after their leave requirement is over. “This leads to alienation from family, the only stress buster for our personnel. In such deprivation, many jawans take to alcohol further wrecking their condition,” said a CRPF officer.
    The force, rightly or wrongly, has also been accused of numerous human rights violations which have hardly helped in keeping morale high. “The prime example is the Baseguda encounter where civilians got caught in the crossfire. The jawans thought they had conducted a successful operation. But despite suffering critical injuries, they were castigated. The situation they were in, they could not have operated in any other way,” said a senior CRPF officer.
    Likewise, ever since India has committed to decreasing casualties on the Indo-Bangla border forcing BSF men to use non-lethal weapons against smugglers, the personnel have suffered unprecedented attacks. “Cattle smugglers now operate with impunity. Government should legalise the trade if it does not want us to use force to stop them,” said a BSF officer.
    Add delay in promotions and pay parity (at officer level), and the disillusionment is complete. “While people in the Army get three promotions in 13 years, it takes us 24 years to reach the same position.