Thread by @VishnuNDTV

1. Gen.Pachory - the induction of women in the armed forces - whether in the NDA now, combat arms in the future or in any capacity for that matter is not an exercise in social or political correctness. This is 2021, our armed forces are not a boys club. @BhatiAishwarya

https://twitter.com/Soldier_forlife/status/1435640884494667778

2. Kindly refer to previous observations of the Supreme Court: "To cast aspersions on gender is an affront to their dignity and to the country. Time has come that women officers are not adjunct to their male counterparts."

3. Supreme Court: "Physiological features of women have no link to their rights. The mindset must change."

4. It is sad that it needed exceptionally harsh observations from the Supreme Court to break through a culture of patriarchy that has been the norm for decades in finally accepting women for permanent commission at the 10+2 stage.

5. SC observations: "This is a mindset problem. You (the government) better change it... don't force us to pass orders."

6. Per the SC, the existing policy which denied women "... is based on gender discrimination. We direct the respondents to take a constructive view of the matter in view of the judgement of this court."

7. Finally - and this was hardly a gentle nudge - "Why are you continuing in this direction? Even after Justice Chandrachud's judgement expanding the horizons and extending Permanent Commission in the Army to women? This is unfounded... We are finding it absurd!"

8. It is obvious, from the view of the court that institutional sexism will not be tolerated. It appears, to me, that efforts to indefinitely deny women a role in the combat arms will fail. It is just a matter of time. Frankly, some of the arguments presented are specious.

9. Perhaps the most regressive argument has been that of the Navy - women have been denied a role in combat operations onboard warships because 'facilities such as bathrooms for women' cannot be provided. Lets consider this for a moment -

10. India has been constructing state of the art guided missile destroyers, some of the most impressive designs for decades, but our planners never thought it fit to install berths or toilets for women?

11. A modern Navy, including ours, fights on the basis of its engineering prowess. All Indian Navy officers are trained engineers. Are women engineers less capable than men?

12. A modern warship is based around the operation of state of the art sensors and engine and transmission systems through multifunction consoles. A woman officer in a combat role cannot use an MFD console on a warship to fire a missile?

13. The most progressive service in India has been the IAF - tribute to the work of Air Chief Marshal Raha who ensured that women could be inducted as fighter pilots. This made perfect sense - From Kargil onwards, women have been combat aviators ...

14. When Flt Lt Gunjan Saxena and Srividya Rajan went into Kargil in 1999 in their Cheetahs - they carried a fully loaded AK-47 (or perhaps INSAS - I forget). If they crash landed, they would fight, just like men. They were India's first women combat aviators in a war zone.

15. And yet it took so many more years for women to be inducted as fighter pilots. And the arguments provided reeked of double standards - What if women pilots bailed out over enemy lines and rape was used as an instrument of torture?

16. Did Srividya or Gunjan NOT face this threat when they were operating close to the LAC? Were they unaware of the brutality of Pak forces and what could happen if they got in trouble?

17. Finally, how the Army chooses to induct women into combat roles is a decision the Army needs to take - There are more than a dozen countries that allow women in combat role. A broad direction of where this is headed has been provided by the SC. The writing is on the wall.

18. Finally, the Supreme Court has roundly rejected the argument as stated by the government that Indian "troops are not yet mentally schooled to accept women officers in command of units" since they are "predominantly drawn from a rural background.''