The Agnipath scheme announced recently will recruit women sailors for the first time in the Navy. The move will also enable their deployment in warships in the coming days, as per news reports.
“The Agnipath scheme in the Navy will be gender-neutral. As we speak, 30 women officers are sailing on board frontline warships. We have decided that the time has come to recruit women sailors as well, and in all trades which will include women who will go to sea,” news reports quoted chief of personnel Vice Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi as saying.
The exact numbers have not been revealed, but they are expected to comprise 10-20% of the first batch. The batch will being training at the naval establishment INS Chilka in Odisha, by the end of November 2022.
Women were being appointed only as officers in the armed forces till 2020. Since then, they have been recruited in other ranks in the army and the Corps of Military Police.
Last year, the Navy appointed four women officers on warships –two each in INS Vikramaditya and INS Shakti.
