Women in the Armed Forces
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Indian Air Force
Wing Commander Vijayalakshmi Ramanan
Chethan Kumar, October 21, 2020: The Times of India
IAF’s first woman officer dies at 96
Had Designed Its Uniform For Women
Chethan.Kumar@timesgroup.com
Bengaluru:
Born on February 27, 1924, Vijayalakshmi joined the Madras Medical College for MBBS in 1943. She was Best Outgoing Student in 1948, and a recipient of the Balfour Memorial Medal for Medicine and prize for surgery by Madras University. She did her MD in obstetrics and gynaecology and worked in Egmore Maternity hospital in Chennai as assistant surgeon.
Vijayalakshmi was commissioned in the Army Medical Corps on August 22, 1955 and seconded to the IAF the same day, making her the first woman IAF officer. She also had administrative duties of the medical board and family planning and took classes for nursing officers.
Her husband was Wing Commander KV Ramanan “They were the first couple of the IAF. Vijayalakshmi had also designed the IAF uniform for women,” her relative Narayan said.
Women in forces get full-term right
Services May Challenge HC Order In SC
Abhinav Garg
New Delhi: It’s clearly the season for women. The week started with the women’s reservation bill being passed by the Rajya Sabha, and it is ending with a landmark court judgment that breaks another glass ceiling for women by allowing them permanent commission in the Indian armed forces.
On Friday, the Delhi high court directed the government to grant permanent commission to interested women officers of the armed forces serving under the short service commission. The court, however, turned down the plea for allowing women in combat operations.
The armed forces establishment has reacted negatively to the judgment and is in favour of challenging the order in the Supreme Court. However, the government’s view is not known. Observers say, given its pro-women stance, it might be uneasy about going in appeal.
Delivering its verdict, a bench comprising Justices S K Kaul and M C Garg said permanent commission was not a ‘‘charity being sought by women officers but enforcement of their constitutional rights’’. It found the policy of not offering permanent commission (PC) to women SSC officers discriminatory.
‘‘If male officers can be granted PC while performing those tasks there is no reason why equally capable women can’t be granted PC,’’ the court observed while disposing of appeals filed by more than 50 retired and serving women officers. The first appeal dates back to 2003. However, the relief has come with several caveats. The ruling is applicable only to those officers recruited prior to 2006 when the government decided to stop shifting officers from SSC to PC across the board, be it men or women.
AN UNEQUAL MUSIC
Apart from the medical corps, Army has around 1,100 women officers out of 35,000 officers; IAF, 700 out of 10,700 officers; Navy, 280 out of 8,000 officers Women officers serve in non-combat arms (engineering, ordnance, signals, intelligence, education, law, air traffic control, among others). IAF has 58 woman helicopter and transport aircraft pilots Women officers can serve up to 14 years only. In 2008, govt approved permanent commission in the legal and education wings of the three Services. The 2009 batch undergoing training can opt for permanent commission Doctors, dentists, nurses get permanent commission. There are 800 women doctors, 90 dentists and 3,200 nurses Govt doesn’t plan combat duty for women – in infantry, armoured corps, mechanised infantry or artillery. Women can’t fly fighters or serve on warships STORY ELSEWHERE...
Canada, Denmark, Norway, Portugal and Luxembourg allow combat roles for women Women in UK and US can serve in all wings but not allowed in direct ground combat missions Israel allows women in frontline combat units but it’s voluntary. If they decline a specific mission, it’s not a negative ‘No reason why women shouldn’t get benefits’
New Delhi: The HC ruling on permanent commission for women in the Indian armed forces comes with some caveats. Male officers on SSC have been given permanent commission despite a government order because of the acute shortage of officers. Given this fact, it is a moot point whether the court will allow the inequity if women officers were to go before it.
Significantly, while arguing that PC could not be granted retrospectively, the government counsel said this option could be allowed for women recruited in the future. The court, however, held that the petitioners — many of whom had retired by now — should be granted the benefit. ‘‘These women officers have served the armed forces of the country well in the areas of operation they were recruited for and have worked in this capacity for 14 to 15 years... There is no reason why these persons who have knocked the door of the court should be deprived of the benefit,’’ the court said.
