Grabbing the opportunity to serve at the front-lines alongside men, the army received an overwhelming response from two lakh enthusiastic young women for 100 posts of a jawan. Breaking all the stereotypes, these women are ready to serve the nation from the front. In April, the Indian Army opened the opportunity for women to join as ‘Soldiers General Duty (Women Military Police)’ in Military Police. The last date for form submission ended on 30th June. After the scrutinising process, selected candidates will receive a call letter. “The recruitment rallies for women military police are to be held in Ambala, Lucknow, Jabalpur, Belgaum and Shillong. The first of these rallies will be held in Belgaum (Karnataka). It'll be most probably in the last week of July,” said a senior officer at the Army headquarters, TOI reported.
“The recruitment rallies for women military police are to be held in Ambala, Lucknow, Jabalpur, Belgaum and Shillong."
Eligibility criteria
The Army has issued guidelines for the aspirants. According to the official reports the women soldiers need to be in the age group of 17 to 21 years. They should have a minimum educational qualification of class 10 with 45 per cent marks in aggregate. Exception for the widows of defence personal will be provided with upper age limit till 30years (without kids). Secondly, the candidates must be unmarried or widow/separated. Marriage before or during the training process of one year is strictly prohibited. The widow/separated candidates must not have children until the training process is over. Any pregnant/married/women having kids will not be entertained by the Army.
For qualifying in the physical fitness test, the women candidates will have to run 1.6 km in seven minutes. They also have to perform a long jump of 10 feet and a high jump of three feet. The daughters of servicemen, ex-servicemen, daughter of martyrs, daughter-in-law of martyrs, widows of martyrs, will be given some sought of relaxation.
A medical certificate from a government medical doctor stating “not pregnant status” of a candidate will be must to produce on reporting for the recruitment rally.
Leading from the front
The selected cadets will undergo training of one year at the Corps of Military Police Regimental Centre in Bengaluru before being posted to units. After which, these women military personnel will be deployed initially in those areas where they are needed to frisk women or are needed for the allied role. They will be posted to chosen units in Jammu & Kashmir as well as other parts of the country. A total of 1,700 women soldiers are initially to be recruited in various phases. These women cadets will also be deployed in areas where separated family accommodation of soldiers is located. These are the quarters where the families of jawans stay when the soldiers are posted in field areas.
Women in defence have come through a long way from barely getting administrative jobs to now leading from the front with men. Countries like Malaysia and Singapore, Sri Lanka Bangladesh, US and Pakistan have already included women on the war fronts much before India. This step by the Indian Army is a step towards gender equality and the number of applications received for the post is enough to show that Indian women have welcomed this step whole-heartedly.
Divya Tripathi is an intern with SheThePeople.TV
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