Permanent Commission For Women In Indian Defense; Faces Behind This Amendment

With the latest announcement of Defense of Ministry, One more feather has been added to the crown of today's women. Until now, women are only allowed to serve to two army branches, Army Education Camp and Judge Advocate General. But with the press release on Tuesday,5th March, Ministry of Defense announced that women officers will now be allowed permanent commission (PC) in all the remaining 8 branches.

The sexist rules prevent women even if they want to fight for their country as according to the army regulation female officers are only allowed for short service commission (SSC). Defense Ministry has announced “SSC women officers will give their option for permanent commission (PC) before completion of four years of commissioned service...".The selection for the grant of PC will be based only on the metric, suitability. The newly open permanent posts are engineers, army aviation, signal, electronics, air army defense, electronics and mechanical engineers, army ordnance corps, army service crop, and intelligence.

So far, SSC allowed women to serve in the army as an officer but does not procure them any rank /title. And in SSC a women officer is allowed only to serve for 14 years tenure with last four years to review. With the change in recruitment rule, female officers who have served the army under SSC for four years will be now considered for the permanent position. And they can serve the nation till the age of retirement. By taking this step to include women in all 10 branches in the Indian army, the government has taken a huge step which was started by allowing women in the Indian Air Force's fighter stream.

With this positive amendment in Indian defense, it looks like women are now taking the frontlines of the defense, which is quite rare even today in most of the countries. Now it’s the turn of our brave female officers to show how capable they are to make our nation proud. So, in a nutshell, we have another prestigious reason to celebrate the International Women’s day this year. This amendment cannot be possible without great achievements by extraordinary female officers who are walking shoulder to shoulder with their male colleagues.

Here we list some brave officers of us who made our country proud.

1. Punita Arora :

The first womanin India to hold the rank of second highest rank i.e. Lieutenant General of Indian Armed Forces and the first Vice-admiral of Indian Navy who inspired many women to join the army. In the 36 years of career, she has been awarded 15 medals for her extraordinary bravery and leadership quality and service to the nation.

2. Padmavathy Bandopadhyay :

She is the first woman Air Marshal of the IAF (Indian Air Force) and the second woman in the Indian armed forces. She is a member of the New York Academy of Sciences, is an advanced medicine specialist. Bandopadhyay was the first woman to research the physiology of the extreme cold adaptation and conduct scientific research at the North Pole. She also got the Vishisht Seva medal for her tremendous service in Indo-Pak conflict in 1971.

3. Priya Jhingan :

The law graduate student who became the first lady cadet to join the Indian Army.She herself wrote a letter to the Army chief, asking him to give permission to the women to be a part of Indian Army. Being a child of a police officer, she dreamt to wear a uniform and to serve her country from a very tender age.

4. Divya Ajith Kumar :

First Indian lady officer to write the history by becoming the first Lady Cadet who got the “Sword of Honour”, the highest award given to a cadet of officers Traning Academy and she led 154 women officers and cadets in the parade during the republic day 2015.

5. Mitali Madhumita :

The first woman to receive the Gallantry award; the prestigious Sena medal. The award is only given to the officers who sacrifice their lives in service and show extraordinary courage in a crisis. Mitali Madhumita saved injured civilians any army officers in Kabul Embassy attack in 2010 by risking her own life.

These brave officers become an inspiration to the women and we are immensely proud of them.