Women have broken through
another glass ceiling, albeit a lower one, in the Army. Lieutenant Ganeve Lalji, a military intelligence officer with barely two
years of service, has become the first-ever woman officer to be posted as the aide-de-camp (French for
field assistance) of a top general.
While the Navy for
long has posted women officers as 'flag lieutenants' to their admirals, this is
the first time there will be a woman ADC in the Army. Lt Lalji will be the ADC
to Lt-General Rajan Bakhshi, slated to take over the reins of the Central Army Command at
Lucknow from Lt-Gen Anil Chait on July 1.
"Lt Lalji,
commissioned into the intelligence corps from the Officers' Training Academy in
Chennai in September 2011, is a third-generation Army officer after her father
and grandfather. She excelled in her basic young officers' course. She is also
a keen adventure enthusiast and has undergone mountaineering and skiing courses
at Western Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, Manali," said a senior
officer.
There are just
1,200 women officers in the Army, 300 in Navy and 1,100 in IAF despite they
being inducted in the armed forces since 1992-93. Till recently, they could
serve just a maximum of 14 years in branches like signals, engineers, aviation,
intelligence, ordnance, air traffic controller, air defence and the like.
Now, the government
has allowed women officers to get permanent commission in a few avenues like
the legal, education and naval constructor wings. They, of course, are not
allowed to serve in combat arms like infantry, artillery or armoured corps, nor
serve on board operational warships or fly fighter jets.
No comments:
Post a Comment