Salute to brave women Soldiers of Indian Armed Forces. An Insight to Lady Officers.

Salute to brave women Soldiers of Indian Armed Forces. An Insight to Lady Officers.


Indian Army started recruiting of Women officers in 1992.Every six months, about 5,000 women graduates and postgraduates between the ages of 21 and 25 years apply to join the Army. Barely a fifth clear the written test and only a tenth of those who do are selected.

The first Women Cadet batch was of 25 cadets which joined Indian Army on 6th March 1993.Women officers unlike male have to retire early and Since the early-1990s, women have been serving in wings like legal, education, engineering, ordinance, intelligence, signals, air traffic control and the like but only as short-service commission (SSC) officers for a maximum of 14 years. Women have been getting Permanent Commission only in the medical stream as doctors, dentists and nurses.

On release they can pursue a career in the civil sector. SSC officers are released with gratuity and can avail some benefits as ex-serviceperson, but they do not get pension.

Women in the medical branch i.e. doctors and nurses can serve as Permanent Commissioned (PC) officers and are eligible for pension after retirement and also have the option to serve as Short Service Commissioned officers.

There have been many notable achievements as well by Women in Olive green ,let us look at those and i hope you enjoy reading those .

Indian Army did Mt everest Expedition in 2005 and 2012 for women officers . Captain Shipra Mazumdar, Captain Ashwini Pawar, Cadet Tshering Ladol and Trainee Dechin Lhamo scaled the 8848-metre Mt. Everest .

Apart from that, Indian army women once again went to Mount Everest Expedition in 2012. 7 Indian Army women officers achieved the feat to reach the summit of Mt. Everest.

There was one expedition to highest point of Siachen Glacier, “Indira Col”. ATeam comprising only lady officers of the Indian Army scaled Indira Col, the highest point on Siachen glacier on 15 August 2009, making it the first ladies team to have reached the highest battlefield in the world.

The Team

Maj AR Ramakrishnan (Team Leader and Manager), Maj N Linyu, Maj Rita Deb, Maj Megha Astagikar,Maj Neha Bhatnagar,Maj Pradnya Kulkarni, Maj Meghna R, Capt Saily Jagtap, Capt Pushpa Kumari. Capt Shikha Yadav, Capt Saloni Mittal, Capt Aarti Parashar, Capt Priyanka Tak, Lt Girija Mohalkar, Lt Namrata Rathore, Lt Vijay Laxmi Chand Thakur, Lt Neelam Rathore, Lt Garima Pal, Hav Pasare , Spr Kalu Ram, Sigmn Meena ,Sigmn Deeraj Jasrotia

The first woman in the history of the Indian Army, to be selected for the ‘Sword of Honour’, Is Chennai-girl Divya Ajith In year 2010.

She beat 244 fellow gentlemen and women cadets, to win the Best All-Round Cadet award and get the ‘Sword of Honour’, which is the highest award given to a cadet of the Officers Training Academy.

Women officers take salutes, Give orders and pack a commanding punch into their slight frames. But the looming specter of discrimination is barely seen behind the veil of formal correctness.It is the gentlemen cadets who feel discriminated against. Women Soldiers earn the same pay but do not train for as long or as hard. There is resentment, and it is inevitable. Gender cannot be forgotten. Three hundred-odd years of male attitudes cannot change so fast, but Army ethics include respect for women, which is a help.

Apart from that,Women Don’t join Combat Operations.but one women beat the odds and joined Territorial Army , she was Jawan Shanti Tigga. She was honoured by former president Pratibha Patil for being the first female jawan of our country.

But Unfortunately, she was kidnapped by some unknown people and she was tied to a post near to railway track, she was taken to Military Hospital where she declined any Assault by the kidnappers but after few days she committed suicide in May 2013.

Lieutenant Ganeve Lalji, a young intelligence officer created the history by becoming the first woman to be appointed as a key aide to an Army Commander

Punita Arora is the first woman in India to don the second highest rank i.e. Lieutant General of Indian Armed Forces and the first Vice admiral of Indian Navy
  • She has been awarded with 15 medals in her 36 years of career in Indian Armed Forces.
  • VSM for providing efficient and timely help to victims of the Kaluchak massacre in 2002.
  • SM for providing gynae-endoscopy and oncology facilities and pioneering invitro-fertilization and assisted reproductive techniques for infertile and childless couples in military hospitals.
  • PVSM in 2006
Mitali Madhumita in Feb 2011 became India’s first female officer to receive the Sena Medal for gallantry.

