PUNE – The Indian Army Chief had refused a combat role for the women inIndian Army.

Indian Army is not yet ready to have women in combat roles, Army ChiefGeneral Bipin Rawat said Friday. The Army chief said there are severalother fields where the Army was thinking of inducting women.

“We are not yet ready for that (women in combat roles) as facilities haveto be created within… Women also need to be prepared for that kind ofhardships,” he said.

“It is not easy. Let us not compare ourselves with Western nations, whichare more open,” Gen Rawat told reporters on the sidelines of the PassingOut Parade of the 135th course at the National Defence Academy (NDA) inPune. There were plans to have women as interpreters, the Army chief said.

“Yes, we may be more open in our big cities, but our Army personnel are notcoming from big cities only. They are coming from rural areas too, wherethe intermingling, which is expected, is still not there,” he said.