Women commandos of Jodhpur

Jodhpur (Rajasthan), Feb.8 : At least 80 women are gearing up to rub shoulders with their male counterparts in field, as they undergo intensive commando training in Jodhpur in Rajasthan.

Motivated by Tamil Nadu state that has organised country's first all-women commando force, the authorities in Jodhpur decided to coach women to become commandos.

The budding commandos are presently being trained at the Dikshant Parade Ground at Rajasthan Police Training Centre, in tactics ranging from winch-firing to horse-riding to unarmed combat operations.

For officials, it is a challenge to prepare woman commandos for the first time here.

"We have been training men commandoes for the past 15 to 16 years. But it is a challenge to prepare women commandos physically and mentally. We usually consider women as a weaker counterpart to men but here we are training them at par with the men so that they can contribute in the security apparatus," said Bharat Singh Rathore, Instructor.

These trainee women are undergoing eight weeks of rigorous training. They are confident that it would enable them to deal with any kind of situation.

"We are being given expert training in unarmed combat. It has just been 15 days now and we have learnt a lot about it. At the end of the 2 months training we will shape up very well," said Kavita, a trainee.

Apart from tackling terrorists and other anti-social elements, the women trainees would also be made adept in handling exigencies like outbreak of major fire.

When you visit Jodhpur next take care not to tease any member of the fair sex! By Sanjay Gehlot

ANI