100 women recruits went through a gruelling year of physical and procedural training. And they are now ready to be posted in 11 units of the Indian Army
When they first arrived, they had some inhibitions. They would cry sometimes, or miss home, but almost all of the 100 women recruits had their eyes firmly set on their goal — to become a soldier with the Indian Army.
It’s been over a year now, and the recruits of the first batch of women soldiers of the Indian Army, who have been undergoing training at the Corps of Military Police (CMP) in Bengaluru, are a transformed bunch. Their trainers are proud and their family struggles to recognise them.
“The induction of women soldiers to the Army and CMP has been a significant step towards achieving gender parity and this is a historic decision by the Indian Army. I am sure it will pave the way as a harbinger for a step to be adopted by sister services of the defence forces in times to come,” said Brigadier C Dayalan, commandant CMP Center and School.
He added that while these girls had come with inhibitions and deficiencies, over time they have transformed into professional soldiers due to their own hard work, grit and determination. “Every military police soldier is wrestled with an authority, policing the Army means an authority and they are trained suitably and that’s the reason why CMP was chosen for the first batch of the women soldiers,” Dayalan said.
These women will pass out on May 8 and will be recruited as Lance Naiks and will be posted in 11 units of the Army across the country.
The CMP is the first in the Indian Army to recruit women in its rank and file. When applications were first invited a couple of years ago more than two lakh had applied. The 100 women recruits aged between 18 and 21 years commenced their training on January 6, 2020, and the total duration of the training is 41 weeks.
Training schedule
The training was split to 29 weeks of basic training and 26 weeks of advanced training.
During the basic training, they undergo physical and weapon training, drill, swimming, PROVOST Basic, driving and maintenance.
In the advanced training phase, they trained in policing duties which covered the areas of investigation in rape, suicide, POCSO, management of prisoners of war, filing military police reports, control room management, traffic management, Vishaka guidelines, driving and maintenance of two-wheelers and four-wheelers including heavy vehicles and signal training. They also had to undergo gruelling physical training sessions.
At the units, apart from basic policing duties like searching of women at checkpoints, they will also be part of investigation in rape, molestation, sexual harassment, thefts, crimes in family quarters and also cases relating to female domestic help, child abuse, domestic violence and martial discord.
Training officer for the recruits, Lt Col Juliee, said that she and Major Richa Chakravarthy, the medical officer took care of the recruits during the initial days. “At times they used to cry also initially. Not all, but a few who had left their home for the first time, who were not part of NCC or national sports. Those sepoys needed more attention. Richa also assisted me. We mainatained a Mutt and Jefff kind of a relationship to give them a softer hand and a harder hand at times,” Juliee said. She added that the recruits supported each other during the pandemic and during the lockdown when one recruit lost her father in Maharashtra, these soldiers supported their subordinate.
Since women soldiers were being trained for the first time on the same campus as men, gender sensitisation programmes were also held. The Vishaka Committee guidelines on sexual harassment at the workplace were also implemented and that the troops were sensitised about it.
Himanshi, a recruit from Madhya Pradesh, said her aim was to join the armed forces. “I used to watch the army training on television and assumed that training would be like what I saw on TV. But, here things were at a much higher level, especially during the initial days. However the instructors helped us and have trained us well,” Himanshi said.
In the last one year, we have learnt a lot from our instructors, trainers and the other recruits. When I went home, my family could not recognise me
Arthi, a recruit from Belagavi, a B.Com graduate, said that she was always interested in joining the Army. “In the last one year, we have learnt a lot from our trainers, instructors and each one of the recruits. When I went home during leave, my family could not recognise me as there were a lot of changes in me,” she said.
A majority of the recruits are from UP and Haryana. From Karnataka, eight recruits are undergoing training.
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