“The widening of promotion avenues to more branches of the Army is a sign of increasing career opportunities for women officers. Till now, women officers could reach the rank of Colonel only in the medical, legal and education streams. Women officers, excluding the medical stream, number just about 1,650 in the 43,000-strong officer cadre in the Army. ![]() The Supreme Court had last week also allowed women to take the exam for the tri-Service National Defence Academy this year, in yet another order to ensure gender equality in the male-dominated environs of the armed forces. ![]() Consequently, the Army has till now granted PC to 424 of the 615 short-service commission (SSC) women officers (who can only serve for a maximum of 14 years) eligible for it. The promotion of the five women officers is the outcome of the Supreme Court order to the 13-lakh strong Army last year to end the gender bias and grant permission commission (PC) to women officers in eight more branches, in addition to previously existing legal and education wings. The “passed over” male officers become Colonel (time-scale) after completing 26 years of service. An officer becomes a “selection-grade” Colonel in around 15-17 years. The Army on Monday said a selection board has cleared the promotion of Lt-Col Sangeeta Sardana (Corps of Signals), Lt-Col Sonia Anand and Lt-Col Navneet Duggal (Corps of Electronics and Mechanical Engineers), and Lt-Col Reenu Khanna and Lt-Col Ritcha Sagar (Corps of Engineers) to the Colonel (time-scale) rank. NEW DELHI: Five women officers from “combat-support arms” have for the first time been cleared for promotion to the rank of Colonel (time-scale) in the Army after completing 26 years of service like their male counterparts.
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