Defence ministry to decide on women’s entry in forces: Parrikar

“Ministry of Defence has already taken a call to relax certain norms for the recruitment of women in the armed forces and a final decision was expected to be taken within the next two months”, Parrikar said while inaugurating the Mai Bhago Armed Forces Preparatory Institute for Girls in Mohali.

All India Defence Brotherhood (Punjab) president Brig K S Kahlon (retd) said their protest was not against the minister but against the betrayal of central government in not implementing the OROP despite promises.

Vexed over the delay in implementation of One Rank One Pension scheme, a group of ex-servicemen has decided to greet Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar with black flags when he arrives on a visit here on Saturday.

The minister said that the families of these missing defence personnel were given liberalised pensionary and rehabilitation benefits as per extant rules. For his part, Badal announced the state government’s intention to enhance the one- time grant for the recipient of Param Vir Chakra from Rs 30 lakh to Rs 2 crore, Mahavir Chakra from Rs 20 lakh to Rs 1 crore and Vir Chakra from Rs 15 lakh to Rs 50 lakh.

The CM said that the falling number of officers from Punjab in the three defence services had set him thinking and with the help of senior retired defence officers he came up with the idea of a prepatory institute for boy and then later for girls.

Seeking the defence minister’s personal intervention to enhance the posts of women officers cadre in the armed forces, Badal said that this should be done at the earliest. He said the boys’ institute has achieved great success and that 54 cadets have been selected for the National defence Aacademy since its inception in 2011.