The country’s first woman chief of a paramilitary force Archana Ramasundram took charge as the Director General of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) on Wednesday and dedicated her new posting to the entire women community, saying she would work for increasing their representation in the force.
The 1980-batch IPS officer of Tamil Nadu cadre was accorded a ceremonial guard of honour by SSB troops at the force headquarters here. Ramasundram, who was the Director of National Crime Records Bureau in her previous posting, is the first woman to head any paramilitary force.
After taking charge, the new SSB DG told reporters, “I will always remember this day and I wish to dedicate it to the women of India.”
The 58-year-old officer said, “leadership quality is more important than gender for tackling challenging assignments” and she would work on increasing the representation of women in the force.
“Wherever I have worked earlier, I have tried to do the same work, but differently. I will try doing the same here and also see how we can increase the representation of women in the force and also in an overall manner,” she said.
Ramasundram, who was appointed as the SSB chief on Monday, said a “good beginning” has been made in these forces where women are nominated to take charge at the top.
The SSB guards the 1,751-km India-Nepal and 699-km India-Bhutan borders.