Time is changing and so are the arenas to showcase the exuberance and ‘feminine’ qualities of Indian women. Without the pun, Indian women’s steady march into the armed forces and the police machinery of the country has been more than phenomenal. Beyond the traditional domain of the Medical and the Nursing Corps of the Indian Armed Forces, women are registering at a rapid pace into other wings of India’s muscular arm. Even though they are not admitted right now into the combat unit of the Indian armed forces, they have donned Indian Police and Paramilitary fatigue consistently at all levels.
In our armed forces, women now serve in all the three wings, that is, army, air force and the navy. Names like Lieutenant General Puneeta Arora from Army Medical Corps, who now heads the prestigious Armed Forces Medical College, or Commandant Seema Dhundia (from CRPF, leading the first ever all-women UN Contingent in war-torn Liberia; see related mini-story in Policy) have been shining examples for those who want to pursue a career in the armed forces. Can it be long before we see India’s first chief of armed forces also being a woman? We can see many guns already being raised!