Lok Sabha Question No. 2536 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-08-04
Subject: Women in Defence Forces
Ministry: DEFENCE
Asked by: Tapir Gao, Janardan Singh Sigriwal, P. C. Mohan

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF DEFENCE DEPARTMENT OF MILITARY AFFAIRS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2536

TO BE ANSWERED ON 04 th  August, 2023

## WOMEN IN DEFENCE FORCES

## 2536.  SHRI TAPIR GAO:

SHRI JANARDAN SINGH SIGRIWAL: SHRI P.C. MOHAN:

## Will the Minister of DEFENCE be pleased to state:

- (a) the number of women working in various Defence forces across the country at present, service/wing-wise;
- (b) whether the Government has made any assessment regarding working conditions of women in Defence postings, if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether the Government has formulated any rules to deploy them as per their convenience, if so, the details thereof; and
- (d) the other steps being taken by the Government for betterment of women soldiers and to accommodate more women cadets in the forces?

## A  N  S  W  E  R

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

(SHRI AJAY BHATT)

## (a):  The number of women working in various Defence Forces are as follows: Indian Army:

| Sl. No.   | Category                                                                    | Held Strength of Women (as on 1 st January, 2023)   |
|-----------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------|
| (a)       | Women Officers (Excluding Army Medical Corps (AMC)/ Army Dental Corps (ADC) | 1,733                                               |
| (b)       | Junior Commissioned Officers (JCOs)                                         | 00                                                  |
| (c)       | Other Ranks (ORs)                                                           | 100                                                 |

## Indian Air Force:

| Sl. No.   | Category                                             |   Held Strength of Women (as on 1 st July, 2023) |
|-----------|------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------|
| (a)       | Women Officers (Excluding Medical & Dental branches) |                                             1654 |
| (b)       | Airmen (Agniveervayu)                                |                                              155 |

| Sl. No.   | Category                                             |   Held Strength of Women (as on 26 th July, 2023) |
|-----------|------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------|
| (a)       | Women Officers (Excluding Medical & Dental officers) |                                               580 |
| (b)       | Sailors (Agniveer)                                   |                                               726 |

Medical and Dental Branches:  Total number of women (cadre-wise & service-wise) in Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS) are as under (as on 1 st  July, 2023): -

| Service                        |   Army |   Navy |   Air Force |
|--------------------------------|--------|--------|-------------|
| Army Medical Corps (AMC)       |   1212 |    151 |         274 |
| Army Dental Corps (ADC)        |    168 |     10 |          05 |
| Military Nursing Service (MNS) |   3841 |    380 |         425 |

(b) & (c):  In Indian Armed Forces, there is no distinction in the deployment and working conditions of male and  female officers in the Arms and  Services in which  they serve. The postings  are  as  per  organizational  requirements.  Training,  postings,  promotions,  terms  of engagement etc are common for both women and men. The rules regarding employability in Indian Armed Forces are gender neutral and provide equal opportunities to men and women.

## (d):  Indian Army:

Indian Army is encouraging women officers to join the force by adopting enabling policies for their inclusion. Recent major initiatives are as under: -

- (i) Permanent Commission (PC) is being granted to Women Officers (WOs) in 12 Arms & Services (in addition to Army Medical Corps, Army Dental Corps and Military Nursing Service) where they are commissioned. Indian Army has ensured parity amongst WOs and their  male  counterparts  with  a  complete  gender  neutral  environment  existing  in  the  12 Arms/ Services they are presently serving in. A special board to screen all affected WOs has been held and the results have been declassified. In regular boards also, WOs are being considered for grant of PC alongwith their male counterparts.
- (ii) Armed Forces have opened entry for women candidates in National Defence Academy (NDA) with 19 cadets including 10 for Indian Army joining the academy every six months. First, Second and Third batch of women cadets started training in NDA with effect from July 2022, January 2023 and July 2023 respectively. The organisation is ensuring inclusive measures to carry out all necessary administrative, training and policy changes to enable the same.
- (iii) Indian Army has also opened avenues for WOs to serve as pilots in the Corps of Army Aviation.

