First batch of Lady Officer commissioned into Indian Army

Introduction[edit]

In 1992 the Indian government decided to induct women into the Armed forces for an initial period of five yrs. This was done to fill in the gap felt in the shortage of officers in the service bracket of one to ten years.The advertisement for the same was published in all the leading newspapers. The scheme was open for inducting ladies into the JAG Branch, Army Ordinance Corps, Army Education Corps and the Army Service Corps. The ladies had to go through the SSB(service selection board). Once they cleared the SSB, and were declared medically fit,they were able to jointhe academy for the training.

Selection[edit]

The news spread like wildfire. The army had asked for graduates and post graduates and the age limit was raised to 27 yrs. Since the women were being inducted for the first time there were more than 35000 applicants from all over the country and they underwent through rigorous selection criteria under different Short Service Commission Boards (SSBs) held at various places like Allahabad, Bhopal and Bangalore. The competition was very tough since there were only twenty five vacancies!!!

Filtering[edit]

Based on the results of the SSB, the merit list was prepared and the top 25 finalists were sent letters of instructions to undergo training and join the Officers Training Academy (OTA) at Chennai.

Joining Officers Training Academy[edit]

On 21 Sep 1992 the bright eyed aspirants were picked up from the railway station and brought to the academy and the training started. List of reportees were

Anjana Bhaduria	Paramjit Saini	Purnima Vasishta	Uma Thapar	Swapna Datta	Varsha Mohan	Suman Singh
Priya Jhingan	Shashi Bala	Richa Sharma	Jatinder Preet Kaur	Alka Khurana	Kiran Singh	Ruchi Upmanyu
Sunita Dahiya	Vincy Thomas	Sangeeta Tomar	Ragini V Telore	Deepa Chaudhry	Dinesh Bhardwaj	Sujata Pande
Sangeeta Tandon	Shanthi S	Subbalakshami	Usha Shree

Lady Cadets and Training[edit]

The women were called LCs (lady cadets) and random numbers were assigned (roll number) for the purposes of training refernce. The women were imparted the same training as was being imparted to the male officers which included weapons training, tactical, physical and drill training etc. Apart from this they were also taught horse riding, swimming and self defence and they learned skills like photography, sailing, golf, rowing , music and dramatics in the various clubs.

Commission as Second Lieutenants[edit]

After having undergone six month of rigorous training, on 06 march 1993 all lady officers were commissioned as WSS-01 (women short service) along with the male officers of SS 55 (short Service course 55) and passed out of the academy as the young Second Lieutenants. These 25 feisty women created a history in the Indian Army which was earlier driven by men and men alone and was used only to take commands from men only.

Bond[edit]

Army had inducted women on Trial Basis and hence the lady officers had signed a bond for 5 years only. The further extension was to be decided later based upon the performance, outcome, reaction from colleagues and men officers. They were all posted to different offices all over in India. They were called 'The Pioneers' and rightly so. https://www.quora.com/Do-women-get-permanent-commission-in-Indian-Army

Performance and Further Extension of Service Agreement[edit]

The real challenge stood ahead of ladies which was probably more difficult than training at academy but didn't deter the strong minded ladies was related to serving with men who were used to taking command from men only. It didn't take long for them to overcome this. The lady officers put in their best efforts to prove their metal at each place of their posting and set an example by doing a fantastic job. Some were nominated for Chief of Army Staff Commendation Card, which is a big achievement in itself. Before the five year period had lapsed, the government in consultation with the Army decided to give further five year extension to those who were willing to continue the service.

Extension of Service Upto 10 Years[edit]

It was not easy for some who decided to leave Army due to job uncertainty at ripe age when family was growing. But the others, yet the highly qualified ladies, had to take a tough decision and most of them decided to stay back to take more challenges. They applied for extension hoping that eventually they would get permanent commission. These women were granted extension upto ten years of service.

Further extension or Granting Permanent Commission[edit]

Almost 50 percent of the lady officers completed their extension period upto ten years. The decision to give further extension was critical for the defence forces. The government had to take a decision on whether to give them another two years of extension or permanent commission or let go of these bright and high performing lady officers once their ten year period had lapsed.

Bidding Adieu[edit]

It took long for the Government to decide resulting in bidding adieu to the pioneers as the contract period was ending. On their release, they were given gratuity for the period that they served in the Army.

And the legacy continued[edit]

The decision came to give further extension a little later and the lady officers from fourth batches onward were able to continue to serve for long and eventually they were also offered Permanent Commission.

Way to go!!! Well done ladies.