USI organised a scholar’s presentation on the Topic “Occupational Stress in Indian Army Due to Prolonged Exposure to Counter Insurgency/ Counter-terrorism Environment” on 14 January 2020. Welcome remarks were made by Maj Gen Rajiv Narayanan, AVSM, VSM (Retd) Head, Research and Centre for Strategic Studies and Simulation (CS3), which was followed by Chairman remarks by Brig Narender Kumar, SM, VSM (Retd), Distinguished Fellow.
In his presentation the research scholar, Col Anil Kumar Mor discussed multiple experiences of occupational stress during both kinetic and non-kinetic situation, forms and types of stressors, and its various dimensions in Indian Army. He highlighted impact of stress on health and efficiency of a combat soldiers and units. Finally he elaborated on the existing institutional measures and their efficacy in managing stress. He also gave an overview of the chapters of his project. During the Q&A session, many queries, recommendations and suggestions were made to further enrich his research. The queries included questions on genuineness of the qualitative and quantitative indicators of stress and its applicability on Indian Army, impact of socio-economic and societal factor, disability factor, and vulnerable class. Chairman Brig Narender Kumar, SM, VSM (Retd) asked the scholar to include historical dimension of stress during combat period. The Director, USI suggested the scholar to focus on a selected sample size and diagnose the role and impact of stress on the unit. Brig Narender Kumar, SM, VSM (Retd) made the concluding remarks.