New Delhi, May 7 (). In order to increase the participation of women in various sectors, the government has decided that only women will participate in the march past, peeps and performances in the Republic Day parade on the duty path.
The Defense Ministry has written a letter in this regard to the armed forces and other government departments participating in the parade. It states that the march past contingents and their accompanying bands and tableaux will have only women participants.
The letter has taken several senior military officers by surprise and created confusion. Many believe that there are not enough women available in the army for this. The present situation is that some of the marching contingents consist only of men.
Significantly, the armed forces have taken several measures to promote gender equality, such as assigning women to command roles, preparing them for future leadership roles and inducting them into artillery regiments.
According to information, the decision to encourage women’s participation in the parade was taken during a meeting held on February 7. The meeting, chaired by Defense Secretary Giridhar Armane, was attended by senior representatives of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Education.
Nearly a month after the meeting, the Ministry of Defense formally issued a letter to the participating forces, ministries and departments on 1 March.
The letter emphasized the role of women in the parade to be held next year.
The letter states that after detailed deliberations, it has been decided that the contingents (marching and bands), tableaux and other displays participating in the parade on the line of duty will have only women participants.
All the participating Ministries, Departments and Organizations have also been asked to initiate preparations for the same and keep the Ministry of Defense informed from time to time about the progress in this direction.
Some senior officials believe that the government will do what is practical, and that it is difficult for all marching and band squads to have only female participants at the moment.
Significantly, in the Republic Day parade, the marching squad of the infantry has the highest number of soldiers. Officials argue that so far women have not been inducted in the infantry. They say that officers leading marching contingents are personnel below officer rank (PBORs) and women PBORs in the army are only in the military police corps.
It is not that women have no representation in the force or are marginalised. They are being assigned roles at par with men in all three services – they fly fighter aircraft, serve on warships, are inducted into the PBOR cadre, are eligible for permanent commission, are assigned command roles, and Only women officers are receiving training at the National Defense Academy. Despite this, there is still not that much participation of women in infantry, tank and combat positions.
According to the Indian Army, Colonel Geeta Rana recently became the first woman army officer to command an independent unit in the sensitive Ladakh region bordering China. Apart from this, for the first time, the army has deployed a woman officer Captain Shiva Chauhan in the world’s highest and coldest battlefield Siachen this year. The army has also deployed its largest contingent of 27 female peacekeepers to the disputed region of Abyei in Sudan.
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