New Delhi, April 25: In a first, the Indian Army released an advertisement for the recruitment of women into the Military Police. According to the ad, the last date for applying under 'soldier general duty (Women Military Police)' is June 8.  Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had in January announced to induct women as jawans in Corps of Military Police in the Indian Army with an aim to enhance their representation in the armed forces.

Terming the decision "historic", Sitharaman had said that women would be inducted in a graded manner to eventually comprise 20 per cent of total Corps of Military Police of the Indian Army. In a series of tweets, the official handle of the defence minister said, "to improve representation of women in our armed forces Smt @nsitharaman takes a historic decision to induct women for the first time in PBOR (Personnel Below Officer Rank) role in Corps of Military Police." Indian Army is Conservative, Can't Allow Homosexuals: General Bipin Rawat.

Women inducted in the military police would be assigned rape and molestation cases and assist the Army wherever required. The decision to induct women in the military police was announced by Army Chief General Bipin Rawat last year. Rawat had said the process to allow women in combat role, currently, an exclusive domain of men, was moving fast and initially, women will be recruited for positions in the military police.

The Army plans to induct approximately 800 women in military police with a yearly intake of 52 personnel per year. At present, the Army has 3.80 per cent of its workforce as women, the Air Force has 13.09 per cent and the Navy six per cent, Minister of State in the Defence Ministry Subhash Bhamre had said.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 25, 2019 10:01 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).