New Delhi: Parliament was told February 8 that Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs) set for disinvestment are BEML Ltd, Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Limited (GRSE) and Mishra Dhatu Nigam Limited (MIDHANI).
Replying to questions, Minister of State (MoS) for Defence, Shripad Naik told Rajya Sabha that Policy of disinvestment of minority stake without transfer of management control is being followed for priority sector including defence CPSUs to unlock value, promote public ownership, to meet the minimum public shareholding norms of SEBI and for ensuring higher degree of accountability. For non-priority sector where competitive markets have come of age, the policy of strategic disinvestment is followed.
In reply to another question, he said the number of women in Indian Army was 6,807 which was 0.56 per cent, in the Indian Air Force it was 1,607 which is 1.08 per cent and in the Indian Navy it was 704 which is 6.5 per cent.
In the Indian Air Force (IAF), it excludes Medical and Dental personnel and these figures are of Women officers only as women are inducted at officer level presently.
There has been an increase in the number of women personnel in the armed forces (excluding Medical, Dental and Nursing cadres) during the year 2020 compared to the figures in 2019.
In addition to the provision of Permanent Commission to Women Officers in Judge Advocate General and Army Education Corps, the Government has recently announced grant of Permanent Commission to Women Officers in all other Arms and Services in which they are eligible for commission. Further, the Government has sanctioned 1,700 women in Military Police Corps in a phased manner.
The IAF undertakes various induction publicity measures to encourage youth including women to join IAF. Modules like direct contact programme, print and electronic media is extensively used to create awareness about IAF and educate students about various mode of entries.
Women are employed as officers in Indian Navy since 1992 wherein only three avenues were available to Women viz. Law, Education and Logistics. However, over a period of time, number of other avenues has been opened for Women induction.
