Mysuru: If you are a tattoo lover and also an aspirant to join the Indian Air Force, then your dreams are far from taking wings!
Among the 2813 candidates who took part in the Indian Air Force recruitment rally held here on Dec 6 and 7 for the post of Airmen in Group Y trade, nearly 60 candidates were rejected due to permanent tattoos, which were found on non permitted places.
According to recruitment rules of Indian Air Force, only a permanent body tattoo on the inner face of the fore arms, the back (dorsal) part of the hand or reverse side of palm are permitted. Candidates belonging to tribal communities/from tribal areas, as declared by the Government of India Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Orders Act/Lists (amended and modified from time to time), are permitted to have permanent body tattoos on any part of the body, as per existing customs and traditions of the said tribe to which a candidate belongs. Such candidates will only be permitted to continue with the selection process on the condition that they submit necessary certificates from a tribal area, prior to the commencement of Stage I of the selection process, according to Wg Cdr Mayank Kanungo, Commanding Officer, 7Airmen Selection Centre, Bengaluru.
Though no restriction on the size or type of tattoo has been specified, tattoos are only permitted on specified body parts. Only small innocuous tattoos, that are not prejudicial to good order and military discipline like religious symbols or names of near and dear ones are permitted. Tattoos that are indecent, sexist or racist are not permitted. Indecent tattoos are those that are grossly offensive to modesty, decency or propriety. Sexist tattoos are those that advocate a philosophy that demeans a person based on gender while racist tattoos advocate a philosophy that degrades or demeans a person based on race, ethnicity or region and religion.
Meanwhile, not even 20 percent of total participants managed to qualify the physical fitness test at the two-day Indian Air Force recruitment rally for the post of Airmen in Group Y trade.
Kunungo attributes this to lack of practice and pointed out that only 543 out of 2369 participants could pass the physical fitness test, while among 485 candidates who were qualified for the written test just 113 managed to clear the test.
Mayank Kanungo said that awareness was created about the recruitment rally and hence the response was great.
“Most of them failed to complete 1.6 km in 5.4minutes. Usually, from South Karnataka, we used to get 600 to 700 participants but this time we received nearly 1300 candidates which is a good sign. But the thing is, due to lack of proper practice they were not able to complete 1.6 km in stipulated 5.4 minutes” Wg Cdr Mayank Kanungo added.
