The Indian army will be inducting women in its rank-and-file for the first time in the coming weeks with the training of the first batch of women cadets in the Corps of Military Police (CMP) scheduled for completion in the next few weeks in Bengaluru.
The cadets began their 61-week training on January 6, 2020. And, even as the passing out parade of the first batch is yet to be held, more than 4,000 women had applied to be part of the CMP in the recently held rally by the Indian army.
Those selected from this rally would be part of the second batch of women in CMP.
So far, the army had only women officers in certain streams and this is the first time that women will be inducted in the non-officer category.
These cadets, once they complete their training, could be posted in any one of the army’s divisions, including the ones in the forward areas.
According to the ministry of defence (MoD), a total of 1,700 women military police will be inducted over a period of 17 years, and the first batch of 99 women military police trainees had reported to the CMP Centre and School in Bengaluru in January 2020.
The training of the first batch of women soldiers comprised basic military and advanced provost training.
“Adequate training and administrative infrastructure have been put in place and due diligence was used while developing administrative infrastructure for women recruits’ accommodation based on interactions with the Officers Training Academy in Chennai, Assam Rifles and National Cadet Corps and the Officers Training Academy in Gwalior,” an earlier statement by the CMP read.
The women soldiers have had the same terms and conditions as applicable to their male counterparts.
On completion of training, the women military police will perform similar duties as the male military police personnel.
“The women military police, besides being employed on mandatory operational and peacetime duties, will be an asset for investigation of gender-specific crimes,” the CMP statement reads.
Further, as reported by TOI earlier, the army’s first major recruitment rally (Dec 2020) since the Covid-19 pandemic hit the country had participation from more than 4,000 women, aspiring to join the CMP.
An officer from the Karnataka and Kerala sub-area who oversaw the rally had told TOI: “We’ve received applications from around 4,000 women and 10,000 men.
” In the recently concluded Parliament session, MoS Shripad Naik told the Rajya Sabha that in addition to the provision of Permanent Commission to Women Officers in Judge Advocate General and Army Education Corps, the Centre has recently announced a grant of Permanent Commission to Women Officers in all other arms/services in which they are eligible for commission.
“Further, the government has sanctioned 1,700 women in the CMP in a phased manner,” he had said, adding that there are 6,796 women in the army as of date.
Recently, the army and the government had come under criticism from the Supreme Court, which had termed some of the selection criteria for women to get the permanent commission, as arbitrary and irrational.
Comments
Post a Comment