Navy Chief Admiral R Hari Kumar on Tuesday said they have approached the Defence Ministry for an approval of changing the nomenclature of various ranks as they now have women sailors also.
Kumar also expressed hope that since gender neutrality has been introduced in the Indian Navy, it will have a woman chief in 30-35 years.
“We follow all roles, all ranks. Hoping that 30-35 years down the line we will have a woman chief of naval staff speaking to you all,” Admiral Kumar said while speaking at the inauguration of the new administrative building of the Naval War College (NWC) in Verem, North Goa.
“Recently, we have got a consensus from all the people concerned and we have taken it with the ministry for approval for changing the rank nomenclature, like leading seamen, seamen class I, seamen class II, because now we have got women sailors also,” he said.
“Women cannot be sea-men. We are looking at naming them as nausainik class I or nausainik class II, this will be gender neutral because we have been pursuing the policies of Government of India,” he added.
Admiral Kumar said the idea of “nari shakti” (women power) is also being introduced in the force as “we have women in the ranks for the first time since last year and within a year-and-half we have 1,124 women sailors, they are going to board ships shortly.”
“We are looking at capability, confidence, competence and ability to deliver the task of the Navy,” he said. “The effort is to move all the old things that we have inherited, the colonial stuff, and bring in pride based upon our viraasat (heritage).”
