On Monday, the Indian Army cleared the way and gave the promotion to five women officers to the colonel rank, because of the post completion of 26 years of their great service. The official statement was made by the ministry of defense which was issued on August 23, Monday. It is a really amazing decision and as per the statement released by the ministry of defense, this is the first time that the woman officers, served along with the corps of electronic and mechanical engineers (EME), corps of signals, and corps of engineers got approval for the rank of colonel.
Earlier the promotion for the rank of Colonel was only acceptable for the women officers who served in the judge advocate general (JAG), army medical corps AMC, and also the army education corps AEC. It is really great to see the widened or extended promotion avenues to more branches of the Indian Army. This action taken by them will indeed now result in a great increase in career opportunities, especially for women officers.
This decision is now combined with the decision to give a permanent commission to all the women officers who belong to a majority of branches of the Indian army. Well, indeed this step shows that the Indian army is definitely approaching a gender-neutral army, where gender will not be now taken into consideration.
The five women officers who got selected for the colonial time scale rank are, Lt Col Sonia Anand and Lt Col Navneet Duggal from the corps of EME, Lt Col Sangeeta Sardana from the corps of signals, Lt Col Reenu Khanna, and Lt Col Ritcha Sagar from the corps of engineers.
The supreme court made an interim order which was actually passed last week regarding big developments in the National defense academy (NDA) admission exam. They ordered the allowance for women to write and attend the admission exam of the National Defence Academy (NDA), which was initially an exam where only men could join. The steps taken by everyone helps to make an Indian army that is gender-neutral. Aishwarya Bhati, an additional solicitor general, representing the center, also argued that this is the policy decision of the government. Weather justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Hrishikesh Roy disagreed with the center’s contention, and they have also made an observation that “this is a policy decision based on gender discrimination… Respondents (center) must take a constructive view.
The top court then also pointed out the Army for resisting the opportunities to women. They have also asked to change their attitude and they should not wait for the judicial orders to get passed depending on these matters. So finally the top court has also ordered that women can sit for the exams which are for the purpose of admission in NDA. And this year the admission exam for the National defense academy is on September 5. The top court has also added along with these rules that the admissions will be now subjected to its final order. They have said that they cannot “create a bar for women in NDA”.
This is a really amazing decision made by the ministry of defense as it is really great to know that this was the first time women got promoted to colonel. India has already made many plans for women in common but it is really great to see that now measures are also taken to give equal rights to women in the Indian Army. The steps taken by the supreme court and also by the ministry of defense show that the Indian Army is now going to be gender-neutral and women will get equal importance in the Army like men!