(iv) WOs are also being considered for Colonel (Select Grade) ranks and are being given command appointments. Certain  waivers  have also been given to WOs to rule  out  any impediment in career progression of those who could not undergo mandatory career courses during the transition period.

Provision for enrolment of women as Other Ranks (ORs) in Corps of Military Police in the Indian Army has been introduced in 2019. Under the scheme, 1700 women are targeted to be inducted in Indian Army in a phased manner (approximately 100 per year).

## Indian Navy:

In Indian Navy, women are given opportunities for spouse co-location, resettlement posting and compassionate grounds posting in a gender neutral manner. Other provisions of maternity leave with provisions to conjoin other types of leave (viz. annual, furlough, Child Care Leave) is  also  being  granted. Further, the  following  steps  are  being  taken  to  recruit  more  women soldiers in Indian Navy: -

(i) Women in  all  Branches/  Cadre/  Specialisations:    Entry  of  women  in  all  branches/ Cadres/ Specialisations (except Submarine specialisation) has commenced w.e.f. June, 2023.

(ii) On board Ships:  Women officers are also being appointed on board warships in afloat billets and also as Specialist Naval Air Operations (NAO) officers to ship borne helicopters.

(iii)   RPA Stream:  Women officers can now join the Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) stream and first women officer joined RPA Squadron in March, 2021.

(iv) Overseas  Assignments:    Women  officers  have  also  been  deputed  on  Diplomatic assignments and other Foreign Cooperation engagements.

(v) National  Defence  Academy  (NDA):  Entry  of  women  cadets  in  NDA  has  been permitted from 2022  wherein women  officers are  being  inducted as  PC officers.  Three vacancies per batch were initially allocated at NDA for women candidates of Navy and the first batch has joined in June, 2022. The number of vacancies for women cadets at NDA have been further increased from 03 to 12 for subsequent batches w.e.f. January, 2024.

(vi) Indian  Naval  Academy  (INA):    At  INA,  women  cadets  are  now  eligible  to  join through '10+2 B.Tech' entry scheme w.e.f January, 2024.

(vii)  Women Agniveers:  As a part of the Agnipath Scheme, women have been enrolled as Agniveers commencing from the first batch itself. They are subjected to the same training curriculum,  professional  courses  and  retention criteria  as  compared  to  their  male counterparts.

## Indian Air Force:

In Indian Air Force (IAF), the facilities in terms of infrastructure necessitated at work place for women personnel are assessed and provided as authorized by Scales of Accommodation, 2022 and relevant Government orders on the subject.

Recruitment of officer in the IAF is gender neutral. Women officers are inducted in all the branches and streams of IAF.

(i) Opportunities for a career in IAF are widely publicized through print/electronic media and special publicity drives. An opening has also been provided through NCC Special Entry for flying SSC (Women) from July, 2017 onwards.

(ii) The experimental scheme to induct women officers in all combat roles, initiated by the IAF in 2015 was regularized in the year 2022 into a permanent Scheme. Such gender neutral approach  is  facilitating  the  employment  of  women  officers  of  IAF  in  all  combat  roles without any restrictions.

(iii) IAF started inducting women through NDA from the course commenced in June, 2022 (Tech and Non-tech) as PC officers. The intake of women cadets in NDA is fixed at six vacancies (for Air Force) per course for the next five years.

(iv) 'DISHA' cell at Air HQ conducts various Induction Publicity progammes across the country  related  to  induction/  career  of  officer  cadre  in  IAF.  Women  candidates  are encouraged during such publicity drives to join IAF as a preferred career option.

(v) Conduct of motivational talks by women officers gives opportunity to female students to interact with them and clear their apprehensions. The scope of choosing IAF as a career is covered in terms of prospects, facilities, work profile, benefits etc, during these sessions.

IAF  is  continuously  upgrading  its  environment  and  infrastructure  for  its  personnel. Induction of women (other than officers i.e. Airmen) is being executed in a gradual manner to ensure that necessary facilities are available for women. The plan is to increase number of women with every intake.

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