Online registration is mandatory and will be open from April 25 to June 8, 2019. (File)The Army has finally initiated the process to induct women in the Other Ranks of Corps of Military Police by inviting applications from women to enrol as recruits.
The Army placed advertisements in newspapers on Thursday inviting applications from eligible women candidates for recruitment of Soldier General Duty (Women Military Police). Online registration is mandatory and will be open from April 25 to June 8, 2019.
Move may lead to more roles for women in Army
Women were inducted into the Army as officers in 1993. Initially they were given only Short Service Commission and inducted in combat support branches and support services. Gradually Army Aviation Corps was opened up for women officers and permanent commission was offered to them in Army Education Corps and Judge Advocate General’s branch. Since there were no women in a non-officer role in the Army, there was a demand for this. This demand was accepted last year by the Ministry of Defence and the roadmap for inducting women in the Military Police was put in place. Gradually they may be inducted in other branches, depending on the success of this induction.
Recruitment rallies have been planned in Ambala, Lucknow, Jabalpur, Bengaluru and Shillong to test the candidates, and they will be allotted venue based on their home districts.
Speaking to The Indian Express, a senior officer in Army HQs said the inducted women soldiers will undergo training of one year at the Corps of Military Police Regimental Centre in Bengaluru before being posted to units. “These women military police will be deployed initially in areas where they are needed to frisk women or for allied role. They will be posted to chosen units in J&K as well as other parts of the country,” he said. A total of 1,700 women soldiers are to be recruited initially.
It is learnt that women military police soldiers will also be used for protection of areas where separated family accommodation of soldiers is located. These are the quarters where families of jawans stay when the soldiers are posted in field areas.
As per details provided by the Army, these women soldiers have to be in the age group of 17½ to 21 years with minimum educational qualification of Class 10 with 45 per cent marks in aggregate and minimum 33 per cent marks in each subject studied. Upper age limit will be relaxed up to 30 years of age (as on date of joining training) in respect of widows of defence personnel who have died in harness. Candidates must be unmarried women, though women who are widowed, divorced or legally separated are also eligible provided they do not have children.
Candidates must undertake not to marry until they complete the full training. A candidate who marries subsequent to the date of her application will not be selected for training.
To qualify in the physical fitness test, the candidates have to run 1.6 km in up to seven minutes, perform long jump of 10 feet and high jump of 3 feet. Daughters of servicemen, ex-servicemen, war widows, widows of ex-servicemen, adopted daughter/daughter-in-law of a war widow, if she has no daughter including a legally adopted daughter of serving soldier/ ex-servicemen and widows of defence personnel who have died in harness will be given relaxation.
The rules stipulate that any woman candidate found to be pregnant shall be disqualified and her candidature rejected. A candidate should not have conceived at the time of reporting or till conclusion of training at CMP Centre and School.
A medical certificate from a government medical doctor (with minimum MBBS qualification) stating the no-pregnant status of a candidate will have to be produced on reporting for the recruitment rally, and a fresh certificate when reporting to the training centre, failing which the individual will be rejected summarily.
Women MP enrolled under these Army instructions and released on or before the expiry of 17 years service, as the case may be, will carry a reserve liability for two years after release.
