Indian army clears over 30 women officers for command roles in historic first

In a first, the Indian Army has cleared over 30 women officers for command roles. This comes amid the Army holding promotion boards for 108 vacancies of select Colonel rank for women officers including batches from 1992 to 2005. According to the Army officials, the initial list of more than 30 women officers have been cleared from different arms and services including Corps of Engineers, Signals, Ordnance, and Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, ANI reported. The Army will release more lists in the future as soon as the boards would be compiled and results announced.

Those women who have been selected will take over command roles and they could also be considered for future promotions and rise to higher ranks in the army. "Women officers are being given opportunities at par with their male counterparts. The process for selection of women officers to tenant command assignments in Colonel rank is in progress", officials told ANI. 

Increasing participation of women in Indian Army

This comes after a female officer was deployed in the Siachen Glacier from the 57 Engineers regiment for the first time. The newly introduced Agnipath scheme is also opening the gates for women to join the army. The first batch of over 100 female Agniveers are scheduled to start their training in Bengaluru in March this year. Siachen was just the first example as the army has also started deploying women soldiers in joint exercises with friendly foreign countries and in peacekeeping missions.

India's first all-women platoon of peacekeepers will be deployed in Abyei, the region accorded "special administrative status" between Sudan and South Sudan border.  

"We have considerable stepped up the role of our women soldiers in various UN Peacekeeping missions. In consonance with the United Nations' Gender Parity drive, we recently deployed an Enhanced Female Engagement Team comprising two officers and 25 women soldiers to the strife torn Abeyi region of Africa to provide relief and assistance of women and children in one of the most challenging operations and terrain conditions under the UN flag", an Army official said. He futher said that Army Chief General Manoj Pande is a staunch advocate of giving all possible opportunities to female officers. The Army has also sent a proposal to the Centre seeking the opening of more avenues for women.