The Hindu : Front Page : BSF throws open its door to women

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Sunday, Jul 26, 2009
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BSF throws open its door to women

Staff Reporter

— PHOTO: AFP

“WE’ve done it”: The first women cadets of the Border Security Force celebrate their graduation in Hoshiarpur, Punjab, on Saturday.

CHANDIGARH: The Kharkan camp of the Border Security Force (BSF), 150 km from here, witnessed history being created as the first batch of 178 women recruits were inducted into the BSF for guarding international borders, on Saturday.

Home Minister P. Chidambaram, who attended the passing out parade, said: “It is a great privilege to be here. There are many constables in the country but no one can take away from you the special pride, as you are the first batch of women constables in the BSF. You all have an important role to play.”

BSF Director-General M.L. Kumawat termed the passing out of the women recruits a ‘historic day.’

“It is a matter of pride that the BSF has thrown open its doors for women. It is a historic day for us.”

The battalion is part of the 29 sanctioned by the Ministry of Home Affairs for the BSF as part of its expansion plan and nearly 8,500 applications were received for these 700 posts.

Around 35,000 personnel will be inducted by the paramilitary force in the next four years.

They might not be taking on combat positions straightaway but women guards of the BSF will soon be deployed in Punjab villages along the fenced border between India and Pakistan.

The women, along with their male counterparts, will carry out search and frisking at check posts, immigration points and trade routes along the borders which the force guards.

“The women component is essentially needed for the force as our duty of guarding borders involves frisking women travellers besides other relevant duties,” Mr. Kumawat said.

He added that the deployment of the battalion would be of great help in checking narcotics-related crimes since women were increasingly being used as couriers in trans-border narcotics smuggling.

Residents of border villages, who have their agricultural land across the India-Pakistan border were the happiest as farmers were allowed to go beyond the fence only for a few hours every day (from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.) to cultivate their land after strict checking.

“This will make life easier for us. Going to our own fields across the fence through border gates was a major harassment, especially for women-folk,” one farmer living near Kahangarh said.

Since going across the fence to their own fields involved frisking and other restrictions, many rural women from border areas had stopped going since the fence came up in early 1990s. So far the BSF had been taking the help of village headmen to send women near the fence gates to frisk other women going beyond the fence.

The 178 women, most of them from small towns and villages, have already trained for 36 weeks and will now get specialised tips on advanced combat for two weeks before taking up assignments along the border.

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