“Art of Living is just one of the steps for stress management, which is an area of concern,” said an officer. “This is particularly true of places where personnel face long periods of isolation or are in tense surroundings. The ministry has also talked in the past of appointing counselors and psychiatrists to help troops tackle stress.”

Union Home Secretary V K Duggal said the other steps paramilitary forces had been encouraged to take were rotation of personnel, and making officers mingle more with their men to learn of their problems, whether at their place of posting or at home. The Vyakti Vikas Kendra is riding high on the proposed programme for the paramilitary: it is learnt to have approached the Army for conducting a similar programme.