INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
NEW DELHI: After tearing into the skies in fighter jets and serving on frontline warships, women may soon be handling big booming howitzers
and deadly rocket systems
officers, the plan to induct women in artillery regiments is part of the overall process towards making the Army as gender-neutral as
(infantry combat vehicles)
12-lakh strong Army, it is on the frontlines of war-fighting with units deployed along the unresolved volatile borders with both China and
Sharang guns to the new M-777 ultra-light howitzers and K-9 Vajra self-propelled tracked guns
The indigenous Pinaka multi-launch rocket systems as well as similar Russian-origin Smerch and Grad units are also part of the
artillery.While women officers have been inducted into the over 14-lakh strong armed forces since the early 1990s, they number just over
3,900 (around 1,710 in Army, 1,650 in IAF and 600 in Navy) in their 65,000-strong officer cadre
There are separately around 1,670 women doctors, 190 dentists and 4,750 nurses in the military medical stream.The military brass for long
The first batch of 19 women cadets (Army 10, IAF 6 and Navy 3), for instance, has been undergoing the three-year course at the National
Defence Academy at Khadakwasla since August last year.Women Army officers can now also get permanent commission in eight new branches apart
from legal and education wings
They are Army Air Defence, Signals, Engineers, Army Aviation, EME, Army Service Corps (ASC), Army Ordnance Corps and Intelligence Corps
There is currently a special board under way for 108 women officers to be promoted to the rank of Colonel (selection grade) out of the 244
being considered for the first time, as was reported by TOI last week.Hyderabad: First batch of Agniveers start training, dream of joining
the army comes trueThere are now also 100 women jawans in the Corps of Military Police after the Army for the first time began recruiting
women was shattered when the IAF inducted three of them as fighter pilots in 2016
Now, there are 17 women pilots flying supersonic jets like MiG-21s, Sukhoi-30MKIs and even the spanking new Rafales
There are also over 145 women helicopter and transport aircraft pilots in the IAF, Army and Navy now, while around 30 women officers have
also been deployed on frontline warships.
