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                                                                                                        Col Anoop Kumar Khare

Since last couple of years, we are witnessing a series of initiatives taken by the Government on the issue of allowing females as officers in armed forces to make up gender equality. All these initiatives undoubtedly get a media glare and are widely reported under bold headlines ; The Indian armed forces has become increasingly gender-neutral and progressive, as if inducting women is the only criteria for armed forces to become progressive.

 Many years back Brig Grant of Indian army had written ; Army is not a welfare organization, the policy makers before inducting women into armed forces must give it a thought whether it is helping the organization becoming better.

Now that the Govt and the SC have opened up even NDA for women officers, it would be prudent to examine ; will it be worth spending colossal amount of money on each woman cadet and How will they be performing in combat roles as they have never done so before.

There is surely no doubt that Indian women are no less than their counterparts in west but then we need to examine the case as we have no such previous data available with us about their performance on combat roles.

One. Women have taken part in Israel’s military since its founding, in 1948. However, even till 2014, as per the Israeli def forces ( IDF) report less than 4 percent of women are in combat positions such as infantry, tank crews, artillery guns service, fighter pilots, etc and approx 535 female Israeli soldiers have been killed in combat operations between the period 1962-2016 (this figure does not include the dozens of female soldiers killed in Israeli service prior to 1962).But their geostrategic compulsions and population in comparison required is absolutely different.

Two.  Initially till Yom Kippur war they were allowed to serve only in the “feminine” roles as office workers, nurses, and teachers, however Post YomKippur war of 1973 New roles were opened to them, but mostly with an aim to free the men for combat.

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Modi and Johnson at the recently held COP26 Climate summit released the One Sun declaration, which stated, “Realising the vision of One Sun One World One Grid (OSOWOG) through interconnected green grids can be transformational, enabling all of us to meet the targets of the Paris Agreement to prevent dangerous climate change…these efforts can stimulate green investments and create millions of good jobs”.

PM Modi while delivering his remarks at COP26 said ;

“One Sun, One World & One Grid will not only reduce storage needs but also enhance the viability of solar projects. This creative initiative will not only reduce carbon footprints and energy cost but also open a new avenue for cooperation between different countries and regions,”

Through a worldwide grid, clean energy can be transmitted to anywhere & anytime. PM Mr Modi said ; “I am hopeful that a common and strong global grid can be developed through cooperation between ‘One Sun, One World & One Grid’ and ‘Green Grid’ initiatives and Indian space agency ISRO is going to provide a solar calculator application to the world.”

The only challenge with the OSOWOG initiative is that this energy is only available during the daytime and is dependent on the weather, However, ‘One Sun, One World & One Grid’ can be the solution to this problem and to a large extent it can also be resolved by the app developed by ISRO which would calculate the solar energy potential of a place and will also help in planning for development of solar energy projects, as claimed by ISRO.

According to ISA ; The GGI-OSOWOG will bring together a global coalition of governments, international financial and technical organisations, legislators, power system operators and knowledge leaders to accelerate the construction of the new infrastructure needed for a world powered by clean energy,

According to the OSOWOG declaration, the main areas of work of the initiative will be: investing in solar, wind, storage and other renewable energy generation in locations endowed with renewable resources for supporting a global grid; building long-distance cross-border transmission lines to connect renewable energy generators; developing and deploying cutting edge techniques and technologies to modernise power systems; supporting the global transition to zero emission vehicles through incorporating the role of electric vehicles to help improve grid flexibility; attracting investment into solar mini-grids and off-grid systems to help vulnerable communities gain access to clean, affordable, and reliable energy; developing innovative financial instruments, market structures for solar grid infrastructure.

Technology Has always Played an instrumental role in bringing mankind closer.

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