Will undergo 3-month training; all-women brass band also formed
The CRPF women warriors broke the proverbial glass ceiling on Saturday as the first batch of 34 women personnel entered the elite CoBRA Battalion, an exclusive anti-Naxal force under the Central paramilitary force. The CRPF also formed an all-women brass band on Saturday.
These women will undergo three months of strenuous pre-induction training before joining operations on the ground for the Combat Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA).
“The Central Reserve Police Force has yet again taken another step toward women’s empowerment by allowing entry of its Mahila personnel in the elite CoBRA wing during the 35th Raising Day celebrations of 88th Mahila Battalion. Notably, 88th Mahila Battalion of CRPF has the distinction of being the first all Mahila battalion in the world. In another first, an all Mahila brass band was also formed on this occasion of momentous significance,” the CRPF said in a statement.
The 34 women personnel from the 6 Mahila Battalions of CRPF who joined the CoBRA will undergo a strenuous CoBRA pre-induction training of three months, it said.
The training will reinforce their physical capabilities and tactical acumen by imparting next-level training in firing and special weapons, tactical planning, fieldcraft, explosives, and jungle survival skills among others, the CRPF said.
After the completion of their training, the batch of these ‘Mahila Warriors’ will be posted in the Naxal areas alongside their male counterparts.
Mahila personnel of CRPF forming the first all-women brass band will also undergo a training course to acquire the requisite skills on the music instruments. The CRPF already has an all-women pipe band.
Director-General of CRPF, Dr AP Maheshwari, in his address, said that the Force has a history of empowered women warriors who have not just brought laurels to the Force but have also made the country proud by conspicuous gallantry both at home in India and abroad in several UN peacekeeping missions.
Maheshwari said that while this gender neutrality adds to the diversity of the force, empowered women make an empowered family which eventually empowers the nation.
Raised on February 6, 1986, 88 Mahila Battalion has completed 34 glorious and eventful years in the service of the nation. The battalion has served across the length and breadth of the country and abroad in the UN peacekeeping missions. Seven bravehearts of the Battalion have made supreme sacrifice at the altar of duty. The women warriors of this battalion are proud recipients of several gallantry medals including the highest peacetime gallantry award-the Ashok Chakra, it added.
