60% of army’s women COs serving in operational areas

More than 145 women have been approved for the rank of colonel since the army opened command roles to them two years ago.

NEW DELHI: Around 60% of the Indian Army’s women commanding officers are heading units in operational areas, including forward locations in the Northern and Eastern Commands that are responsible for guarding India’s borders, officials aware of the development said on Wednesday.

More than 145 women have been approved for the rank of colonel since the army opened command roles to them two years ago. (PTI)

“More than 145 women have been approved for the rank of colonel since the army opened command roles to them two years ago. Of them, as many as 115 women officers are already heading their units. And 60% of them are serving in operational areas,” said one of the officers cited above.

Around 15 more women officers are set to be assigned roles soon, the officials added.

This comes at a time when the force is probing how an internal communication by a three-star officer on the performance of eight women officers --- it talked about several issues ostensibly plaguing units commanded by women in the eastern sector -- was leaked.

The letter complained about women COs on aspects ranging from officer management to a purportedly misplaced sense of entitlement, from lack of empathy to an exaggerated tendency to complain, and from over-ambition to a lack of ambition.

Following a Supreme Court order in 2023, the army began assigning women officers to command roles outside the medical stream for the first time. Several exceptions were made in appointing them to those roles, as previously reported by HT.

In February 2023, the army conducted a special selection board to promote 108 women officers to the rank of select-grade colonel -- a move aimed at bringing about gender parity -- offering them command assignments in select branches, and giving them new hard-earned identities.

Last month, Colonel Ponung Doming, a woman commanding officer, was among the military personnel who were awarded the Sena Medal (Devotion to Duty). Her unit is constructing a high-altitude road in Ladakh’s Demchok sector to provide connectivity to one of the military’s farthest outposts, Fukche, which is just three km from the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China.

Her unit also spearheaded a key project to upgrade the Nyoma advanced landing ground near the LAC in eastern Ladakh to a full-fledged base for fighter operations.