On the eve of Navy Day, Chief Admiral R Hari Kumar informed that the Indian Navy has inducted women sailors for the first time. He said that around 3,000 Agniveers have arrived and 341 of them are women. “Come next year, we are looking at women officers being inducted across all branches and not just the 7-8 branches they're restricted to as of today.”
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Made-in-India security solutions
Kumar said that the aim is to have Made-in-India security solutions for the country. “Commissioning of aircraft carrier INS Vikrant was a landmark event for India.”
In terms of operations, Kumar said that India had a very intense and engaging time in the last one year, while the Indian Navy had achieved a very high operational tempo.
He also emphasised on how the unveiling of the new Naval ensign was in line with the government policy of shedding away the vestiges of colonial symbols and practices. “The new design was made by one of our sailors from a ship, we just worked upon, improved and promulgated,” he added.
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Gender-neutral services
In order to highlight that the services are gender-neutral, Kumar spoke about how the Indian Navy has previously accepted fighter pilots and female air operations officers, and now women sailors are being enlisted.
The Navy Chief also added that in the upcoming year, women would be permitted to join remaining branches as well. The commander said this while addressing the National Defense Academy’s (NDA) passing out parade at Khadakwasla, Pune.
“Already there are women doing combat roles. It is a landmark achievement,” he said. “We have had a good response. For 3000 vacancies, we had almost 10 lakh applicants of whom 82,000 were women,” Kumar added.
However, they do not yet know how many of them are going to meet all the standards because as of right now they do not have separate standards for education and physical eligibility, the job is the same.
Navy Day will be celebrated in Visakhapatnam. It is observed every year on December 4 to celebrate the achievements of the Indian Navy. The day was chosen to commemorate the launch of Operation Trident during the Indo-Pakistan War in 1971.
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