General Manoj Mukund Naravane, Indian Chief of the Army Staff, admitted on Saturday that he himself was suffering from stress; soldiers in the Indian Army were not an exception. 

Answering a reporter’s question about the increasing incidents of suicides among the Indian soldiers, General Manoj said he has gone through the report on stress in the Indian Army, and then he started explaining the factors causing stress in the Indian soldiers. He said that he could not say whether there was any stress in the army or not. He said there might be stress and then added that even he was stressed. 

In the ensuing moments, the Indian general started listing ‘benefits’ of the stress. He said that stress is not always bad; it could lead to good things as well. Getting back to the point, General Manoj said the Indian army had taken several measures to deal with stress among soldiers and issued advisories on the issue. 

The Indian general said that many factors could lead to stress. He said that delay in marriage, delay in birth of children after marriage, education issues of children and matrimonial issues of children could lead to stress among soldiers. He said the Indian Army had analysed all these factors and senior officers like COs and company commanders were staying in touch with people falling in the aforementioned categories. He said that army officers were trying to address issues facing the stressed soldiers. 

In fact, he said, the ratio of suicide cases in the Indian Army has decreased, not increased. 

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