Women ditch corporate careers for Army beret

CHENNAI: One hundred and five women cadets from the Officers Training Academy (OTA) were inducted into armed forces on Saturday, making it the largest batch to pass out in recent times.
They were part of the 370 cadets who took part in the passing out parade that marked the culmination of the initial part of the officers’ training before moving on to join operational regiments across the country.
“A lot of the women cadets were earlier working in the corporate sector,” said OTA sources. Some were engineers, some specialised in information technology while some others had Masters in Business Administration, the sources added.
But then, things were not as rosy after all as the women officers were fighting for permanent commission in the army. 
“Only Army Education Corp and Judge Advocate General (JAG) branches provide permanent commission to the women officers. Now, women want permanent commission in all the branches and they have approached the court. 
They have a strong case,” said OTA sources. On the flip side, donning the uniform and working 10 years as commissioned officers also offered them wider job opportunities outside, which was one reason why they were attracted towards the armed forces, another source pointed out.
For some of the women cadets at the OTA, like Ganeve Lalji, daughter of Colonel S S Lalji, it was a matter of keeping their family tradition alive. 
“She is the third generation army officer in our family. Even though we don’t have a son, we are proud to have her,” said Major General Lalji D Singh, her grandfather who retired from services in 1993. “I wish I would be alive to see the fourth generation don the olive green,” he said with a grin.
Lt General V K Ahluwalia, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Central Command, who reviewed the passing out parade, told reporters that now more and more youngsters were coming forward to join the forces. “Who said the youth of the country are not interested to join the armed forces? There is a huge demand but then our selection process is tough as we don’t want to compromise on quality,” he said.
“By next year we will also have the first batch of 135 cadets graduating as officers from Officers Training Academy in Gaya,” he added.
Lt General Ahluwalia also said that with the change in technology there was a need to modernise the defence forces.
The parade was commanded by academy under officer Abhinav Shukla, who earned this distinction by performing best during the course.