It didn’t take much time for Nirmala Sitharaman to notice that soldiers seemed confused over how to address India’s first full-time woman defence minister. During her visits to the country’s frontiers over the last two months, Sitharaman has been variously greeted with Jai Hind, memsaab; Jai Hind, sir; and Jai Hind, madam salutations. An army officer’s wife is called memsaab by troops and sir can be a generic term that covers women officers too. As prime minister, Indira Gandhi twice doubled up as the defence minister, in 1975 and in 1980-82. “ It’s a nice gesture on the Raksha Mantri’s part to help resolve the dilemma of our troops,” a senior army officer said.

Source: Hindustan Times November 17, 2017 01:41 UTC