By Brig Deepak Sinha
Issue: Net Edition | Date : 06 Nov , 2015
One must compliment the Chief of Air Staff for having taken the decision to permit women officers to opt for the fighter stream, a decision ratified by the Defence Minister as well. That they have already been flying transport aircraft and helicopters for some decades now is a well- known fact. While increasing legal intervention by the courts may have had something to do with this decision, it is still a positive step forward and will go a long way in enhancing gender equality within the Services.
…while the Air Force can ensure their selective employment on tasks within our borders, the same would not hold true for Naval ships and even more so for the Army.
That women can play an important role in our Armed Forces is not under doubt and the fact that the Services needed to be nudged by Courts to grant women permanent commissions is a sad commentary on existing mind-sets, especially since precedents, even of Indian women, participating in combat exist. We are, off course all familiar with the exploits of Rani Manikarnika or Laxmibai as she is better known, the Rani of Jhansi, who took on the might of the East India Company during the First War of Independence. Less well known may be the fact that Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose also established the Rani Jhansi Regiment as a part of the Indian National Army in 1943. In fact, he was given a Guard of Honour shortly after his arrival in Singapore by selected women volunteers of the INA who then went on to form the core of this Regiment. Though Netaji even envisaged a combat role for the Rani Jhansi Regiment, it needs to be remembered that he was raising a citizen’s army for the liberation of India from the British and the question of women in combat roles continues to be a controversial issue.
It also needs to be understood that allowing women in combat roles in the Air Force is very different from such deployments aboard naval ships and in army combat units, which continue to be off-limits to women presently. This is mainly because while the Air Force can ensure their selective employment on tasks within our borders, the same would not hold true for Naval ships and even more so for the Army. One reason for this is our aversion to put our women soldiers in harms’ way in a situation where they could end up as prisoners of war. That could adversely impact morale within the Services and more importantly of our citizens, given the likelihood that they may end up being treated inhumanly and brutalized such as we unfortunately witnessed during the Kargil War, when our patrol was taken prisoner and then brutally tortured and murdered, in complete contravention of the Geneva Convention.
…there will be times when separate living arrangements for women will not be operationally or administratively feasible and may require them to live and work in the close proximity of men soldiers.
That the Government is reluctant to approach the International Court of Justice in that matter because of political compulsions and the precedent it may set in the region clearly points to the extreme pressures the Government would then be confronted with if our women soldiers ended up treated in a similar manner. It may be worth remembering that combat units are primarily tasked with closing with the enemy and destroying him. This is ideally done by advancing and fighting in enemy territory, which also implies that the likelihood of being taken prisoner is a risk that has to be accepted. While a host of other issues may also impact on such a decision, one important issue that is of particular relevance to combat units of the army is the fact there will be times when separate living arrangements for women will not be operationally or administratively feasible and may require them to live and work in the close proximity of men soldiers. That such a situation will be acceptable in our society seems unlikely at the present time.
Therefore one views the subsequent statement by the Raksha Mantri that women could soon be permitted to join combat units of the army involved in counter-terrorism operations within the country, with some reservations. They would then either perform purely administrative duties in such units or be given sheltered appointments; certainly the last thing that even those keen on joining combat units would aspire for.
Thus, this appears to be one issue on which making haste slowly certainly has great advantages and while women must be encouraged to join the forces, the issue of their being permitted to join combat arms must necessarily be kept in abeyance, especially within the Army.
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