Women will be inducted as military police jawans first: Army
A week after announcing that combat roles for women would be open soon, Army chief General Bipin Rawat on Saturday said, "Firstly, we will start with women as military police jawans, will take next step after success." The Indian Army had kept combat roles off limit for women until now reportedly due to operational concerns and logistical issues.
A week after the Chief of Army Staff Bipin Rawat announced that combat roles for women would be open soon, the chief today said that women will be first inducted in military police before taking the discourse further on their combat positions in the force. "Firstly, we will start with women as military police jawans, will take next step after success," General Rawat told media after attending a Passing out Parade (PoP) ceremony in Dehradun."Because many times, when people go to the operation, we have to face the people and many a times ladies come in front of us," he said.Currently women are allowed in a number of select areas including in medical, legal, educational, signals and engineering wings of the Indian Army but combat roles are kept off limit for them due to operational concerns and logistical issues.According to reports, India will be joining countries like Germany, Australia, Canada, the United States, Britain, Denmark, Finland, France, Norway, Sweden and Israel that have already allowed women in combat roles in their army.Last year, in a major step forward, Avani Chaturvedi, Bhawana Kanth and Mohana Singh became the first women fighter pilots to be formally commissioned by the Indian Air Force.ABOUT KASHMIR Answering a question on the ongoing unrest in Kashmir, General Rawat claimed youth in the valley are being instigated through a campaign of misinformation on social media."Youth in Kashmir are being instigated by a misinformation campaign on social media," he said.On June 8, General Rawat said the situation in Kashmir would be normal soon.He said, "Pakistan is spreading disinformation among the youth of Kashmir with doctored videos and messages. This is further supported by some of the people in the Valley who spread it and glamorise the young boys who have joined terrorist organisations."With inputs from ANIAlso read: Not hurt by comparison with General Dyer, says Army chief Bipin Rawat 