By IANS
New Delhi : Citing operational reasons, the Indian government Wednesday ruled out inducting women as combatants into the three services or granting them permanent commissions in the support arms.
“The issues of combat employability and grant of permanent commission are interlinked. Due to the existing combat employability restrictions, permanent commission to women officers could not be considered,” Defence Minister A.K. Antony said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.
Women are eligible for permanent commissions in the medical, nursing and dental services of the armed forces. They are also eligible for short service commissions in these services as also in the support arms of the armed forces.
“A study carried out by the services has recommended that women officers be excluded from induction in close combat arms where chances of physical contact with enemy are high,” the minister said.
“The study has concluded that it is essential to obtain feedback on their performance based on revised pre-commission training (from 24 weeks to 49 weeks), detailment on courses such as junior command course and assessment of their performance as sub-unit commanders especially in field areas; for holding higher ranks and being granted permanent commissions.
“In the light of this, grant of permanent commissions to women (in non-medical arms) has not presently been recommended,” Antony added.
Currently, 5,137 women officers serve in the armed forces. They include 4,101 in the Indian Army, 784 in the Indian Air Force (IAF), and 252 in the Indian Navy. This includes women granted permanent commissions in the Army Medical Corps and the Army Dental Corps and their equivalents in the other two services, as also in the Military Nursing Services.
The induction of women short service commission officers in the three services started in 1992 and their appointment has been progressively extended to different arms in the three services.
“They are, however, not being commissioned into close combat arms in the army. In the air force, women are being inducted in all streams except the fighter stream. In the navy, there have been restrictions in deploying women officers onboard ships and submarines,” Antony stated.