Kolkata: A top official said that the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) would induct women personnel in its new battalions within one year. In 2018, the Union government had made a proposal to attach women contingents to NDRF battalions in the country. 

Director general of NDRF SN Pradhan said, "Initially we didn't have the barracks and other amenities for women personnel, but now we have the ability to accommodate them and are calling for women operators." Pradhan was recently in West Bengal to inaugurate the 2nd Battalion of the NDRF HQ campus at Haringhata, West Bengal.

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He also added that the NDRF would have four new battalions in addition to 12. They will be in Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and the National Capital Region.  Reports also suggest the new battalions will each have 1,150 personnel and will be drawn from the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Assam Rifles and the Border Security Force. 

Meanwhile, Wing Commander Anjali Singh became India's first female military diplomat to be posted in any of the India missions abroad. The mission said in a tweet, Singh has joined the Indian Embassy in Russia as the Deputy Air Attache. 

Singh hails from Bihar and is married. She also has an eight-year-old son. Before moving to Moscow, she was posted in Jodhpur.