Indian Navy to induct women sailors for the first time in history
If you’re a news junkie, you’ll definitely be up-to-date with the Agnipath Scheme—a programme that has caused a country-wide stir for its short-term recruitment policy to the Indian defence services. The scheme will be implemented within the next three months and for the first time in history, enable the Indian Navy to appoint women sailors. This gender-neutral provision was made owing to the scanty representation of women across all three defence services. In fact, so far, the Indian Navy has the lowest number of women recruits at 559, followed by 1705 in the Army and 1640 in the Airforce.
Let’s lay down what we know about this historic development.
Indian Navy will soon have women sailors on board warships
The Agnipath Scheme will allow women sailors to be a part of the Indian Navy. This will pave the way for them to be deployed on warships in the near future and also open opportunities for them to be appointed as Personnel Below Officers’ Rank (PBOR). Several media outlets have reported that around 3000 naval Agniveers (that’s what the recruits under the Agnipath Scheme will be called) will be inducted this year, out of which around 10–20 percent are presumed to be women. Sources have also revealed that these women will undergo training at INS Chilka, the naval establishment in Odisha, from 21st November. The registration process is speculated to begin on 24th June, with the online examination taking place on 24th July.
Indian Navy: Women’s roles so far
Earlier, women were only appointed as naval officers; the only combat roles they were offered were of observers or tactical operators on heavily armed maritime patrol aircrafts, such as Boeing (P8I) and IL 38. However, in the absence of suitable facilities onboard back then, the Indian Navy couldn’t induct lady sailors. But the good news is, this is all in the past. For the last few years, the Indian Navy has been constructing new ships with modern infrastructure to enable women sailors to finally embark onboard.
This current development should come as no surprise considering the Indian Navy deployed four women officers on warships, two each on aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya and fleet tanker INS Shakti, just a year ago. Today, this number has grown to 30 and women are now also a part of the Kolkata-class guided-missile destroyers and Shivalik class-strength frigates. Interestingly, it was also in last year when Shivangi broke the glass ceiling by becoming the Indian Navy’s first ever woman pilot.