First Woman Soldier Triggers Debate In Defence Service

[ROUDRAM]

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[b]Mhow:[/b] Women in defence service in high posts is not a new thing. But when 35-year-old Sapper Shanti Tigga, an Indian railways employee, joined the 969 railway engineer regiment of Territorial Army (TA) in first week of October, she became the first woman soldier in the Indian Army.
DNA spoke to a selected group of veterans in Mhow for their opinion on whether women should be inducted as soldier and on an equivalent post in the Indian defence forces or not.
Most veterans are in favour of women being inducted as soldiers. However, many do not approve of woman soldiers in the fighting arms.
Lt Col Onkar Singh Dikhit (retired) of the Gurkha regiment said he was all for women joining the army at lower level too.
" When I was posted in Indo-China in the 1950s as a member of the UN Peacekeeping Mission, I had seen woman soldiers on both sides performing frontline duties. So I am also in favour of woman soldiers in the combat arms," he remarked.
Lt Gen Vijay Madan (retd) PVSM, VSM of the Gurkha regiment opined that he favoured induction of women in the non-combat arms and services.
On woman being posted on fighting arms, he said as far as combat arms are concerned, he felt "we must take a look at realities of the Indian society and not rush into it with haste."
Lt Gen Sher Amir Singh (Retd), PVSM, Dogra regiment, "My daughter is an army doctor. There are many areas where women soldiers can do a wonderful job. But as far as their induction into fighting arms and support arms in the frontline areas is concerned, I would say that any step taken should be in a phased manner."
Col AP Phatak (retired) of the Corps of Signals, "Initially, they may be inducted in non combat posts but ultimate object should be to employ them in combat roles. We should not forget that Netaji's INA had a women's battalion led by Captain Lakshmi Swaminathan. If he could do it at that time, why cannot we do it now?"
Lt Col I S Gill (retired) of the Corps of Signals: "Indian history is full of names of women warriors like Razia Sultana, Rani of Kittur, Laxmi Bai of Jhansi.
"Inducting women as soldiers will be a bold and welcome step. However, I am not in favour of inducting women as soldiers in the combat arms because of the mindset prevailing in Indian society. Can we accept a woman prisoner of war who returns home? If we can treat her with dignity then only I'm in favour for women in combat arms too."[/font]

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