Special selection committee to select the women officers – Confidant Classes for Career Consultancy and Coaching Classes

The army formed a special selection committee to select the women officers of the Standing Commission. This follows the landmark Supreme Court verdict in February this year, which allowed all female officers to run for the Standing Army Committee.

How is the selection panel for women civil servants formed?

Selection Board No.5 was appointed by the military in accordance with the Supreme Court’s order of February 2020, which directed the military to recruit all eligible women as permanent officers. The special commission came into effect on September 14. The commission is headed by a senior general officer and includes an officer with the rank of brigadier. Women officers were allowed to attend the discussions as observers to make the process more transparent. Female officers who qualify in the selection process will receive a standing committee subject to being in the acceptable medical category.

What was the problem at the Supreme Court?

The incorporation of female officers into the military began in 1992, when the government of the day began to roll the ball for the integration of female officers into certain non-combat branches. In 2008, the current government expanded the Standing Women’s Committee into two branches: the Army Education Corps and the Judge Advocate General.

In 2010, the Delhi High Court granted the Standing Commission to women civil servants in all branches in which they worked, but the government appealed the decision to the Supreme Court.
The verdict on the matter was delivered in February of this year. It is relevant to mention here that the current government granted the Standing Commission to the women of the ten branches in which they worked in March 2019, but this offer was not going to be implemented in retrospect.
This meant that a large number of female officers who were still part of the Short Service Commission (SSC) would not be eligible for the Standing Commission.
As SSC officers, they could serve up to 14 years in the military, but the SC order paved the way for their candidacy for the Standing Commission. For this, a preselection jury was created.

How many female officers currently serve in the military and in which branches?

Recent figures show that 1,653 female officers currently serve in the military out of a total of nearly 43,000 officers. In addition to the magistrate branch of the Attorney General and the army education body where the standing commission has already been given, the other eight branches to get female officers as standing officers are the signals, engineers, military intelligence, army air defense, Air Force Corps, Army Service Corps, Army Aviation Corps, and Electronics and Mechanical Engineering Corps.

What are the aptitude standards for female officers wishing to become members of a standing committee?

The military recently changed its fitness policy for female officers after the Supreme Court verdict. By changing its policy regarding the applicability of the Combat Physical Efficiency Test (BPET) for female officers / cadets / recruits, the Army made it mandatory for all female officers, including commissioners. before 2009 and over 35, who were previously exempt.

The BPET is a series of physical tests designed to assess the physical condition of an officer or a jawan to perform military tasks. For female officers, this includes a five-kilometer run, a 60-meter sprint, climbing a vertical rope to a certain height, crossing a horizontal rope a certain distance, and jumping. of a 6 foot trench.
These new instructions replace the instructions issued by the army headquarters in March 2011, which stated: “Officers who enter service before April 2009 and who are over 35 years old will be exempt from BPET and only their test. physical competition (PPT) will apply. “

Are there other conditions of eligibility for the granting of the Standing Committee to women civil servants?

After the order of the Supreme Court of February 17, 2020 according to the Standing Commission to all women officers with all the benefits that flow from it, the army began to detail women officers at the rank of lieutenant-colonels for the command course junior (JC) at Army War College, Mhow, for those eligible for the Standing Commission Women officers were invited to attend the courses offered at the university between July and October of this year.

This course, which is normally taken by male officers with five to ten years of service, will now have the participation of female officers from most senior echelons, 15 and 16 years of service or more. In accordance with the instructions of the Director General of Military Training (DGMT), by order of the CS, female officers registered with the Standing Commission must follow the compulsory courses of their respective branches at the same time as the JC course.