Why an all woman anti-naxal force was the need of the hour?

One of the strongest weapons that the naxals have on them are women. Very often it is the women who enter into the villages and interact with other women for a variety of reasons including intelligence gathering. It is often said that women in the naxal camps play an important role in the battle.

In this context, it was a brilliant move to deploy 560 women commandos in anti naxal operations. The decision was taken keeping in mind the requirements in the naxal infested belts. The batch which passed out of the CrPF's Ajmer training centre is battle ready and has been trained to combat the naxals.

The importance of an all women force:

Naxals have been known to deploy women in their force. There are in fact some very powerful women cadres in the force. In addition to this the naxals rely heavily on the intelligence that is gathered from the villagers.

In most of the cases it is found that the women folk of the village are lured into sharing intelligence.

The job of the women in the villages has been to inform the naxals about the movement of the forces so that they have an advantage. With an all woman force this is one problem that could be solved to a large extent.

There will be an element of sensitivity while dealing with the women folk. Moreover the women in the villages will tend to speak freely to a woman officer rather than a male soldier.

While this is one part of the issue the other is with regard to combating the women warriors in the naxal ranks.

Women are very often used as fronts in a battle by the naxals. This has been a disadvantage for the men combating them. With the introduction of a woman force this problem can be solved to a large extent.

The latest batch of the Central Reserve Police Force women personnel has been trained for 44 weeks in jungle warfare, unarmed combat, smart-weapons firing and other drills.

The force had initiated a plan in this regard last year when two small teams of these women personnel were sent for familiarisation exercises and based in CRPF camps in the worst-affected Bastar region of Chhattisgarh and some sensitive areas of Jharkhand.