All-Women Assam Rifles Contingent To Make History On Republic Day

This Republic Day will be special for Assam Rifles. This will be the first time that an all-women contingent from the Assam Rifles unit of the Indian Army will salute the President at Rajpath. This all-women contingent, which includes the paramilitary, will create history. The mahila jawans in the contingent have been recruited on compassionate grounds, and are family members of soldiers who died for the nation, The Northeast Today reported.

All-women Assam Rifles contingent to script history this #RepublicDay https://t.co/oaRr6tiiCL #RepublicDay2019 pic.twitter.com/JsL1mty3Nt

— NDTV (@ndtv) January 19, 2019

Major Khushboo Kanwar will be leading the contingent, which comprises 38 women troopers from various units of the Assam Rifles

“For the first time in history, a women contingent of the paramilitary will be marching on the majestic Rajpath,” the lady officer said. Rifle Woman Sunita Thapa, who was recruited in place of her husband, to fulfil his dreams, said her family supported her in her decision to join the army. Mother to a five-year-old boy, she added, "The entire family is proud of me and I am proud of the Assam Rifles."

"The women soldiers of the force are no less than their men counterparts," - Major Khushboo Kanwar

"The women performed their duties in counter-insurgency in the Northeast," she added.

VIDEO | The Assam Rifles women contingent at Republic Day parade rehearsals.

For the first time in the history of #Assam, an all women contingent will participate in the #RepublicDay parade this year. pic.twitter.com/c8beqMVkUP

— G Plus (@guwahatiplus) January 19, 2019

Another Rifle Woman, Gayatri Sharma, who had joined the force one-and-a-half-years ago, was recruited in the force in place of her father who attained martyrdom in 2001. The soldier lost her father when she was just three-years-old.

"I got a letter from the Assam Rifles to join the force. I will perform my duty with full dedication for my country just like my father," the Rifle Woman said.

Also Read: First Woman Army Officer To Win Gallantry Award Gets Permanent Commission

"Feel honoured to be a part of the Republic Day contingent," she added.

#Assam: Nb Sub Pooja Chhetri, a Kendriya Vidyalaya Lekhapani and Army Institute of Nursing, Guwahati alumna, to be a part of the all-women contingent of Assam Rifles participating in the R-Day Parade on Jan 26 for the first time in the history of paramilitary force#EastStory pic.twitter.com/fJJ8W4Yh0O

— EastMojo (@EastMojo) January 18, 2019

Assam Rifles was a male bastion. However, in 2016, 100 women soldiers were inducted into the country’s oldest paramilitary force. The women had a rigorous training along with male soldiers at the Assam Rifles Training Centre and School in Dimapur town of Nagaland.

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