New Delhi: Army chief General Bipin Rawat said on the issue of inducting women in Army, especially in combat arms. that. “With equal opportunity comes equal responsibility,” he said when out on tanks, the men sleep under the tank during the night with no separate facility.
Highlighting the dangers and hardships faced by men on the frontline he said, a tank crew of three while serving in the deserts sleep under the tank at night, cook their food in the open and then move the next morning. Similarly, patrols, sometimes of 30 to 35 durations in places in Arunachal Pradesh, sleep on tarpaulin ground sheets and performing morning ablutions in rough terrain.
Rawat said. “You have to see society as a whole. I have said that if we induct women into a combat role, they will have to share equal responsibility like their male counterparts because equal opportunity must come with equal responsibility. Which means that they will have to perform exactly the same task.”
During patrols and combat “there is no toilet. Everybody gets his bottle, he goes out, God knows where, and he returns after some time. If women are willing to move out in that environment, the women folk themselves need to take a call. Once the women are willing to take this kind of call, we will address this issue,” he said.