Ministry of Defence has issued the formal Government Sanction Letter for grant of Permanent Commission (PC) to Women Officers in the Indian Army, paving the way for empowering Women Officers to shoulder larger roles in the organization. The order specifies grant of PC to Short Service Commissioned (SSC) Women Officers in all ten streams of the Indian Army i.e Army Air Defence (AAD), Signals, Engineers, Army Aviation, Electronics and Mechanical Engineers (EME), Army Service Corps (ASC), Army Ordnance Corps (AOC), and Intelligence Corps in addition to the existing streams of Judge and Advocate General (JAG) and Army Educational Corps (AEC).
The order will pave the way to empower women officers to shoulder larger roles in the organization, the spokesperson added. “Their selection board will be scheduled as soon as all affected SSC women officers exercise their option and complete requisite documentation,” he said.
SUPREME COURT DIRECTIVE
This will further pave the way for empowering women officers to shoulder larger roles in the Army. Earlier this year the Supreme Court allowed permanent commission and command roles to women officers.
The order led the Army to work on tweaking its existing policies on issues like training, physical endurance, and postings and service courses to bring about equilibrium in service conditions for male and female officers.
“In anticipation, the Army Headquarters had set in motion a series of preparatory actions for the conduct of the Permanent Commission Selection Board for affected Women Officers,” an Army statement said on Thursday.
SELECTION BOARD SOON
The Selection Board will be scheduled as soon as all affected SSC Women Officers exercise their option and complete requisite documentation.
“The Indian Army is committed to providing equal opportunities to all personnel including Women Officers to serve the nation,” the Army said.
WOMEN IN ARMY
Till now the percentage of women in the Indian Army was only 3.89 percent, Navy 6.7 percent, and Air Force 13.28 percent, excluding the medical corps, dental corps, and Military Nursing Service.
The entry of women in the Army till now has only been through Short Service Commission (SSC) but till now they could not serve beyond 14 years, however, there were some who continued on extensions but were still not given permanent commission.
There are over 300 women officers who are serving for more than 14 years on the extension.
Bizarre reasoning like motherhood, physiological limitation, childcare and troops from rural backgrounds not accepting women in command roles were cited by the government but was junked by the Supreme Court while giving permanent status to women in Army.
