On April 29th, 2023, in an historic event made by the Indian Army, five women officers had been inducted into its artillery regiment. The women officers joined the regiment after successfully completing their training at the Officers Training Academy (OTA) in Chennai on Saturday.
Lt. General Adosh Kumar, colonel commandant and director general of Artillery (Designate), has called the appointment of five women officers to its artillery regiment a momentous occasion, marking a transformation in the Indian Army.
He said that the Women Officers (WOs) will receive the same opportunities and challenges as their male counterparts and that the regiment has full confidence in them. He also told journalists that ”More than 20% of the officers commissioned into the Regiment today are women, which is yet another step in a series of transformational initiatives taken by the Indian Army. Also, we are in the midst of a modernization drive through indigenous development of our guns, equipment, ammunition, and vehicles, so these WOs will be exposed to niche technologies in the future.”
The DG Artillery also added that necessary training and exposure to handle rocket, medium, and field artillery, and surveillance and target acquisition (SATA) in challenging conditions would be provided to the Women Officers (WOs) posted to all types of artillery units. Three of the WOs were posted to units along the northern border, and the other two to locations in the western theatre.
The Women Officers’ (WOs) assignments are as follows: Lt. Mehak Saini has been commissioned into a SATA regiment, Lt. Sakshi Dubey and Lt. Aditi Yadav into field regiments, Lt. Pious Mudgil into the medium regiment, and Lt. Akanksha into the rocket regiment.
Chief of Army Staff Gen Manoj Pande announced the decision to commission women officers into artillery units in January. Later, the government approved the proposal.