In a major breakthrough for women in combat, the Defence Ministry has approved for a graded induction of women as constables/jawans in the Military Police. Accordingly, the Indian Army has chalked out this induction to approximately 800 women, with the recruitment of 52 women per year.
This decision has been confirmed by the Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman herself, who has termed this decision as a ‘historic step’ taken in order to enhance the representation of women in the armed forces. Initially, all inductions will be below the rank of commissioned officers, i.e. the highest rank available for the new recruits would be that of the Head Constable, or at the best, a JCO [Junior Commissioned Officer].
To quote the tweet from the official handle of the Defence Minister, “To improve the representation of women in our armed forces Smt @nsitharaman takes a historic decision to induct women for the first time in PBOR (Personnel Below Officer Rank) role in Corps of Military Police. The women will be inducted in a graded manner to eventually comprise 20% of total Corps of Military Police.”
To improve representation of women in our armed forces Smt @nsitharaman takes a historic decision to induct women for the first time in PBOR role in Corps of Military Police 1/2 pic.twitter.com/PmEVEZ9h03
— रक्षा मंत्री कार्यालय/ RMO India (@DefenceMinIndia) January 18, 2019
For those unaware, women have been initially kept away from the role of combat in the Indian armed forces. Even though they are an illustrious part of the armed forces, the women have been primarily inducted into mostly the fields of medicine, engineering, legality, education, and signals etc. However, with the induction of women into military police, this ‘protocol’ will also come to an end. Following is a description of how the women inducted will work as military police:-
In case anyone is not aware, the role of military police is to not only administer Army cantonments and establishments but also in disciplining the armed forces as and when required. The military police also handle the logistics and movement of soldiers during peace and in war, apart from the handling of prisoners of war and extending help to the civil police as and when required.
Ever since ex-Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar gave his assent to a step by step inclusion of women in combat action, the women in uniform have been encouraged to give it their all. Be it the likes of Avani Chaturvedi, Bhavana Kanth etc. taking reins over the handling of fighter planes, or including women in more active professions of the Indian Army, the process has begun.
The inclusion of women has become even more relevant, as the problem of stone pelters has increased manifold in Kashmir Valley. Assisting terrorists without any hesitation, the vicious stone pelters don’t even hesitate from including women into their nefarious groups. As such, the inclusion of women as constables in military police will serve as an effective retaliation to those, who think that they can make an attempt at destroying the integrity of India by using women as shields.
With this historic step, General Bipin Rawat and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman deserve all the appreciations for continuing to maintain the sanctity of Indian forces without adulterating it with the left-liberal propaganda. This step will also be a reply to people like Rahul Gandhi, who think that women can only ‘be used by PM Modi to protect himself from the allegations on Rafale deal’.