New Delhi: Over 80,000 women applied for the Senior Secondary Recruit (SSR) and Matric Recruit(MR) of the Indian Navy that closed on Wednesday. In total 9.55 lakh Agniveer applications were received for the posts.
"Indian Navy's SSR (Senior Secondary Recruit) & MR (Matric Recruit) registration process towards the #AgnipathRecruitmentScheme has been completed. 9.55 lakh Agniveer applicants including 82,000 women aspirants have registered," tweeted the official handle of Indian Navy.
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Promoting gender-neutrality in the defence, the Indian Navy on June 20, announced that they will recruit women sailors through the Agnipath scheme. This will be the first time that positions of Personnel Below Officers' Rank (PBOR) will be open to women in all three units of the defence.
“We are still formulating the exact number of women sailors to be recruited through the Agnipath scheme,” Vice Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi, Chief of Personnel said in a tri-service press conference at the Ministry of Defence in Delhi on Sunday, adding that the training of the first batch of Agniveers will begin in November this year, according to an ANI report.
“Indian Navy has 30 women officers at present sailing on different Indian Navy ships. We have decided that under the Agnipath scheme, we will recruit women also. They will be deployed on warships also,” he added.
Tripathi further said that arrangements are being made at INS Chilka in Odisha – the basic training establishment for the Indian Navy which will accommodate the women sailors.
“From November 21 this year, the first naval ‘Agniveers’ will start reaching the training establishment INS Chilka, Odisha. Both female and male Agniveers are allowed for this,” Tripathi was quoted by ANI.