Empowered Women Wall “सशक्त नारी, सशक्त देश”
A national tribute celebrating 21 women officers of the Indian Armed Forces
— representing the spirit of courage, discipline, and empowerment.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Lt. Col. Mitali Madhumita
Mitali became the first woman officer in the Indian Army to receive theprestigious 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.
Maj. Priya Jhingan
Priya made history when she became the first cadet to join the Indian Army in 1992.
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.
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.
Capt. Ganeve Lalji
She is the first woman intelligence officer and ADC to an Army Commander.
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.
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.
Sqn. Ldr. Nivedita Choudhary
She became the first woman officer in the Indian Air Force to summit Mount Everest.
Flg. Offr. Avani Chaturvedi
First Indian woman officer to fly a supersonic jet fighter all alone.
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.