New Delhi, Sept. 8: The defence ministry today decided to recruit women to the army as jawans for the first time, with several officials praising it as a "progressive step". All the 1,600 women in India's 1.3 million-strong army are now officers, but even here male officers outnumber them 30 to 1. Sources in army headquarters said that the women jawans would for now be recruited solely to the military police, starting with a batch of 800 to which 52 women jawans will be added every year. "We can also utilise women military police in tackling the women protesters who gather in large numbers during operations against terrorists in Kashmir. Women in the army now serve in branches such as signals, engineering, army aviation (air traffic control), army air defence, army service corps and in the electronics, ordnance, intelligence, education and medical corps.

Source: The Telegraph September 08, 2017 20:37 UTC