If there are no pressing assignments at hand, then the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) has decided to grant its soldiers a half-day off on their birthdays. The personnel will be gifted a bouquet by a senior official on their birthday, stated an order at a unit. “As our jawans have to live away from their families for long…we’ve decided to make their birthday special,” it added.
A report published in India Today stated that the ITBP, which mans India’s frontier with China, has decided to grant troopers apart from a half-day off also the freedom to remain off uniform on their birthday with cake-cutting as part of a new measure to bolster the morale of the personnel who spend considerable time on duty away from home.
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The report further stated that a beginning was made recently at a number of formations of the 90,000-strong border guarding force. According an order issued by the Commanding Officer of the 51st Battalion of the force, deployed in Punjab’s Patiala, the unit notice board will henceforth mention the name of the birthday boy or girl and the personnel will be greeted with a bouquet by a senior official. The unit will celebrate the occasion with a
cake-cutting and snacks treat.
The troopers, who will not be in uniform, will also be allowed to wear their best dress and take a half-day off if there are no pressing assignments, the order said. “Happiness increases when we share it. As our jawans have to live away from their families for long owing to the nature of our task, we have decided to make their birthday special,” the order said. “This will boost their morale and enhance camaraderie in the unit,” it said.
At the Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force’s ‘animal transport’ wing in a forward area of Arunachal Pradesh in Lohit district, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Sudhakar Natrajan has issued directions that no birthday will be missed if the trooper is not on leave or assignment and is present in the unit.
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It recently celebrated the birthday of constables Roshan and Pankaj who turned 28 on August 10 last. “The aim of this move is to make sure that the jawans do not miss their families and as a result their morale is kept high,” a senior official said.
Other units of the force across the country have been asked by the ITBP headquarters to undertake these measures as per their convenience and nature of duties and deployment. Natrajan has also begun sending a ‘report card’ and a personal thank-you note to the parents of the jawans who sent their wards to serve the paramilitary force.
The ITBP guards the 3,488-km long Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China apart from rendering a variety of duties in the country’s internal security domain, including anti-Naxal operations.