Officials said the Indian Army inducted the first batch of women into the Corps of Military Police on May 8th, marking the first time women have entered the military in a non-officer cadre. Since the early 1990s, women have been serving as officers in select branches of the three services. A low-key attestation parade for the soldiers was held at Bengaluru's Dronacharya Parade Ground.
“The Corps of Military Police Centre & School (CMP C &S) at Bengaluru held the attestation parade of the first batch of 83 women soldiers at the Dronacharya Parade Ground on May 8. The parade was conducted as a low-key event while observing all Covid-19 protocols,” the army said in a statement.
The army is the only one of the three services that allows women to join as non-commissioned officers.
The soldiers went through an “intense 61 weeks of training on aspects related to Basic Military training, Provost training to include all forms of policing duties and management of prisoners of war, ceremonial duties and skill development to include driving and maintenance of all vehicles, and signal communications,” according to the statement shared by the Indian Army.
The government had given their nod to the recruitment of women into the military police in 2019, with the aim of having 1700 women soldiers by 2036, with 100 recruits each year.