NEW DELHI: The Indian Air Force (IAF) has recruited its
first female fighter pilots, paving the way for
more women to be given
combat roles as one of
the world´s biggest military forces takes steps towards greater gender parity.
Flying ******rs Mohana Singh, Bhawana Kanth and Avani Chaturvedi received their wings on Saturday when they were commissioned into the IAF at a graduation ceremony in the southern city of Hyderabad.
"It is a golden day as for the
first time these
women are going to join the
fighter pilots," Indian Defence Minister Ma**har Parrikar said at the ceremony.
"This will inspire
more women to take up the most challenging task in the armed forces. Our long-term objective is to work towards gender parity in the armed forces.
"Prime Minister Narendra Modi also congratulated the women, saying it was "a matter of immense pride and joy" to have the
first female fighter pilots.
"More power to them," he tweeted.
Only a handful of countries such as Britain, the United States, Israel and neighbouring Pakistan, have allowed
women into the cockpits of
fighter jets.
India had until **w kept
women out of that role, and away from frontline warships and ground combat, citing concerns over their vulnerability if captured and their physical and mental ability to handle the stress of such deployments.
The country´s defence forces began recruiting
women to **n-medical positions in 1992, yet only 2.5 percent of its
more than 1 million personnel are
women - most of them administrators, intelligence ******rs, doctors, nurses or dentists.
In recent years, Indian courts have pushed the military to widen opportunities for women, by giving them permanent commissions, for example, instead of limiting them to five-year terms.
Modi´s government an**unced last year it would bring
women into fighting roles and approved IAF plans for
women pilots to fly warplanes from June 2017 on a three-year experimental basis.
Indian President Pranab Mukherjee in February went a step further an**uncing the country would induct
women in all
fighter streams of the armed forces in the future.
Defence Minister Parrikar confirmed plans to extend
combat roles for
women in the army and navy, adding it would take time.
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