New Delhi: Indian Army on Wednesday said preparations are underway for receiving and training the first-ever batch of women soldiers in Corps of Military Police.
"The preparations are underway for receiving and training the first-ever batch of women soldiers in Corps of Military Police, from accommodation necessities to training modules to selecting the right instructors from all over the country for them," An Army official told ANI.
Officials said many models including that of Karnataka Women Police were studied and good practices have been adopted.
This comes after Army in the month of April had kicked off the process of inducting women as jawans by starting their online registration for recruitment in the corps of military police.
The decks for the induction were cleared in January this year after Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that the government has taken a "historic" decision to induct women in the military police with an aim to enhance their representation in the three services.
Women will be inducted in a graded manner to eventually comprise 20 per cent of total Corps of Military Police and their role would range from probing crime cases to assisting the Army in field operations wherever required.
Last year, Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat had said the process to allow women in a combat role, currently, an exclusive domain of men was moving fast and initially, women will be recruited for positions in Military Police.
Accordingly, the Army chalked out induction of approximately 800 women in military police with a yearly intake of 52 personnel per year. Currently, women are allowed in select areas such as medical, legal, educational, signals and engineering wings of the Army.
The role of the military police includes policing cantonments and Army establishments, preventing the breach of rules and regulations by soldiers, maintaining movement of soldiers as well as logistics during peace and war, handling prisoners of war and extending aid to civil police.
As per government data, the Army has 3.80 per cent of its workforce as women, the Air Force has 13.09 per cent and the Navy six per cent. The IAF clearly is ahead of its sister services when it comes to employing women. The IAF has also commissioned women officers to fly fighter jets.