The court refused to go into the debate on whether women should be allowed in combat, which was one of the pleas. ‘‘There are countries which have given opportunity to women even in combat areas but there are social and cultural ethos which vary from country to country... Thus we are clearly of the view that it is not for the court to decide which areas of operation of armed forces women should be employed in,’’ the bench observed.
In its 32-page order, the HC directed the government to grant within two months’ time all benefits of PC to all eligible women officers.
SC lets gallantry awardee get permanent job
Dhananjay Mahapatra, SC lets woman officer get permanent job, Dec 1, 2016: The Times of India
The Supreme Court paved the way on Wednesday for the first woman gallantry award winning Army officer, Lt Col Mitali Madhumita, to be given permanent commission despite her last minute change of mind for a career in the armed forces.
Madhumita was awarded the Sena Medal gallantry medal while being posted at Kabul, Afghanistan recognizing the exemplary courage shown by her during the fidayeen attack on the Indian embassy . She was credited for saving many lives while acting without caring for her personal safety .
The Army had appealed against a February 2015 order of the Armed Forces Tribunal, which had quashed rejection of her application to change her earlier stand to not choose permanent commission.
Her counsel Aishwarya Bhati contended before a bench of Chief Justice T S Thakur and Justices D Y Chandrachud and L N Rao that Madhumita was a meritorious officer who had earlier decided not to take permanent commission because of adverse matrimonial conditions.
Bhati said the AFT had taken note of her bravery and selfless service while being posted at the Indian embassy , including the courageous handling of the fidayeen attack, and had permitted her to withdraw the earlier application declining permanent commission.
The tribunal had recommended that since she had withdrawn the earlier decision well before her discharge from the Army , the authorities should consider granting her permanent commission. Appearing for the Army , advocate R Balasubramanian said the withdrawal of decision not to take permanent commission after its acceptance by the authorities would interfere with the policy and cadre management of the armed forces with regard to grant of permanent commission to short service commissioned officers.
The bench found favour with Madhumita's plea after considering the circumstances for her change of mind and took into account the strong recommendation by a chain of army command in her favour, acknowledging and certifying her to be an outstanding officer.
The SC had on October 15 last year stayed the Union government's order releasing Madhumita from service. She had continued to serve in Army in the rank of lieutenant colonel in Army education corps pursuant to the interim order of the apex court.
Madhumita was awarded the Sena Medal (Gallantry) for her brave actions during a terrorist attack on an Indian guest house in Kabul in February 2010.
She had been heading the Indian Army's English language training team in Kabul.
Without caring for her personal safety , she had courageously rescued several injured persons during the attack and rushed them to the hospital. Three Army officers had lost their lives in t he attack.
Permanent commission
Approved in 2020
Govt orders permanent commission for women, July 24, 2020: The Times of India
New Delhi:
The defence ministry has finally issued the formal order to grant permanent commission (PC) to women officers in eight more branches of the Army, in accordance with the Supreme Court directive in February, which will “empower them to shoulder larger roles” in the 13-lakh strong force.
The “government sanction letter” specifies that women short-service commission (SSC) officers will be granted PC — if found eligible by a selection board — in Army Air Defence (AAD), Signals, Engineers, Army Aviation, Electronics and Mechanical Engineers (EME), Army Service Corps (ASC), Army Ordnance Corps (AOC), and Intelligence Corps. They are already eligible for PC in the Judge and Advocate General (JAG) and Army Educational Corps (AEC) branches. “In anticipation, the Army HQ had already set in motion a series of preparatory actions for conduct of the PC selection board for eligible women officers. The board will be scheduled as soon as all eligible women SSC officers exercise their option and complete requisite documentation,” said an Army officer on Thursday. Women number just over 1,600 in the 43,000-strong officer cadre in the Army. The military brass for long opposed PC and command roles for women due to “operational, practical and cultural problems” but had to relent after the court directive to end gender bias in the force.
Women officers, unlike their male counterparts, were not mandated to undergo the “junior command course” and other “adjunct courses” as young captains or majors to be eligible for “command appointments” till now.
Women, of course, are not allowed to join main combat arms like infantry, mechanised infantry, artillery and armoured corps in the Army. They also cannot serve on board warships and submarines in the Navy. But the IAF, which already had women transport aircraft and helicopter pilots, has commissioned eight women as fighter pilots since 2016 to break yet another glass ceiling.
