Inducting women jawans a great move, but a gradual process: Army veterans

The Indian Army’s move to induct women as jawans has drawn support from several quarters including a number of former military officers, even as a few have opined that the process has to be “gradual”.

Lt. Gen. (retd) B K Chopra, former Director General of Armed Forces Medical Services, termed the move as a “humble beginning”.

Army Chief Gen. Bipin Rawat had recently told PTI that the Army is considering inducting women as jawans and initially they will be recruited for positions in military police.

“In modern army, strength is not the only factor that counts. The army has changed over the last 70 years and womenfolk are also not the same now. They could be physiologically different from their male counterparts, but that is a non-issue which can be taken care of with training,” he said.

There is no reason why the women cannot be recruited as jawans, when they have proved their mettle in other domains.

Chopra said the Army will require a “change of psyche” before the step is taken, as it is not used to seeing women as jawans.

Currently women are allowed in select areas including in medical, legal, educational, signals and engineering wings of the Army but combat roles are …read more