Breaking barriers of inequality, IAF officer Anjali Singh becomes India’s first woman defence attache at overseas mission

Share

Tweet

Share

Share

Email

Comments

Breaking the barriers of inequality, India has got its first woman defence attaché at an Indian mission abroad, Wing Commander Anjali Singh. Wing Commander Singh has been posted at India’s embassy in Moscow and she took charge as deputy air attaché last Monday. Trained on MiG-29 aircraft, Singh has served the Indian Air Force for 17 years.

In its tweet, the Indian embassy in Russia has written, ‘Wing Commander Anjali Singh joined @IndEmbMoscow on 10th Sep as the Deputy Air Attache. She enjoys the distinction of being the first female Indian Armed Forces Officer to be posted as a military diplomat in any of the Indian missions abroad.’

Along with this, the Navy has also started the process of identifying women officers for appointments in Indian missions abroad.

The Navy has identified positions where women officers can be posted and the shortlisting is in progress.

As for the Army, the appointment of women attachés is expected to take time. This is because most of the positions are Colonel-rank and above and women officers are only now beginning to become Colonels.

The process of appointing women defence attachés was started by Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman when she was defence minister.

Attachés play a crucial role in the country’s military diplomacy. There are 95 countries where India has defence attachés, including deputies.

At some embassies, there are officers from all three services. They assist in defence cooperation, training, procurement and security among others.