108 defence personnel committed suicide in 2014

NEW DELHI: A total of 108 personnel from Army and Air Force committed suicide in the last one year and the reasons range from long deployment, domestic problems and inability to withstand stress, the Rajya Sabha was informed today.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said in a written reply that as on November 21, 2014, 84 personnel from Army and 24 from the Air Force committed suicides. The Navy did not report any such incident.

"Reasons for such incidents include long tenures of continuous deployment, domestic problems, perceived grievances, personal issues, mental built, financial problems and inability to withstand stress," he said.

He said government has taken various measures to prevent suicides by personnel such as improved living and working conditions, additional family accommodation, liberalised leave policy, setting up a grievance redressal mechanism and provision for psychological counselling.

Parrikar said Yoga is also being practiced at battalion level as a stress buster.