5 women officers get approval for rank of Colonel

For the first time, women officers of the Indian Army serving with the Corps of Signals, Corps of Electronic and Mechanical Engineers (EME) and the Corps of Engineers have been approved for the rank of Colonel.

An Army selection board has cleared the way for the promotion of five women officers to colonel (time scale) rank, after completion of 26 years of reckonable service.

Earlier, promotion to colonel was possible only for women serving in the Army Medical Corps, the Judge Advocate General branch and the Army Education Corps. This comes after last year’s Supreme Court order that all women officers recruited under the Short Service Commission (SSC) will be eligible for Permanent Commission. Before that, only women in non-combat streams like the JAG and the Army Education Corps were eligible for Permanent Commission.

After the court order, Permanent Commission was granted to 424 women officers. “The widening of promotion avenues to more branches of the Indian Army is a sign of increasing career opportunities for women officers,” the defence ministry said in a statement. Combined with the decision to grant Permanent Commission to women officers in most branches of the Indian Army, this defines the Army’s approach towards a gender-neutral force, it added.

The five women officers selected for colonel Lt. Col. Sangeeta Sardana from the Corps of Signals, Lt. Col. Sonia Anand and Lt. Col. Navneet Duggal from EME and Lt. Col. Reenu Khanna and Lt. Col. Ritcha Sagar from the Corps of Engineers.