{"id":54425,"date":"2020-02-18T17:24:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-18T11:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogadmin.forumias.com\/?p=54425"},"modified":"2020-02-26T17:25:57","modified_gmt":"2020-02-26T11:55:57","slug":"7-pm-finally-gender-parity-in-the-indian-army18th-february-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/7-pm-finally-gender-parity-in-the-indian-army18th-february-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"7 PM |Finally, gender parity in the Indian Army|18th February 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Context:\n<\/strong>SC\nruling in favour of permanent commission to women officers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>More\nin news: <\/strong>The\nSupreme Court recently ordered the government to grant permanent commission to\nwomen officers in the Army\u2019s noncombat support units on par with their male\ncounterparts should they wish to continue with it after completing their\nshort-service commission.<br>\n<br>\n<strong>Women in Army:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The induction of women officers in the\nArmy started in 1992.<\/li><li>They were commissioned for a period of\nfive years in certain chosen streams such as Army Education Corps, Corps of\nSignals, Intelligence Corps, and Corps of Engineers.<\/li><li>Recruits under the Women Special Entry\nScheme (WSES) had a shorter pre-commission training period than their male\ncounterparts who were commissioned under the Short Service Commission (SSC)\nscheme.<\/li><li>In 2006, the WSES scheme was replaced\nwith the SSC scheme, which was extended to women officers. They were\ncommissioned for a period of 10 years, extendable up to 14 years.<\/li><li>Serving WSES officers were given the\noption to move to the new SSC scheme or to continue under the erstwhile WSES.<\/li><li>They were to be, however, restricted to\nroles in streams specified earlier, &nbsp;which excluded combat arms such as infantry\nand armoured corps.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What\nwas the Case?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>In 2003, a PIL was filed before the\nDelhi High Court for grant of permanent commission (PC) to women SSC officers\nin the Army.&nbsp;<\/li><li>In 2010, Delhi High Court ruled that,\nwomen officers of the Air Force and Army on SSC who had sought permanent\ncommission but were not granted that status, would be entitled to PC at par\nwith male SSC officers. <\/li><li>The government challenged the order in\nthe Supreme Court, and even though the High Court judgment was not stayed, the\nDefence Ministry did not implement those directions.<\/li><li>The Supreme Court on February 17th, 2020\nupheld a 2010 Delhi high court ruling and directed the Centre to ensure that\nwomen officers are given permanent commissions in the Indian Army on a par with\nmale officers, including for command posting.<\/li><li>The SC has done away with all\ndiscrimination on the basis of years of service for grant of PC in 10 streams\nof combat support arms and services, bringing them on a par with male officers.\n<\/li><li>It has also removed the restriction of\nwomen officers only being allowed to serve in staff appointments, which is the\nmost significant and far-reaching aspect of the judgment.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Views\nof the Government:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The centre\u2019s note stated that, \u201cthe\nprofession of arms is not only a profession but a way of life which often\nrequires sacrifices, commitment beyond the call of duty by the entire family of\nservice personnel involving separation, frequent transfers affecting education\nof children and career prospects of spouse. As a consequence, it is a greater\nchallenge for women officers to meet the hazards of service owing to their\nprolonged absence during pregnancy, motherhood and domestic obligations towards\ntheir children and families especially when both husband and wife happen to be\nservice officers\u201d.<\/li><li>It also added that it is best to keep woman\naway from direct combat since capture of a woman officer or soldier as a\nprisoner of war would lead to a situation of extreme mental, physical and\npsychological stress for the captured individual and the government.<\/li><li>The government came up with a proposal\nwhereby women officers of up to 14 years of service would be granted permanent\ncommission in line with the letter of February 2019. Women officers with more\nthan 14 years of service would be permitted to serve for up to 20 years without\nbeing considered for PC, but would retire with pension, and those with more\nthan 20 years of service would be released with pensionary benefits\nimmediately.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Supreme\nCourt\u2019s view:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The court said that the submissions made\nby the Centre were \u201cperpetuates sex stereotypes\u201d. <\/li><li>Arguments by the Centre are founded on\nphysical strength of men and women and grounds of motherhood, family etc\nviolates equality.<\/li><li>The bench said, \u201cto cast aspersions on\nability of women and their role and achievements in Army is an insult not only\nto women but also to Indian Army\u201d.<\/li><li>The apex court has rejected the\narguments of central governmnet, saying that they are \u201cbased on sex stereotypes\npremised on assumptions about socially ascribed roles of gender which\ndiscriminate against women\u201d.<\/li><li>It has also said that it only shows the\nneed \u201cto emphasise the need for change in mindsets to bring about true equality\nin the Army\u201d.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Implications\nof the judgement:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>SC upholds the right to equality in the\nConstitution for the spirit of the order is the principle of\nnon-discrimination. Gender cannot serve as the basis for inequitable and\nunequal treatment in any sphere, including in defence forces.<\/li><li>It has also removed the restriction of\nwomen officers only being allowed to serve in staff appointments, which is the\nmost significant and far-reaching aspect of the judgment.<\/li><li>The verdict has very explicitly opened\nthe doors for women in command positions, thus ensuring they will have a role\nin decision-making in due course of time.<\/li><li>It also means that in junior ranks and\ncareer courses, women officers would be attending the same training courses and\ntenanting critical appointments, which are necessary for higher promotions.<\/li><li>Implementation of the order both in\nletter and in spirit will help in changing mind sets internally. Especially for\nmale officers who continue to see women as best suited for adjunct roles and\nnot as equals.&nbsp;<\/li><li>The decision will encourage more women\nto think of a career in the military. This may begin a process of correcting\nthe gender imbalance in India\u2019s forces.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Way\nForward:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In order to\ncomply with the order, the human resource management department of army will\nhave to work towards changing policy. There is a bigger need in shift to take\nplace in the culture, norms, and values of the rank and file of the Army, which\nwill be the responsibility of the senior military and political\nleadership.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source:\n<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hindustantimes.com\/editorials\/finally-gender-parity-in-the-indian-army\/story-4kJw5iMMgnl7uDWU9uULUJ.html\">https:\/\/www.hindustantimes.com\/editorials\/finally-gender-parity-in-the-indian-army\/story-4kJw5iMMgnl7uDWU9uULUJ.html<\/a><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Context: SC ruling in favour of permanent commission to women officers. More in news: The Supreme Court recently ordered the government to grant permanent commission to women officers in the Army\u2019s noncombat support units on par with their male counterparts should they wish to continue with it after completing their short-service commission. Women in Army:&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/7-pm-finally-gender-parity-in-the-indian-army18th-february-2020\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">7 PM |Finally, gender parity in the Indian Army|18th February 2020<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[130,955],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-7-pm","category-7-pm-brief-infograph","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704780363},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54425\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}