520 cases of suicides and fratricides in the army

Government today said that the armed forces have lost 520 men to suicides and fratricides since 2006.
    
"495 personnel committed suicide in the armed forces since 2006 and 25 people were killed in cases of fratricides during the same period," defence minister A K Antony said in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha.
    
154, 142, 151 and 48 people committed suicide in 2006, 07, 08 and 09 respectively and 13, 07, 04 and 01 personnel were lost to fratricides in around four years.
     
The minister said the forces were adopting better man management techniques to prevent such incidents.
    
"Measures such as identification of high risk category, increased inter-personnel relationship and communication between jawans, lectures and workshops on stress management are taken to prevent such incidents," the minister said.