Cake, bouquet, half-day for soldiers guarding Indo-China border on birthdays

New Delhi: The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) which guards India's frontier with China has decided to grant troopers a half-day off and the choice to not wear a uniform on their birthday. To wish them, there will also be a cake and a bouquet.

A beginning was made recently at a number of formations of the 90,000-strong border guarding force.

According to 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 personnel whose birthday it is and they will be greeted with a bouquet by a senior official.

"Happiness increases when we share it. Our jawans have to live away from their families for long so we have decided to make their birthday special," the order accessed by news agency PTI 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.

"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.

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-Maoist operations.