All wings of the Indian Armed Forces allow women in combat roles (junior ranks) and combat supervisory roles (officers), except Indian Army (support roles only) and Special Forces of India (trainer role only) (c. 2017). Indian Air Force had 8.5%, Indian Army 3% and Indian Navy 2.8% women (c. 2014).
Video Women in Indian Armed Forces
History
In 1888, the role of women in the Indian army began when the "Indian Military Nursing Service" was formed during the British Raj. During 1914-45, Indian Army nurses fought in World War I (1914-18) and World War II (1939-45), where 350 Indian Army nurses either died or were taken prisoner of war or declared missing in action. This includes nurses who died when SS Kuala was sunk by the Japanese bombers in 1942. Women's Auxiliary Corps (India) was formed in May 1942. Noor Inayat Khan, George Cross (2 January 1914 - 13 September 1944), of Indian and American descent, was a British heroine of World War II renowned for her service in the Special Operations Executive. Kalyani Sen, a second officer and first Indian service woman who visited the UK, served in the Women's Royal Indian Naval Service of The Royal Indian Navy (RIN) during World War II.
Maps Women in Indian Armed Forces
Indian Army
Females are not allowed to serve in combat units like the Infantry, the Armoured corps and Mechanised infantry (c. 2017).
In 1992, the Indian Army began inducting women officers in non-medical roles. On 19 January 2007, the United Nations first all female peacekeeping force made up of 105 Indian policewomen was deployed to Liberia.
Priya Jhingan, commissioned in 1993, is the first woman to join the Indian Army as an officer. Sapper Shanti Tigga is the first female jawan (private rank) in the Indian Army who joined in 2011. Priya Semwal, joined in 2014, first Army jawan's wife to join as an officer in the armed forces, whose husband had fallen in a counter-insurgency operation near hilly Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh in 2012.
Mitali Madhumita (Lieutenant Colonel), commissioned in 2000, is the first woman officer in India to receive a gallantry award, who received the Sena Medal in 2011 for exemplary courage shown during the Attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul by terrorists in Kabul, Afghanistan on 26 February 2010, and operations in Jammu-Kashmir and the northeast states.
Anjana Bhaduria, joined first-ever batch of female cadets in 1992, is the first female in the Indian Army to win the Gold Medeal. Divya Ajith Kumar, commissioned in 2010, is the first female officer to receive Sword of Honor. She led all women contingent of 154 women officers and cadets during the Republic Day 2015 parade.
Ganeve Lalji, a third generation Army officer commissioned in the Corps of Military intelligence in 2011, is the first woman to be appointed as a key aide to an Army Commander.
Swati Singh (Captain), an engineer and then only female officer in her 63 Brigade of the Indian Army, is the first female officer to be deployed at Nathu La pass as Signals in-charge.
Sophia Qureshi (Lt. Colonel) of the Corps of Signals is the first female officer to lead a training contingent of the Indian Army at Force 18, the ASEAN Plus multinational field training exercise held in 2016.
Indian Air Force
In 2015, Indian Air Force opened new combat air force roles for women as fighter pilots, adding to their role as helicopter pilots in the Indian Air Force. Gunjan Saxena (Flight Officer ), who joined the first batch of women IAF trainee pilots in 1994, is the first woman IAF officer to fly in a combat zone during the Kargil War (May-July 1999). Deepika Misra, is the first IAF woman pilot to train for the helicopter aerobatic team in 2006.
Nivedita Choudhary (Flight Lieutenant), a jat from Rajasthan, is the first woman from the Indian Air Force to summit the Mount Everest in 2012.
Dr. Punita Arora, commissioned in 1968, is the first woman in the India Army to reach the second highest rank as the Lieutenant General, and the first female Vice admiral. Padmavathy Bandopadhyay is the first woman Air Marshal of the Indian Air Force and the second woman in the Indian armed forces to be promoted to a three-star rank after Lt. General Punita Arora.
Special Forces of India
Women in Ghatak Force, Garud Commando Force, MARCOS (Marine Commandos) and Para (Special Forces).
Women are not yet allowed as combatant in the combat specialist forces, such as Ghatak, Garud, MARCOS, para commandos, etc. but but they can join paratroopers wings of their respective arms like para EME, para signals, para ASC, etc. (c. 2017).
