‘Army not ready for women in combat roles’

PUNE: Army Chief General Bipin Rawat said on Friday that the Indian Army was “not yet ready” to have women in combat roles, adding that several areas have been identified for expanding women’s role in the Army.

“You will see an increase in the role of women in the armed forces. We haven’t yet taken them in front-line combat role. We feel we aren’t yet ready. Western nations are more open. Boys and girls are operating together in big cities here, but people in the Army don’t only come from big cities. Majority of them are from rural areas where mingling between men and women is still not very open. We are exploring how women can be given Permanent Commission,” General Rawat said on the sidelines of the passing-out parade of cadets from the 135th course at the National Defence Academy (NDA), Khadakwasla .

He further pointed out that male officers in a command-oriented army don’t fit everywhere. “Keeping women officers in fields like language interpreter, military diplomacy, information, cyber and psychological warfare will be beneficial. They are already present in the army’s education and law departments,” he said. When asked about reports that defence cantonments may be merged with the local civic bodies, the army chief said such possibilities were being explored but only for civilian areas of the cantonments.

“We want to increase military stations. Cantonments are a British legacy. There are 237 military stations and 62 cantonments. We are exploring the possibilities whether civil areas of the cantonments can be merged with local civic bodies for better services to people ”, he said.

261 CADETS GRADUATE FROM NDA

On Friday, a total of 261 cadets graduated from the National Defence Academy. These included 186 cadets from the army, 21 from the navy and 54 from the air force, inclusive of 16 cadets from friendly foreign countries such as Afghanistan, Bhutan, Kyrgyzstan, Lesotho, Tanzania, Tajikistan, Mauritius, Vietnam and Sri Lanka.