Defence ministry bats for greater inclusivity of female officers, asks army to identify avenues for women

The defence ministry has asked all wings of the Indian Army to come up with suggestions by 31 July on roles women officers can be given. According to a notice issued by the Integrated Headquarters of the Ministry of Defence (Army), women officers could be deployed in Jammu and Kashmir and the North East where the army often has to take the help of police to deal with women agitators, reported PTI. [caption id=“attachment_3512161” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. PTI[/caption] “Time has come wherein increased inclusivity of women in ranks is being necessitated in all spheres of activities.” “Hence, it is requested that each arm and service does an internal brainstorming and identify avenues that can be opened up for women,” it said. On 5 June, the Indian Army, one of the largest in the world, had announced that it was ready to open up combat positions for women. Army chief Bipin Rawat had said that the process to allow women in combat role, currently an exclusive domain of men, was moving fast and initially women would be recruited for positions in military police. “I am looking at women coming as jawans. I am going to start it soon. Firstly, we will start with women as military police jawans,” he had said, giving details of the move to allow women in the male-dominated positions in the army. Currently women are allowed in a number of select areas including in medical, legal, educational, signals and engineering wings of the army but combat roles are kept off limit for them due to operational concerns and logistical issues. With inputs from agencies