BSF gets first woman combat officer after 51 years

GWALIOR: Tanushree Pareek today became the first woman combat officer to be commissioned in the 51-year history of the BSF, the country's largest border guarding force. Pareek (25) also led the passing out parade of 67 trainee officers that was reviewed by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh at the Border Security Force camp at Tekanpur near here. Pareek, a resident of Rajasthan's Bikaner, is the first woman to join the force in the officer rank after she was selected in the all-India exam conducted by the UPSC in 2014. The Home Minister himself put the rank stars on the shoulders of Pareek during the piping ceremony. The force had begun induction of woman officers in 2013. She will now be posted to command a unit along the India-Pakistan border in Punjab. While praising the first woman "field officer" of the 2.5-lakh-strong force, Singh said the Centre has chalked out a new roadmap to strengthen border security and it plans to seal Indian borders with Bangladesh and Pakistan. He added the BSF has built 73 border outposts, out of 76 such border structures constructed in recent times.