The Government has sanctioned the enrolment of 1700 women in Corps of Military Police in a phased manner, Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt said on Friday.
In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, he said the induction of women has commenced from the year 2020. The first batch of women Military Police personnel have completed their training and reported to units.
He noted that post the Supreme Court order dated February 17, 2020, women officers were being granted Permanent Commission in 10 Arms/Services of the Indian Army subject to their meeting the Qualitative Requirement (QR) along with the Short Service Commissioned Men Officers. Women Officers were also being inducted in Army Aviation Corps as Pilots from June 2021 onwards.
The Minister said the defence forces have opened entry for women candidates in NDA, allowing girls to appear in NDA entrance exams from July 2022 courses onwards. For the first batch, a written exam has been conducted on November 14.
Bhatt said the Indian Air Force (IAF) was undertaking various induction publicity measures to encourage youth including women to join IAF. Modules like direct contact programme, print and electronic media were extensively used to create awareness about IAF and educate students about various modes of entries.
Women officers in the Indian Navy were appointed onboard warships. Currently, 29 women officers were appointed to ships. Until 2019, women officers were being commissioned as Pilots and Observers only for shore based aircraft. However, in order to employ women at par with male officers, women officers have also been streamed as specialist Observers into helicopters commencing 2020. Provost specialisation has been opened up for women officers since 2020 and the first woman Provost officer has joined the specialisation in March 2021 after successful completion of At-Arms course.
The Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) stream has been opened up for women officers.