Captain Kalpana Kundu, a young Indian Army officer, undertook a rare high altitude patrol in the Himalayas in Arunachal Pradesh recently to provide medical cover to our soldiers deployed along the Chinese border.
“Capt Kalpana Kundu, a young Medical Officer of the Indian Army undertook an arduous high altitude patrol in the mighty Himalayas in Arunachal Pradesh on 20 June 2019,” said the Indian Army in a statement.
“In this rare feat she volunteered and accompanied an important patrol in an inhospitable terrain to provide medical cover to her brethren deployed along the Line of Actual Control,” it added.
Indian Army allows women officers to participate in outdoor activities, but they aren’t deployed in forward operational areas. “Capt Kundu can set a trend. While women officers do participate in outdoor activities like mountaineering, white water rafting and paragliding with their male counterparts, they are not posted to advanced areas. I know of many women officers who are itching to get posted to such areas, even for a short period of time,” a senior army officer told TOI.
At the beginning of this year, Defense Minister Nirmala Sitharaman directed the Indian Army to induct women in Corps of Military Police positions. “To improve the representation of women in our armed forces Smt N Sitharaman takes a historic decision to induct women for the first time in PBOR (Personnel Below Officer Rank) role in Corps of Military Police. The women will be inducted in a graded manner to eventually comprise 20% of total Corps of Military Police,” official handle of the Defence Minister tweeted.
Article Credit: m.femina