ITBP gets first woman officer in combat role
In another first for women, 25- year- old Prakriti has been inducted as the first direct- entry combat officer in the border guarding force, ITBP.
The Indo- Tibetan Border Police ( ITBP) force is the last of the CAPFs to induct women officers in combat roles after the government first allowed it to enrol them in 2016.
Prakriti, who goes by a single name, had cleared the UPSC exam for officers’ recruitment in CAPFs in the same year and in her first attempt.
“I always had a desire to don the uniform and serve the country. My father, who is in the Indian Air Force, has always been an inspiration for me. I opted for the ITBP as my first choice,” she told PTI.
“I read a news piece in March, 2016 that the government had for the firsttime allowed women to serve as combat officers in the ITBP and then decided that I will opt for this force once I get selected,” Prakriti, who hails from Bihar’s Samastipur district, said.
She has a bachelors degree in electrical engineering and is right now based in an ITBP unit in Ut tara khan d’ s Pithoragarh. She will soon join the Officers’ Training Academy of the force in Dehradun.
“She is expected to be commissioned as an assistant commandant ( AC) next year in the force after she completes her training at Dehradun. She will be posted at a border post,” a senior ITBP officer said.
The force already has women in combat roles but only in the constable ranks.
Prakriti, who says her parents gave her a surnameless identity in a caste- ridden society, said she never faced discrimination at home.
“My parents supported me thoroughly. I wish and urge other parents that when their children make career choices they should not think that it is their son or daughter making a choice but that it is a child who is taking up a challenge,” she said.