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Defence:
Women are currently eligible for a permanent commission only in the medical, nursing and dental services of the Indian armed forces. They are also eligible for short service commissions in these services, as also in the supporting but non-combatant arms of the armed forces. Currently, 5,137 women officers serve in the armed forces. They include 4,101 in the army, 784 in the air force, and 252 in the navy.
Punita Arora:
Lt General (Mrs) Punita Arora of the Army's Medical Corps was the first woman Lt General of Indian Army. Lt Gen Punita Arora graduated from Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC), Pune and joined Army Medical Corps in 1968.
She did her Post-graduation in Gynae and Obst from AFMC and was awarded Gold Medal for standing first in Pune University. She was awarded Sena Medal by President of India for establishing Gynae Endoscopy and Oncology facilities in Armed Forces Hospitals. She was awarded Vishisht Seva Medal for the treatment provided to victims of a terrorist attack on army camp at Kaluchak in Kashmir in May 2002.
Arora is presently Additional Director General, Armed Forces Medical Services and is a recipient of 15 medals in her long chequered career in battle fatigues.
Padmavathy Bandhopadhyay:
Padmavathy Bandopadhyay was the first woman Air Marshal of Indian Air Force. She was the Director General Medical Services (Air) at the Air Headquarters. Padmavathy Bandopadhyay joined the IAF in 1968. She had the distinction of being the first woman officer to become an aviation medicine specialist.
Born in Tirupati (AP) and brought up in Delhi, the singular dream of becoming a pilot drove Bandopadhyay to join the IAF in 1968. She became the first woman to finish the Defence Service Staff College course in the late 1970s, became the first woman Fellow of the Aerospace Medical Society of India, and interestingly, was the first Indian woman to conduct research at the North Pole with an Indo-Russian group. In addition, she was the first woman to command the IAF’s Central Medical Establishment (CME). In 1975, she specialised in aviation medicine, a nascent science in India In 2002, Padma Bandopadhyay became the first woman officer of the Indian Air Force to be promoted to the rank of Air vice Marshal.
Mrs. Urmila K. Parekh
Mrs. Urmila K. Parekh was the first Indian woman to obtain pilot's licence is 1930.
Her photograph was published in the magazine "Indian Aviation" in July 1931 as the first Hindu woman to receive the air pilot's licence.
Prem Mathur
Prem Mathur Prem Mathur (born on 25-08-1924) obtained commercial pilots license in 1947 and started flying in 1948 at Allahabad joining Deccan Airways. She co-piloted a scheduled flight on 24-10-1951.
Capt.Durba Banerjee
Capt.Durba Banerjee, Durba Banerjee, the first woman pilot in Indian aviation history, started her career flying a Dakota as an Air Survey pilot in 1959. She joined Indian Air Lines in 1966. It is heard that when she approached then Central Aviation Minister Mr. Humayun Kabir to apply as a commercial pilot he was reluctant and instead offered her the post of a flight attendant.
Coincidentally, after many years Humayun Kabir while disembarking from a certain flight came to know that the captain of the journey was the same lady once he snubbed off. She became a full fledged commercial pilot when she took a flight of the wide-bodied Boeing in 1987. The iron lady touched the sky with maximum flying hours of 185000hrs to her credit.
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