- Priya Jingan became the first female cadet to join the Indian Army
- Padmavati Bandopadhyay was the first woman Air Marshal of the Indian Air Force
- Flight Lieutenant Nivedita Chaudhary was the first Indian Air Force woman to climb Everest
Today let’s learn about 13 brave women of India who have overcome all obstacles, broken all barriers and become pride, honor and inspiration for crores of women to join armed forces. Over the years India has taken several important steps to break the gender barrier in the armed forces, enabling women to be deployed in combat situations on land and on-board submarines. In February 2016, then President Pranab Mukherjee announced, “Women will be allowed to take up combat roles in all branches of the Indian Armed Forces, one of the most male-dominated professions in the world.”
With the decision to induct women into combat roles in both the Navy and the Army, the IAF is soon training women pilots to fly fighter jets, giving women another chance to showcase their skills. However, even before this, women from different backgrounds and regions in India have overcome many barriers to join the armed forces.
1. Punita Arora
Born to a Punjabi family in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh during Partition, Punita Arora is the first Indian woman to hold the second highest rank, Lieutenant General of the Indian Armed Forces, as well as Vice Admiral of the Indian Navy. Before this, she was the first woman commandant of the Armed Forces Medical College in 2004. He also coordinated medical research for the armed forces as Additional Director-General of the Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS). Later, she moved from the Army to the Navy, as AFMS has a common pool, which allows officers to be transferred from one service to another based on need.
2. Padmavati Bandopadhyay
Padmavati Bandopadhyay was the first woman Air Marshal of the Indian Air Force. She joined the IAF in 1968 and completed her Defense Service Staff College course in the year 1978, becoming the first woman officer to do so. Not only this, she was also the first woman officer to become an aviation medicine specialist. Additionally, she was the first woman to conduct scientific research at the North Pole. He was awarded the ‘Distinguished Service Medal’ along with promotion to the rank of Air Vice Marshal for his meritorious service during the Indo-Pakistani conflict of 1971.
3. Mithali Madhumita
In February 2011 Lt Col Mithali Madhumita became India’s first female officer to receive the Army Medal for Gallantry. The honor is given to soldiers for exemplary courage during operations in J&K and North-East.
Madhumita, who heads the army’s English language training team in Kabul, was the first officer to reach the Indian embassy in Kabul in February 2010 when suicide bombers attacked. Though unarmed, he ran for about 2 km to reach the spot. There he personally rescued around 19 officers of the Army Training Team buried under the debris and rushed them to the hospital.
4. Priya Jhingan
On September 21, 1992, Priya Xingan registered as 001. She became the first woman cadet to join the Indian Army. Xingan, a law graduate, always dreamed of joining the army. In 1992, she wrote a letter to the Army Chief regarding the recruitment of women. A year later, the Army Chief did the same, after which Jhingan and 24 other women began their journey into the Indian Army. “It’s a dream I’ve lived every day for the last 10 years,” she said when she retired.
5. Divya Ajith Kumar
At the age of 21, Divya Ajit Kumar defeated 244 fellow cadets (both male and female) to win the award for best all-round cadet and received the coveted “Sword of Honour”. This is the highest award given to a cadet of the Officers Training Academy. One has to win the merit list to get the “Sword of Honour”. In which P.T. Tests include high pt trials, swimming tests, field training, service subjects, obstacle training, drill tests, cross-country enclosures. The first woman in the history of the Indian Army to win this honour, Captain Divya Ajit Kumar led a women contingent of 154 women officers and cadets during the Republic Day Parade in 2015.
6. Nivedita Chaudhary
Flight Lieutenant Nivedita Chaudhary became the first woman in the Indian Air Force (IAF) to scale Everest and the first woman from Rajasthan to achieve the feat. He joined the squadron in Agra sometime back in October 2009. She made a broadcast to volunteer for a women’s expedition to Everest. The other women in her team, Squadron Leader Nirupama Pandey and Flight Lieutenant Rajika Sharma, also completed the summit five days later.
7. Anjana Bhadauria
Anjana Bhadauria is the first woman to win a gold medal in the Indian Army. He always wanted to become an officer in the Indian Army. After completing her MSc in Microbiology, Anjana applied for the Women’s Special Entry Scheme (WSES) advertisement to induct women officers into the Army and was selected in the first batch of women cadets in the Indian Army in 1992. During training, by excelling in every field, he was selected for the gold medal from a batch comprising both men and women. He served in the Indian Army for 10 years.
8. Priya Samwal
Priya Semwal made history as the first army man’s wife to join the armed forces as an officer. Priya lost her husband in the counter-insurgency campaign. Following this, as a young officer in 2014, he was inducted into the Army’s Corps of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering (EME). When 26-year-old Priya Semwal, mother of 4-year-old Khawaish Sharma, learned of the death of her husband Amit Sharma, who was serving in the 14 Rajput Regiment, her future looked bleak. In 2012, Amit Sharma was martyred in an anti-terror operation near Pahari Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh. Priya then decides to join the army to cling to her love for her husband and her motherland.
9. Deepika Egypt
In 2006 Deepika became the first IAF woman pilot to train for Sarang, the Egypt helicopter aerobatic team. During the passing out parade at the Air Force Academy in December 2006, Deepika (then a flight cadet) fell in love with her service. which is the fixed-wing and rotary-wing aerobatic display team of Indian Air. When the IAF sought volunteer women pilots for the Sarang team in 2010, she immediately jumped at the chance and became the first woman to join the indigenous Advanced Light Helicopter Squad.
10. Sophia Qureshi
Lt Col Sophia Qureshi of the Corps of Signals created history in 2016 by becoming the first woman officer to lead a training contingent of the Indian Army in Force 18, an ASEAN multinational field training exercise. Sophia was the only female officer contingent commander among all the ASEAN Plus contingents present for the exercise.