Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said the government’s decision on women fighter pilots in the Air Force is a testimony to the capability of India’s ‘Nari Shakti’
It’s taken six years and 16 women pilots to change the course of history.
On Tuesday, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh announced that the defence ministry has decided to convert the experimental scheme for induction of women fighter pilots in the Indian Air Force into a permanent one.
Making the announcement, the defence minister said the decision is a testimony to the capability of India’s ‘Nari Shakti’ (women power) and the commitment of Prime Minister Narendra Modi towards women empowerment.
As we celebrate this step towards equality in the Armed Forces, here’s a timeline of events and all you need to know about the issue.
Induction of women as fighter pilots
Combat roles in the Armed Forces that were only a male domain opened up for women with their inclusion as fighter pilots in the Indian Air Force in 2015.
In June 2016, Flying Officers Avani Chaturvedi, Bhawana Kanth and Mohana Singh broke the glass ceiling when they became the first of female pilots to be inducted in an IAF fighter squadron.
For those who can’t remember, Bhawana Kanth belonging to Begusarai in Bihar, Avani Chaturvedi from Rewa, Madhya Pradesh and Mohana Singh from Vadodara, Gujarat underwent rigorous training to achieve this milestone.
Kanth flew her first solo in 2018 on MiG-21 Bison and has been posted in Rajasthan. Avani Chaturvedi also took a solo flight on MiG-21 Bison in 2018 and is posted in Rajasthan. While Mohana Singh became the first women fighter pilot to become fully operational by day on a Hawk Mk.132 in 2019.
The induction of these women as IAF fighter pilots then paved the way for other women and to date, 16 women fighter pilots have been commissioned in the Indian Air Force.
And seeing the success of this ‘experiment’, the ministry of defence on Tuesday decided to make this a permanent feature, allowing more women to realise their dreams of being fighter pilots.
Women in Armed Forces
According to a Hindustan Times report, there are more than 9,000 women currently serving the Army, Navy and Air Force.
And as more opportunities open up, the headcount of women in the Armed Forces has increased almost threefold over the last seven years.
In 2020, the Navy announced deploying its first batch of women pilots on the Dornier maritime aircraft. It has deployed 28 women officers on board around 15 frontline warships including aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya and the number is set to go up with more such appointments being planned.
Also, the Army in 2019 began the process of inducting women into the military police. The role of the military police includes policing cantonments and army establishments, preventing breach of rules and regulations by soldiers, maintaining movement of soldiers as well as logistics during peace and war and extending aid to civil police whenever required.
Interestingly, the decision has come months after the Supreme Court paved the way for the entry of women into the prestigious National Defence Academy (NDA), which has been a male bastion, for recruitment into the three services.
Other female fighter pilots
According to a news article published in The Milwaukee Sentinel on 6 April, 1958, the first woman ever to fly a fighter plane in combat was Sabiha Gokcen of Turkey. She was one of the eight adopted daughters of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder and first president of Modern Turkish Republic.
Pakistan’s Ayesha Farooq became the first combat-ready female fighter pilot when she passed her final exams in 2013 to qualify for battle.
Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom also permit women to be commissioned as fighter pilots in the Air Force.
With inputs from agencie
