New Delhi: In a first, a woman has been
inducted as a pilot in the Indian Navy. Shubhangi Swaroop, who hails from Uttar
Pradesh, will soon be flying Maritime Reconnaissance aircraft.
Three other women cadets,
Astha Segal from New Delhi, Roopa A from Puducherry and Sakthi Maya S from
Kerala, also created history by becoming the country’s first women officers at
the Naval Armament Inspectorate (NAI) branch of the Navy
Swaroop, the daughter of a
Naval commander is the first Naval woman pilot even though the Navy’s Aviation
branch has had women officers operating as air traffic control officers and as
‘observers’ in the aircraft who are responsible for communication and weapons.
After their Naval Orientation
course, all the four in their early 20s, had passed out of the Ezhimala Naval
Academy at a glittering function here yesterday attended by Naval chief Admiral
Sunil Lanba
All the four will be
undergoing subsequent professional training in their respective chosen branches
before being employed on duty, Southern Naval spokesperson Commander Sreedhar
Warrier said. Swaroop will be trained at the Air Force Academy at Hyderabad
which trains pilots of the Army, Navy and the Air Force. Swaroop has followed the
footsteps Avani Chaturvedi, Bhawana Kanth and Mohana Singh who were
commissioned as Flying Officers in the Indian Air Force last year in July
becoming the first women fighter pilots in the country.
Three other women cadets
Rashi Raina, Shivangi Singh and Pratibha are currently undergoing the first
stage of training to be fighter pilots.
The Indian armed forces
have begun opening new roles for women that had been dominated by men for
decades.
Source: DNA-24th November2017,
http://epaper2.dnaindia.com/index.php?pagedate=2017-11-24&edcode=820009&subcode=820009&mod=1&pgnum=2
