Lok Sabha Question No. 681 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-06-26
Subject: Women in Armed Forces
Ministry: DEFENCE
Asked by: Bheemrao Baswanthrao Patil

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF DEFENCE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE

## LOK  SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.681

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 26 TH  JUNE, 2019

## WOMEN IN ARMED FORCES

## 681. SHRI B.B. PATIL:

Will the Minister of DEFENCE j{kk ea=h

be pleased to state:

- (a)  the  policy  for  recruitment  of  women  personnel  in  the  three  services  of  armed  forces, service-wise;

- (b)  the  number of women personnel recruited in each of the three services during the last three years, service and year-wise;

- (c) the percentage of women personnel in all the three services of armed forces as compared to men, service-wise;

- (d) whether the Government is implementing any special scheme to increase the participation of women in the armed forces; and

- (e) if so, the details thereof?

## A    N    S    W    E    R

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

(SHRI SHRIPAD NAIK)

रक्षा

- [ ] राज्य नाईक

मंत्री

(

श्री

श्रीपाद

)

- (a)  to (e) : A statement is attached.

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## STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (e)  OF  LOK SABHA  UNSTARRED  QUESTION  NO.  681  FOR  ANSWER  ON  26.06.2019 REGARDING 'WOMEN IN ARMED FORCES'

- (a): Presently, women are inducted in Indian Army through Short Service Commission (Technical)  and  Short  Service  Commission  (Non-Technical)  entries.  The  induction  is governed by Special Army Instruction (SAI) I/93 and AI 3/98.

Women are inducted in all the branches and streams of  Indian Air Force (IAF) service. Terms and conditions for women officers are issued from time to time.

In Indian Navy, women officers are inducted through Short Service Commission in  Logistics,  Law,  Observers,  Medical,  Dental,  Air  Traffic  Control  (ATC),  Pilots (Maritime  Reconnaissance  Stream),  Naval  Armament  Inspectorate  (NAI)  cadre,  Naval Architecture, Education, Sports and Musician Branch. Government has approved Grant of Permanent Commission to SSC Officers of NAI Cadre.

- (b): The women officers commissioned in the Defence Forces (excluding AMC, ADC and MNS) during the last three years is as under:-

|   Year |   Army |   Navy |   Air Force |
|--------|--------|--------|-------------|
|   2016 |     69 |     44 |         108 |
|   2017 |     66 |     42 |          59 |
|   2018 |     75 |     29 |          59 |

## (c): The percentage of women officers in the three services of armed forces (excluding AMC, ADC and MNS) are as under:-

| percentage of women officers   | percentage of women officers   | percentage of women officers   |
|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|
| Army                           | Navy                           | Air Force                      |
| 3.89%                          | 6.7%                           | 13.28%                         |
| (as on 01.01.2019)             | (as on 31.05.2019)             | (as on 01.06.2019)             |

- (d) & (e): Various measures have been taken by the Government to attract the women to join the armed forces. The Government has promulgated policy on February 25, 2019 to  extend  the  grant  of  Permanent  Commission  to  Women  Officers  in  the  eight arms/services  in  Indian  Army  viz.  Signals,  Engineers,  Army  Aviation,  Army  Air Defence,  Electronics  and  Mechanical  Engineers  (EME),  Army  Service  Corps,  Army Ordnance  Corps  and  Intelligence  in  addition  to  the  existing  two  streams  of  Judge Advocate General (JAG) and Army Education Corps (AEC).

Steps  like  increasing  tenure  of  women  officers  and  improving  promotional prospects in Army have been taken to increase participation of women in the Army.

In  addition  to  existing  avenues  viz.  Logistics,  Law,  Observers,  ATC,  Pilot  in Maritime  Reconnaissance  (MR)  Stream,  Naval  Armament  Inspectorate  Cadre,  Naval Architect and Education Branch induction of women into additional specialization viz. Sports and Musician has commenced w.e.f. March, 2019.

Women officers are inducted in all the branches and streams of IAF. Opportunities for  a  career  in  IAF  service  are  widely  publicized  through  print/electronic  media  and special publicity drives.

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