Indian Army organises five-day recruitment drive for women in Lucknow

In a move at increasing women's numbers in the Army, the Indian Army on Monday organised a five-day recruitment drive for women at AMC Stadium in Lucknow Cantonment. Major General NS Rajpurohit, Additional Director General (ADG)-Recruiting of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand said, "From March to October 2020, these drives were not conducted due to COVID-19 pandemic. We resumed our operations in November 2020. Since then, this is the first time we are conducting such a drive for women. Also, we have made negative COVID-19 test reports mandatory for participation."

The recruitment drive for women comes after the apex court on February 17, 2020, had ordered that the permanent commission will apply to all women officers in the Indian Army in service, irrespective of their years of service. The apex court had also ordered that after the judgement of Delhi High Court, Centre should grant permanent commission to women officers.

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Additional Director General encouraged people to participate in physical exercise to boost the immunity of the body. "We are happy to see that a lot of women have participated with enthusiasm in this drive. For being recruited, the woman must pass the physical test successfully," Rajpurohit added. "This drive will be conducted for four more days. Today is the first day. We will be covering 75 districts of Uttar Pradesh and 15 in Uttarakhand," he added. "For registering in this drive, participants can access the details on our online portal," he further added.

On February 17, 2020, the apex court ordered that the permanent commission will apply to all women officers in the Indian Army in service, irrespective of their years of service. The apex court had also ordered that after the judgement of Delhi High Court, Centre should grant permanent commission to women officers. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had termed it as a historic decision and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has supported the idea