In an effort to give more opportunities to women officers at senior level including commanding officers, the Army on Thursday gave a presentation about these plans to Defence Minister AK Antony.
The Army had carried out a detailed study last year to give more responsibilities to women officers like appointing them as commanding officers and opening more streams for them. At present, women officers are inducted into Education, Ordnance, Engineering and Intelligence Corps besides Judge and Advocate General (JAG) branch.
However, the Army is not ready to induct women in combat roles in due to the vagaries of the battle-field but sees a role for them in the combat-support arms such as the artillery and the Air Defence.
Antony along with Defence Secretary RK Mathur and other senior officials of the Ministry were briefed about all these proposals in presence of Army Chief General Bikram Singh, Army officials said. Singh had informed about these presentation on Monday during his Press conference.
The Army briefed the Minister about the increased opportunities for women officers in Staff appointments as well as efforts to increase vacancies for women officers in permanent commission. The women officers are granted permanent commission only in couple of arms including the Judge Advocate General branch.