NEW DELHI: The Indian Navy has decided to open every branch of the service, including the Submarine and Fighters, for its women officers and the Personnel Below Officers Rank (PBOR) from 2023 in pursuant to its gender-neutral approach. Of the three services, the Navy has already begun training women candidates inducted under the government’s Agniveer scheme.
The women sailors will also be trained in the same manner as their male counterparts, said Chief of Naval Staff Admiral R. Hari Kumar on Saturday. “We have inducted 341 women Agniveers. They undergo the same tests, including physical endurance, etc. The women sailors will be deployed on bases, ships and aircraft. They will be trained for everything,” he said.
The Navy commander was addressing at the National Defense Academy’s (NDA) passing out parade at Khadakwasla, Pune. It was in June this year that the Department of Military Affairs notified that women are also eligible for appointment as sailors in the Indian Navy. Of the 3,000 Agniveers who reported to the Sailor Training Establishment at INS Chilka in Odisha on November 21, 341 are women.
Of the 10 lakh individuals who applied for the available positions in the Indian Navy, he said that 82,000 of them were women. Adding that there will be no difference in training as the Navy is a gender neutral force, the Navy Chief said, “We are looking at what he or she can do for the force. Aim is that women perform the same job as expected; they will be deployed on submarines, ships, air bases, and aircraft carriers.”
The Indian Navy has given assurances to the government that it will become ‘Atmanirbhar’ (self-reliant) by 2047, Navy Chief said. “The government has given us clear guidelines on Atmanirbhar Bharat. We have given assurances that the Indian Navy will become Aatmanirbhar by 2047,” he said. “The combat employment philosophy of women in the armed forces is a continuously evolving process and regularly reviewed by them,” Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt had said in March in the Parliament.
Women have been recruited as officers in the Indian Navy since 1992 and are employed in various branches and specializations on board ships and ashore billets/duties. The Indian Air Force currently has 15 women officers commissioned as the Fighter Pilots and was the first service to open all its branches for women officers. In October 2020, the Service received its first batch of women aviators qualified to fly the Dornier aircraft. The Navy has also begun posting its women officers on its warships with 28 of them already serving onboard.
As of March 2022, the Indian Navy had 559 women officers including 10 pilots. Out of the total women officers, 134 of them are serving as executive (logistics) and 73 as executive (observers). “Our aim is to have Made-in-India security solutions for country,” Kumar said. “Commissioning of aircraft carrier INS Vikrant was a landmark event for India.”
Admiral Hari Kumar also said that operationally, the Navy had a very intense and engaging time in the last one year. Commissioning of aircraft carrier INS Vikrant was a landmark event for India, he said.
Operationally, India had very intense and engaging time in the last one year, Kumar said while adding that the Indian Navy had achieved very high operational tempo in the last one year.
Passing Out Parade of the 143rd course of the NDA commenced in the early hours of Wednesday on Khetrapal Parade Ground located at Khadakwasla in Pune. Notably, Admiral Kumar is himself an alumnus of the prestigious National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla. He was commissioned into the Indian Navy on January 1, 1983.
Women eligible to become sailors
It was in June this year that the Department of Military Affairs notified that women are also eligible for appointment as sailors in the Indian Navy. Of the 3,000 Agniveers who reported to the Sailor Training Establishment at INS Chilka in Odisha on November 21, 341 are women.