Govt approves proposal to induct woman officers in Artillery

The central government has approved the Indian Army decision to induct woman officers in the Regiment of Artillery.

The decision to induct women officers in the Artillery was taken on March 20, Minister of State for Defence, Ajay Bhatt informed the Lok Sabha on March 31. He was replying to a question by BJP MP from Vadodara, Ranjanben Dhananjay Bhatt, who had asked whether the government proposes to include women in the Artillery units and if so, the steps taken in this regard so far.

“Government has approved the induction of women in the Regiment of Artillery on March 20, 2023,” the minister said in his one line reply.

General Manoj Pande, the Chief of Army Staff, in January had announced that a proposal to induct woman officers in the Regiment of Artillery had been sent to the government. The General had said at the time that gender empowerment in the Army is a focus area and that women are expected to do very well in the Artillery.

The exact number of woman officers who will be inducted into Artillery will only be known at the time of the commission of the next batch from Officers Training Academy (OTA) in Chennai later this year.

Artillery is a combat support arm of the Army and is the largest in size after the Infantry. The Artillery Regiments comprise various calibres of guns, surface to surface missiles, tracked guns, mortars and unmanned aerial platforms.

On March 1, Centre also approved the induction of woman officers in Remount and Veterinary Corps. Out of 20 officers indicted into RVC in 2023, four are women, informed Ajay Bhatt in Parliament.

The regiments and Corps of the Army are divided into Arms and Services. The Arms include Infantry, Armoured Corps, Artillery, Engineers, Signals, Army Air Defence, Army Aviation Corps and Military Intelligence. With the latest government decision, women will now serve in all arms barring Infantry and Armoured Corps, which are considered to be fighting arms.

In addition, woman officers also serve in Services which include Army Service Corps (ASC), Army Ordnance Corps (AOC), Army Education Corps (AEC), Judge Advocate General Branch (JAG Br), Corps of Electronics and Mechanical Engineers (EME), Army Medical Corps, Army Dental Corps and Remount and Veterinary Corps (RVC). They also serve as nursing officers in Military Nursing Service.

As per data shared in the Parliament on March 17 by the MoS, there are 6,993 woman officers serving in the Army currently, including Army Medical Corps/ Army Dental Corps and Military Nursing Service officers.

The induction of woman officers in the Army was approved in 1992 by the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs as Short Service Cadre. The first batch of 25 women officers were commissioned into Army Service Corps (ASC), Army Ordnance Corps (AOC), Army Education Corps (AEC) and Judge Advocate General (JAG) Department in March 1993.

In November 2021, the government promulgated a gender neutral career progression policy for women officers after they were granted permanent commission. This provided equal opportunities to woman officers in the Arms and Services where they are commissioned.

In another recent decision, the defence services have also opened entry for woman candidates in NDA with 19 cadets, including 10 for Army, joining the academy every six months. First batch of woman cadets has started training in NDA with effect from July 2022 and second batch from January 2023.

Since 2021, Army has also opened avenues for woman officers to serve as pilots in the Army Aviation Corps.

Women officers are also being considered for Colonel (Select Grade) ranks and are being given command appointments.