Women officers will get permanent commission

New Delhi: In a significant announcement on women in Armed Forces, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day address said that all women officers who joined the forces as part of the Short Service Commission would now be permitted to take up permanent commission. Describing the move as a “gift’’ to the “`brave daughters,’’ PM Modi said, “I want to give a good news to our brave daughters. Women officers who have been appointed through the short service commission in the armed forces will get permanent commission through a transparent process. It is a gift for them.’’

However, it remains to be seen whether women officers will also be allowed in combat role in Army and Navy even as the Indian Air Force has already cleared induction of women as fighter pilots. Over the next few days, the Government is expected to come out with a detailed policy guidelines regarding permanent commissioning in the three armed forces. Following PM’s announcement, defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman in a tweet thanked Modi for the same.

As of now Army, Navy and Air Force have permitted permanent commissioning of women in areas like medical, education, legal, signals, logistics, engineering and some others. Navy has already started permanent commission of women officers in streams like logistics, naval designing, air traffic control, engineering and legal while Army allows the same in two branches of  Judge Advocate General (JAG) and education. Navy and Air Force also allow women officers recruited under SSC to join as pilots. Women officers recruited under SSC  in the Army are in areas like air defence, engineering, signals and services.

Women officers joining under SSC have a tenure between 5-14 years while a permanent commission officer can serve till age of retirement. As of now there is a case pending in Supreme Court related to permanent commissioning of women in the Army. The Centre had moved the apex court following a Delhi high court directive in 2010 giving women Army officers on SSC a permanent commission.