The Indian Army will be recruiting 100 women soldiers every year for the next 17 years, to achieve its goal of having 1700 women soldiers in the Military Police. The first batch of 100 women soldiers is already being selected, and these candidates will begin their traning by the end of this year.
The training time and process will be the same as followed for the male soldiers, that is, the women soldiers will be trained for 61 weeks.
This move is a step towards taking care of any gender bias that may exist in the armed forces. Also, time and again, it has been felt that the presence of women soldiers will be an advantage while dealing with women protestors, during various operations, especially in places, such as Kashmir.
Till now, the armed forces only had women as officers in the medical, education, legal, signals and engineering wings. This is the first time that women are being inducted as soldiers.
The Military Police is responsible for ensuring there is no breaking of rules and regulations by soldiers. It is also entrusted with the job of keeping a vigil in the cantonments and army establishments. It maintains the movement of soldiers as well as logistics during peace and war, and takes care of the prisoners of war. It also provides support to civil police in times of need.
