228 CRPF jawans committed suicide in last seven years: Govt

A total of 228 CRPF jawans committed suicide in the last seven years even as the government said Yoga has been made compulsory for all paramilitary forces, beginning this year.
"Yes, according to available data, 228 jawans of CRPF had committed suicide. The causative factors in most of the cases were found to be generally the personal and domestic problems, like marital discord, personal enmity, mental illness, depression etc.
"In few cases the same could be owing to the work related stress," Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju told Rajya Sabha in a written reply.
He was asked if these suicides in the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), country's largest central armed police force, took place between 2008-2014.

The CRPF has close to 3-lakh personnel in its ranks.
Rijiju added the Ministry has issued instructions to these forces including CRPF, BSF, CISF, ITBP, SSB and NSG to "incorporate Yoga as part of daily physical exercise in field formations."
"It would be appropriate to incorporate Yoga as a part of daily routine of paramilitary personnel. This will also help the paramilitary personnel to beat their stress, if any, and keep them physically as well as mentally better off," he said.