Taking to Twitter, Union Defence Rajnath Singh said that he wholeheartedly welcomed the verdict.
Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday said that he welcomes the Supreme Court judgment providing women officers permanent commission in the Armed Forces. He also said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has supported the idea and announced the change in policy in his 2018 Independence Day speech.
In a landmark verdict on Monday, the Supreme Court directed the Centre to grant permanent commission to all women officers in the Army within three months. A Bench of the apex court, headed by Justice DY Chandrachud, said that women officers in the past have brought laurels to the country and change of mindset is required on the part of the government to put an end to gender bias in armed forces.
Taking to Twitter, Union Defence Rajnath Singh said that he wholeheartedly welcomed the verdict.
"I wholeheartedly welcome Honble Supreme Court’s judgement on giving the Women officers permanent commission in the Armed Forces. PM Shri @narendramodi has supported the idea of the permanent commission for women & announced the change in policy in his Independence Day speech in 2018," Rajnath Singh tweeted.
In successive tweets, Singh provided details regarding the induction of women officers in the Armed Forces.
"As of June 2019, women were inducted in all branches of the Indian Air Force, with terms and conditions for women officers being issued from time to time. The Government of India is working to strengthen the ‘Stree Shakti’ in our Armed Forces and we stand committed to move forward in this direction," the Defence Minister posted from his official handle on Twitter.
In another tweet, Singh said, "A historic decision to allow women in field operations cam earlier when the then defence minister Ms Nirmala Sitharaman announced that women will be inducted into the Military Police. The recruitment process has started in 2019."
Further shedding light on the historical backdrop behind the decision, Rajnath Singh said, "The plan was to recruit women in roles ranging from probing crime cases to assisting the army in field operations wherever required. There have been instances where certain women officers have been in the job for nearly twenty years, while SSC term terminates in fourteen years."
Talking about the government initiative, he said, "In 2019, the defence ministry granted a permanent commission to women in all 10 branches of the Indian Amry, including Signal Corps, intelligence, aviation, engineering, service corps and ordnance corps."
The Defence Minister, in highlighting the progress, also chalked up a picture of contrast over the years and the change that has been made in the meanwhile.
"Before 2016, women made up just 2.5 percent of India's armed forces, working in mainly non-combat roles. As of Jan 2019, 3.89 percent of the army personnel comprised women, while 6.7 percent of the navy & 13.28 percent of the air force personnel were women as of June 2019," Rajnath Singh wrote.
Noting that women officers are also eligible for command posting, the Supreme Court on Monday directed the central government to grant permanent commission to all women officers in the Indian Army within three months. It said that there will not be any absolute bar on giving them command postings.
Rejecting Centre's argument of physiological limitations and social norms for denying them permanent commission and command postings, the court said that it is disturbing and against the concept of equality.
The apex court further noted that despite there being no stay on the 2010 Delhi High Court verdict allowing grant of permanent commission to women officers, the Centre showed scant regard in implementing the directive in past one decade.
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