Padmavathy Bandopadhyay is the first woman Air Marshal of the Indian Air Force
. She joined the Indian Air Force in 1968.

There have been any women who are joining and many aspirants who try to join prestigious and most dignified Institution of the country i.e Indian Army .

Women officers are also not deployed at the frontline, though recent amendments have ensured that they are posted in field areas, sometimes less than 50 meters away from actual combat. In their 10 years of service, the women officers can only hope to rise up to the level of a Major.Postings are across the country and usually in the Engineers, Ordnance, Signals, Army Service, Education, Intelligence, Legal Branch or EME (Electrical and Mechanical Engineering) Corps.

Women constitute just 3% to 8% of the total officer cadre, and they are not allowed to serve in the ranks below officer level in the 17-lakh strong armed forces.

All young ladies taken into the OTA have to go through a rigorous selection process. The army has its own tests that determine psychological and physical fitness and also aptitude.also taken into account are communication skills as Women officer has to lead and direct men.

In 1993,13 Brave Women Cadets Joined the Indian Air Force in it’s First Batch .

13 Brave Hearts who underwent the rigorous flying training at Air Force Academy since 19.07.1993 :
  • Flight Cadet Harita Kaur Deol
  • Flight Cadet Archana Kapoor
  • Flight Cadet Anisha Shinh
  • Flight Cadet Bindu Sebastian
  • Flight Cadet Pamela Roudrigs
  • Flight Cadet Priya Paul
  • Flight Cadet Priya Nalgundwar
  • Flight Cadet Shweta Mishra
  • Flight Cadet Sabita Bano
  • Flight Cadet Anupma Rao
  • Flight Cadet C.K. Veena
  • Flight Cadet R. Laxmi
  • Flight Cadet Anjana Achutan
(Special Courtesy and heart felt thanks for names and Photos to Flight Cadet (R) Shweta Mishra)

During the Kargil war, Flight Officer Gunjan Saxena made history by becoming the first woman IAF officer to fly in a combat zone. She was later honoured with the Shurya Vir Award .

Another male bastion, has gone to women. For the first time ever, the Indian Air Force is preparing two of its women pilots for combat roles.

Flight Lts Alka Shukla and M P Shumathi were trained at the Yelahanka station in flying twin-engine Mi-8, a utility and medium-size assault helicopter. Both pilots are at their operational units where they will continue with their armament and special heli-operations training.

Squadron leader Teji Uppal achieved the rare feat when she landed An-32 transport aircraft, a twin-engine turboprop, at Daulat Beg Oldie, an advanced landing ground (ALG) located at an elevation of 15,400 feet about mean sea level (MSL) just a few kilometers away from the Line of Actual Control in Leh.

Squadron leader Veena Saharan became the first woman pilot to land heavy lift transport aircraft IL-76 at Leh airfield.

Another officer, squadron leader Nidhi Handa, the first woman pilot in IAF from Himachal Pradesh, in a short career span of six years, to reach the B-Green category which allows her to captain an aircraft in all the roles in every sector of the country.
  • History was made on 26 January, 2012 when Flight Lt, Sneha Shekhawat, a woman Indian Air Force (IAF) officer, led a contingent of 144 airmen at the 63rd I Republic Day parade down the Rajpath.
Flight Lieutenant Nivedita Choudhary became the first woman from
the Indian Air Force (IAF) to summit the Mt. Everest – and the first woman
from Rajasthan to achieve this feat.

Indian Navy also have Women officers.

apart from that,BSF too have women Officers.

NSG too have women commanders.

I hope that day won’t be far when we will have women Snipers too but that may take some handsome time.

well,most of the girls are happier being army wife,hope when you read ,you get motivated to join our esteemed forces, I will take a leave here, jai hind! Do you have it in you ?

For more updates you can follow the blog, feel free to comment your views on the article .
 
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