Dr. Seema Rao, also known as "India's Wonder Woman", is India's first woman commando trainer, having trained over 15,000 Special Forces of India (including the NSG Black Cats, MARCOS, GARUD) as full-time guest trainer for 20 years without compensation as a pioneer in close quarter battle (CQB).
Paramilitary forces of India
Women in Indian Coast Guard, Assam Rifles and Special Frontier Force.
Indian Coast Guard
Women can join the Indian Coast Guard in officer ranks as general duty, pilot or law officers. In January 2017, Indian Coast Guard became the first force to deploy four female officers, assistant commandants Anuradha Shukla, Sneha Kathyat, Shirin Chandran and Vasundhara Chouksey, in combat roles on board KV Kuber hovercraft ship patrolling the Indian maritime zone bordering Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Assam Rifles
In April 2016, Assam Rifles inducted a first batch of 100 female soldiers who had undergone year-long training programme and graduated in the passing-out parade at the Assam Rifles Training Centre and School in Shokhuvi in Dimapur district of Nagaland. They will be deployed at Cordon And Search Operation (CASO), Mobile Check Posts (MCP) and road opening operations in various battalions for search, frisking and interrogation of women, crowd control and dispersal of female agitators.
Special Frontier Force
Special Frontier Force, created in 1962 as a most covert and elite Special Force unit as the armed wing of RAW to conduct covert operations behind the Chinese Lines in the event of another Sino-Indian War, inducted 500 female in 1972 for the first time in medical, signals and clerical roles.
Central Armed Police Forces
In March 2016, govt allowed direct-entery women officers in all five Central Armed Police Forces, namely Central Armed Police Force (CRPF), Border Security Force (BSF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), allow direct entery to women in junior rank via direct recruitment and also to women officer via Union Public Service Commission in supervisory combat roles. In March 2016, Home Minister Rajnath Singh announced that women will be inducted in 33% constable-rank personnel in CRPF and CISF and 15% in the border guarding forces BSF, SSB and ITBP.
Central Armed Police Force
Central Armed Police Force (CRPF) allows women officers in supervisory combat roles since a long time via UPSC route.
Central Industrial Security Force
Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) allows women officers in supervisory combat roles since a long time via UPSC route.
Border Security Force
Border Security Force (BSF) allowed women officers in supervisory combat roles in 2013.
Sashastra Seema Bal
Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) allowed women officers in supervisory combat roles in 2014.
Indo-Tibetan Border Police
Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) allowed women officers in supervisory combat roles in 2016. About 1.75% (1,500) of 80,000 ITBP personnel are women, mostly in the rank of constables (c. March 2016).
Other Forces
Women in National Security Guard (NSG), Special Protection Group (SPG), Railway Protection Force (RPF) and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).
National Security Guard
National Security Guard (NSG) (Black Cat Commandos) inducted female commandos for the first in 2011-12, however the first discrimination they faced was from the then 2 female Chief Ministers, Mayawati and Jayalalitha, who refused to be guarded by the female commandos. In 2015, govt announced that the female NSG Black Cat Commandos, who undergo the same training as their male counterpart, will be deployed in counter-terrorism operations as they also perform VIP protection duties.
Special Protection Group
Special Protection Group (SPG) inducted female commandos in 2013, and then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's wife Gursharan Kaur became the first SPG protectee to have women commandos. In May 2017, a female commando was deployed for the first time to guard the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Railway Protection Force
Railway Protection Force (RPF) has female unit, Shakti Squad. In 2015, 25-year-old Debashmita Chattopadhyay became first female Assistant Security Commissioner (ASC) in RPF who took charge of the Shakti squad of RPF women constables.
National Disaster Response Force
National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) got its first woman commander in 2015 when 40-years old senior Commandant Rekha Nambiar joined the 4th Battalion based in Arakkonam in Tamil Nadu to lead 1,000 personnel-strong all-men battalion.
See also
- List of serving Generals of the Indian Army
References
External links
- Indian Army - Official website
- Join Indian Army - Recruitment website
- Indian Air Force - Official website
- Indian Navy - Official website
- Bharat-Rakshak - Military and Defence News website
- India Defence News - Indian Defence & Military News website
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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