International Women’s Day 2024.
What could be more thrilling than flying in a fighter jet while protecting the skies of the motherland? Well, this Women’s Day, we bring you the stories and valour of some of the bravest women in the modern era who never settled for anything less than free skies. India was one of the earliest countries in the world to induct women into the Air Force. While women in several other countries were fighting for equal voting rights, women in India were training shoulder to shoulder with men in the Indian Armed forces. You must have heard about Gunjan Saxena and Sreevidya Rajan who proved their mettle on the battlefield in the Kargil war of 1999. So today, we are going to talk about a few such women whose stories have not gotten much recognition from today’s generation despite being so motivatio
nal.
#InternationalWomensDay #IWD2024 #WomenInIndianAirForce #IndianAirForce #AirForceDay #WomenInMilitary #EmpoweringWomen #GenderEquality #WomenEmpowerment #IWD #IndianArmedForces #WomenInService #AirWarriors #CelebrateWomen #WomenPower #WomenLeaders #MilitaryWomen #WomenInUniform #ProudAirForceWomen #StrengthInDiversity
~HT.178~GR.121~PR.152~ED.101~
What could be more thrilling than flying in a fighter jet while protecting the skies of the motherland? Well, this Women’s Day, we bring you the stories and valour of some of the bravest women in the modern era who never settled for anything less than free skies. India was one of the earliest countries in the world to induct women into the Air Force. While women in several other countries were fighting for equal voting rights, women in India were training shoulder to shoulder with men in the Indian Armed forces. You must have heard about Gunjan Saxena and Sreevidya Rajan who proved their mettle on the battlefield in the Kargil war of 1999. So today, we are going to talk about a few such women whose stories have not gotten much recognition from today’s generation despite being so motivatio
nal.
#InternationalWomensDay #IWD2024 #WomenInIndianAirForce #IndianAirForce #AirForceDay #WomenInMilitary #EmpoweringWomen #GenderEquality #WomenEmpowerment #IWD #IndianArmedForces #WomenInService #AirWarriors #CelebrateWomen #WomenPower #WomenLeaders #MilitaryWomen #WomenInUniform #ProudAirForceWomen #StrengthInDiversity
~HT.178~GR.121~PR.152~ED.101~
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 What could be more thrilling than flying a fighter jet or a combat chopper while protecting
00:18 the skies of the motherland?
00:19 Well, this Women's Day, we bring you the stories and valor of some of the bravest women
00:24 in modern era who never settled for anything less than the free skies.
00:28 India was one of the earliest countries in the world to inject women into the air force.
00:32 While women in several other countries were fighting for equal voting rights, women in
00:36 India were training shoulder to shoulder with men in the Indian armed forces.
00:41 You must have heard about Gunjan Saxena and Sri Vidya Rajan who proved their mettle in
00:45 the battlefield in the Kargil war of 1999.
00:48 They were among the first female pilots to be engaged in a combat duty in India.
00:52 But before these brave women, there were several others who had fought their way into the air
00:57 force and had established norms that would be unmatched not only by the Indians but by
01:02 the whole world.
01:03 So, today we are going to talk about few such women whose stories have not got much recognition
01:08 from today's generation despite being so motivational.
01:12 Vidya Lakshmi Ramanan The first woman officer in the Indian air force
01:17 was Vidya Lakshmi Ramanan.
01:18 Born on 27th February of 1924 in present-day Chennai, she joined the army medical corps
01:24 in 1955 as a surgeon.
01:26 Later on, she was seconded to the air force as a gynecologist and then in 1971, she became
01:32 the first woman to be promoted to the rank of an officer.
01:35 With the Indian air force not having uniforms for women officers at the time of her commissioning,
01:40 she custom tailored a sari and a blouse with the air force colours that then became the
01:44 standard dress code for women officers.
01:47 After serving for 24 years in the armed forces, she retired as a wing commander in 1979.
01:53 On 26th January 1977, she was awarded the Vashisht Seva Medal for distinguished service
01:58 of a high order by the then Indian President Neelam Sanjeev Reddy for her treatment of
02:03 women and children affiliated with the Indian armed forces.
02:06 Not only Vidya Lakshmi, several other brave women played crucial roles in various counter-insurgency
02:11 operations as well as in the wars against our neighbour Pakistan.
02:14 In August 1966, flight lieutenant Kanta Handa, a medical officer, became the first female
02:20 IAF officer to receive a commendation for her service during the 1965 Indo-Pakistan
02:25 War.
02:26 Padmavati Bandopadhyay As the years passed, the role of women in
02:30 the Indian air force increased and gradually they even got promoted to the higher ranks.
02:35 One such woman was Padmavati Bandopadhyay, the first woman Air Marshal of the Indian
02:39 Air Force.
02:40 She joined air force in 1968 and completed her Defence Service Staff College course in
02:44 the year 1978, becoming the first woman officer to do so.
02:48 Not only that, she was also the first woman officer to become an aviation medicine specialist,
02:54 the first woman to conduct scientific research at the North Pole and last but not the least,
02:58 she was awarded the Vishisht Seva Medal for her meritorious service during the 1971 Indo-Pakistan
03:03 War.
03:04 Flight Lieutenant Nivedita Chaudhary Flight Lieutenant Nivedita Chaudhary became
03:08 the first woman from the Indian Air Force to reach the summit of Mount Everest and the
03:12 first woman from Rajasthan to achieve this feat.
03:15 It was in October 2009 that Chaudhary, an Air Force officer who had just joined the
03:19 squadron in Agra, casually volunteered for the Air Force's program for women's expedition
03:24 to the Everest.
03:25 She in an interview told that she never knew that three years down the line she would do
03:29 what no woman in the Air Force had ever done.
03:32 The other women on her team, Squadron Leader Nirupma Pandey and Flight Lieutenant Rajika
03:37 Sharma also climbed the peak five days later.
03:40 Deepika Mishra In 2006, Deepika Mishra became the first
03:45 Air Force woman pilot to train for the helicopter aerobatic team, SARANG.
03:49 It was during a passing out parade at Air Force Academy in December 2006 that Deepika
03:54 Mishra, then a flight cadet, first fell in love with the aerobatic displays of the Suraj
03:58 Idams and SARANGs, Air Force's fixed-wing and rotary-wing aerobatic display teams.
04:03 When the Air Force sought women pilots to volunteer for the SARANG team in 2010, she
04:08 grabbed the chance and was among the first to be inducted into the indigenous Advanced
04:12 Light Helicopter Squad.
04:13 On 15 August 2022, she was confirmed with the Vayu Sena medal, becoming perhaps the
04:19 first woman to bag this prestigious award.
04:22 The stories of women who showed exemplary efforts in the Indian Air Force cannot be
04:26 included in a single video.
04:27 And while we spend a normal day at home, more new stories are being created.
04:32 However, these are not just any stories, but the real-life experiences of some of the bravest
04:36 women that any armed forces in the world have ever seen.
04:40 And now, the Air Force has opened its door for women, even for its elite special force
04:44 unit, the Garud.
04:45 Although they will be parachuting down with men, but in fact, they will be climbing new
04:50 heights with each parachute.
04:51 We hope you would like this new video.
04:52 Thank you so much for watching.
04:52 We hope you would like this new video.
04:53 Thank you so much for watching.