Timeline of women in the Indian military and Coast Guard
This is a timeline of women in the Indian military and Coast Guard (a paramilitary force under the Ministry of Defence). The Military Nursing Service in India is established, with the arrival in India of 10 British Army nurses to organise nursing for British troops in India. Pre-Independence (to 15 August 1947). 1896. The Military Nursing Service becomes the Indian Army Nursing Service (IANS). 1903. The Indian Army Nursing Service becomes the Queen Alexandra’s Military Nursing Service for India - QAMNS (I), the Indian branch of Queen Alexandra's  Imperial Military Nursing Service (QAIMNS), formed the previous year. 1914. Following the outbreak of war, the Temporary Nursing Service for Indian Soldiers (TINS) is formed, with Indian nurses being recruited for the first time. 1915–1918. 60 temporary nurses are appointed to the TINS in 1915, and the TINS serves in Indian and British troop hospitals in India, Aden, Mesopotamia and Egypt during the First World War. Post-Independence (from 15 August 1947). 1959. All members of the Military Nursing Service are given standard army ranks, formally recognising them as part of the regular army, though QAIMNS-derived designations are retained  for those officers in the ranks of Major (Matron) and above. 1961. Barbara Ghosh, an officer in the Army Medical Corps, becomes the first woman to hold a naval commission. 1978. Air Force officer Padmavathy Bandhopadyay becomes the first woman officer in the armed forces to successfully pass out of the Defence Services Staff College. 1993. The Navy clears the induction of women as commissioned officers in the Air Traffic Controller (ATC) stream. 1996. The Coast Guard is opened to women commissioned officers for an initial period of three years service, with those officers eligible for short-service commissions in  the Administration, Logistics, Law and Ground Duties (Pilot) streams.