Women Achievers – International women’s day

1.    Lt. Gen. Punita Arora:

General Arora is the first Indian woman to hold the rank of Lieutenant General in the India Armed Forces and first female Vice Admiral in the Indian Navy.In her 37 years of her service, she has received 15 medals for her exceptional leadership and service to the nation.

2.    Air Mrshl. Padmavathy Bandopadhyay: 

First woman officer to come out of the Defence Service Staff College. She is the first woman Air Marshal of the Indian Air Force. She is the first woman to become a Fellow of the Aerospace Medical Society. She is the first Indian woman to conduct an experiment on extreme cold acclimatization in the North Pole. She is also the recipient of the Vishisht Seva Medal for her exceptional service during the 1971 Indo-Pak conflict.

3.    Flg. Offr. Harita Kaur Deol:

She was just 22-years-old when she became the first woman in the Indian Air Force to fly without a co-pilot. She soared at a height of 10,000 Ft. and created history.

4.    Capt. Divya Ajith Kumar: 

At 21, Divya created history by becoming the first woman in the Indian Army to receive the coveted ‘Sword of Honour’. She beat 244 fellow cadets (men and women) on several tests: academic and physical to achieve this. At 25, she led the all-women contingent of 154 officers during the 2015 Republic Day parade with the then-US President, Barrack Obama as chief guest.

5.    Lt. Col. Mitali Madhumita: 

Mitali became the first woman officer in the Indian Army to receive the prestigious Sena Medal. The gallantry honour is usually bestowed to officers who die serving the army and show exceptional courage in a crisis.Mitali risked her life when she saved several injured civilians and army personnel in the 2010 Kabul Embassy attack.

6.    Maj. Priya Jhingan: 

Priya made history when she became the first cadet to join the Indian Army in 1992.

7.    Flg. Offr.Gunjan Saxena and Flt. Lt. Srividya Rajan: 

They became the first women pilots to fly into combat zone during the Kargil war. They flew their Cheetah helicopters very close to enemy lines and safely removed wounded soldiers from the war zone. 

8.    Lt. Col. Sophia Qureshi: 

She became the first woman officer to lead a 40-member army contingent at the international military exercise. But that’s not all; she was the only woman commander across all participating countries which included USA, Japan, South Korea, Russia and China. 

9.    Capt. Ganeve Lalji: 

She is the first woman intelligence officer and ADC to an Army Commander.

10.    Sqn. Ldr. Deepika Misra: 

She became the first IAF woman pilot to train for the helicopter aerobatic team, Sarang–one of the only four helicopter military display team in the world.

11.    Shanti Tigga: 

She was 35 and had two kids when she became the first jawaan in the Indian Army. She beat all her male co-cadets in physical fitness tests when she finished a 1.5 km run 5 seconds sooner than her fellow cadets.

12.    Sqn. Ldr. Nivedita Choudhary: 

She became the first woman officer in the Indian Air Force to summit Mount Everest.

13.    Sqn. Ldr. Nivedita Choudhary: 

She became the first woman officer in the Indian Air Force to summit Mount Everest.

14.    Usha Kiran Cobra Commando:

She is the youngest female CRPF officer to be a part of Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (COBRA) and is currently serving the naxal region of Bastar in Chhattisgarh. Earlier this year, she went on to become the first woman CRPF officer to be part of COBRA, a specialised unit of the CRPF that is proficient in guerrilla tactics and jungle warfare.She serves the difficult terrain of the forested areas during her off duty hours by helping school-going girls with their studies in her camp. At the Vogue Women Of The Year 2018, she was awarded with the ‘Young Achiever Of The Year’ award for her exemplary work.

15.    INSV Tarini Team: 

Six brave women from the Indian navy became the first all-women Indian crew to successfully circumnavigate the globe.  Lt. Cdr. Vartika Joshi led the expedition ‘Navika Sagar Parikrama’. Other members of the crew included Lt. Commanders Pratibha Jamwal and Swati P, and Lieutenants Aishwarya Boddapati, S Vijaya Devi and Payal Gupta.

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