‘Staff shortage key cause of fratricides’

The minister ascribes these incidents to rather conventional reasons that the army routinely trots out: stress, family problems and financial problems. If one dissembles these reasons, the government’s prescription for the malady seems effective.

These include “psychological counselling by psychological counselors… conduct of yoga and meditation as part of unit routine, improvement in living and working conditions through provision of better infrastructure and facilities, additional family accommodation, facilities for movement of troops from border areas and liberalised leave policy.”

But former senior officers say that the causes are deeper. Lt Gen Prakash Katoch, who commanded 1 Corps – considered a Strike Corps headquartered in Rajasthan – says, “The shortage of officers is one of the key causes of the incidents of fratricides as there are very few officers manning the soldiers.”

He gives an example. During a recent visit to Kashmir, he saw all nine battalions of a division were posted on the Line of Control with only 11 officers in <g data-gr-id="38">battalion</g>. This puts a severe strain on both the officers and the men in terms of maintenance of proximate relations, on which armies are created in ‘forward areas.’

Katoch also says that because the position of the second lieutenant was done away with in the army, the young inductees do not get ‘broken in’ by the <g data-gr-id="35">subehdar</g> major, who is the highest junior commissioned officer from other ranks.

The Special Forces general, also the colonel of the regiment, adds that “Bonding between the soldiers and officers are the most important criterion on which the Special Forces function. They are usually a small unit of few.men, who have to depend on their buddies for survival. They have to have that trust on each other.”

Finally, he concludes that even the profile of the soldiers <g data-gr-id="31">are</g> also changing: they are better educated, more aware of their rights and are also better connected with their families back home because of the profusion of cellular phones. Hence, they tend to get disturbed more quickly.