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NEW DELHI, JANUARY 24: Central paramilitary forces will soon be putting their personnel through the Art of Living programme in an effort to mitigate stress, which is being blamed for the growing incidence of suicide and fratricide.

The Union Home Ministry is learnt to have told the forces they can spend some Rs 50,000 on putting each company of troops through the course. The total expense is likely to be Rs 2.3 crore, and will be reimbursed by the ministry through welfare funds.

So the next few months will see as many as 475 companies from the Border Security Force (BSF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Assam Rifles, and the Sashatra Seema Bal (SSB) enroll for the programme, which will be conducted by the Vyakti Vikas Kendra and monitored by the ministry.

The Kendra conducts Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s Art of Living programme, a mix of yoga, meditation, and breathing techniques found effective in reducing stress.

Sources said instructions have been sent for ensuring maximum benefits for troops, especially those serving in Jammu & Kashmir and the north-east. Said an officer, “Area commanders have been told to make sure the stress management techniques are available for everyone.” The locations and dates for programmes are being worked out.

Last year, Art of Living workshops were tried out on a smaller scale for CRPF and BSF personnel posted in Jammu & Kashmir and the north-east. The BSF had also organised a programme conducted by Swami Ramdev, who offers his own version of yoga and breathing exercises.

“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.