NEW DELHI: Guess, what is the biggest killer of Indian soldiers in the line of duty? Border skirmishes and artillery duels with Pakistan? Counter-terror operations in J&K and northeast? Guarding the frozen frontier of Siachen? None of the above. The single largest killer continues to be road accidents, which claim around 300 soldiers year after year.

An Indian soldier's life, of course, also comes quite cheap. Without going to war, the Army has lost well over 6,500 soldiers in peacetime since the 1999 Kargil conflict. Around half that number of soldiers were killed in each of the three wars fought in 1962, 1965 and 1971.

It includes around 4,700 "battle casualties" occurring due to enemy/terrorist action and extreme weather/natural disasters in high-altitude areas as well as different kinds of on-duty mishaps, including road accidents.

Over these numbers, suicides constitute a major chunk of "non-operational" deaths. Around 100 soldiers take their own lives in the Army's highly-disciplined environs every year despite successive governments holding several measures have been taken to reduce stress in the 1.17 million-strong force. Just since 2010, over 520 soldiers have committed suicide.

But the toll in counter-terrorism operations has largely been brought under control over the last several years, even though soldiers are still not properly equipped with basic protection gear like light-weight modular bullet-proof jackets and ballistic helmets. The annual counter-terror casualty rate is now down to below 50 from around 300 just over a decade ago.
 
The Army may have gained "ascendancy" over militancy but it's finding it difficult to tackle the biggest peace-time killer among its ranks. Consider this: 313 soldiers were killed in road accidents in 2003, 315 in 2004 and 295 in 2005. A decade later, the numbers still stand at 306 (2012), 297 (2013) and 284 (2014), as per data collected by TOI.

The ongoing Army commanders' conference in New Delhi would do well to focus on concrete measures to reduce road accidents in the force. These could range from more rigorous training for drivers and proper pre-induction training before deployment in treacherous terrain as well as stricter overall monitoring and phasing out of old vehicles.

A senior officer, however, contended the number of deaths was "not much" compared to the "sheer volume" of the Army's vehicular movement across the country. Take just the infantry, which has 382 battalions with 800-900 soldiers each. There are around 40 vehicles, from motorcycles to heavy-duty ALS 5-tonne trucks, in each battalion.

"Yes, there are many cases of negligent driving. But our drivers also have to drive in snow-bound mountains, deserts, jungles or marshes. If one truck goes down a valley, 20 soldiers could be killed in one go," said another officer.

There is also the "fatigue factor" in long convoys, which carry troops, ammunition and other supplies, to different areas. "Proper maintenance of vehicles is also carried out, with older ones like the famous Shaktiman trucks being phased out," he said.