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Showing posts from March, 2015

Suicide of soldiers

When I was a journalist, Mysore hosted an army recruitment rally and while preparing the news item, I got to see the photographs of the youth who had come to join the army. From one glance it could be seen that they were from the economically backward section of the society. They had come there with a hope to aid their families financially. Most would return unemployed from such recruitment rallies, unable to pass the physical fitness tests and other criteria. And those who get selected, would return laden with the hope that now, their families would eat three square meals a day. It is heart-breaking and thought-provoking when the peace-keeping forces including the military, para-military and the police forces face serious problems in extreme weather & inhospitable conditions. Do such circumstances lead the personnel to take the extreme step? Today, I read that one CRPF soldier commits suicide every three days ! About 6,000 soldiers left CRPF in 2014, while 4,186 left in 2013. Ev