Nagaland : Assam Rifles Women contingent to march for the 1st time at Republic Day Parade!

Kohima : The Assam Rifles is all set to create history by marching in its first ever Mahila (Women) Contingent in Nagaland State Republic Day Parade. “This epic leap taken by the Sentinels of the North East will be registered in golden words for times, down the line for the display of Women power in National Security,” AR PRO (Defence) Col C Konwer said in a press release.

The 181-year-old Assam Rifles, India’s oldest paramilitary force ceased to be a  a male bastion last year. The Assam Rifles under dual

control of the home and defence ministries, broke tradition last March to admit 127 women for training at its school in Dimapur town. They were selected through recruitment rallies conducted across the country.

“The newly-inducted women soldiers will be posted to various battalions of the force and be used for frisking and interrogation of
women when needed, dispersing female mobs, controlling crowd and tackling agitations involving women,” Lt Gen HJS Sachdev, AR director general, said.

They will also be employed for relief and rescue operations and play a crucial role in avoiding human rights violation and projecting a cleanimage of the force, he added.

IN 1835, the AR was constituted to protect British tea planters’ estates from tribal raiders and was called Cachar Levy. It was later
called Assam Frontier Police in 1883, which changed to Assam Military Police in 1891, Eastern Bengal and Assam Military Force in 1913 and finally Assam Rifles in 1917.

The contingent comprises 38 women troopers from various Assam Rifles’ units led by a JCO Parade Cdr from 3 Naga Hills Bn, Assam Rifles, the oldest Bn of Assam Rifles. The splendid Assam Rifles, Mahila Contingent will march on the pipeband tunes of 3 Naga Hills Bn on January 26. “The contingent is religiously undergoing marching practice at Kohima garrison and all charged up to put up an unparallel display of the grit and fortitude of the Indian Women in forces,” Konwer stated.