New Delhi, 6th March, 2016. Within months of announcing that the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) Force will induct women as officers and deploy women personnel in combat duty at its high-altitude posts in Ladakh sector along the Indo-China border, the force has been conferred with the National Gender Empowerment Award by Institute for Gender Justice- an NGO , ahead of International Women’s Day.
One-third of the strength of the ITBP border posts will be women and the balance men. Nearly 500 women have been trained for these duties. This step by ITBP brings forth gender equality in real terms and is bound to encourage other forces to follow suit.
The women, in the rank of constable, were inducted and after 44-weeks of training in battle craft and mountain survival, the squad was sent to the 3,488-km Sino-India Line of Actual Control (LAC), for final acclimatization prior deployment. The force plans to have women personnel make up at least 40% of its strength at these forward posts.
Krishna Chaudhary, DG ITBP received the honor on behalf of entire Force in a special programme organized at Siri Fort Auditorium in the Capital in presence of over 2000 women participants across the country. ITBP was selected for the Award by a panel of distinguished jury members and experts for remarkable contribution towards safety, security and protection of women personnel of the Force. The Force has decided to deploy women personnel along with men counterparts on India-China border.
A five minute documentary on women combatants in ITBP was also shown on the occasion.
