A topper, she never doubted herself: kin of first woman Army officer at Siachen
Captain Chauhan, 25, an officer of the Bengal Sapper who was commissioned into the engineering regiment in 2021, was deployed at the Kumar post at an altitude of around 15,600 ft in Siachen on Monday for a period of three months after undergoing rigorous training.
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Captain Shiva Chauhan at Kumar Post on the Siachen Glacier. @firefurycorps_IA “We are extremely proud of Shiva. She has always been a person with a positive attitude,” said Anjali Chauhan, mother of Captain Shiva Chauhan, first woman Army officer to get operationally deployed on the Siachen Glacier.
Recalling an incident from 2015, her sister Shubham Chauhan said Shiva never believed in herd mentality. “She insisted on studying B Tech in civil engineering, despite being eligible for other relatively more popular subjects such as computer science and information technology,” she told The Indian Express on Wednesday.
“My sister scored above 90 per cent marks in her Class 12 exams. When the college administration asked her if she wanted to choose computer science or IT, going against the usual trend, Shiva insisted that she wanted to study civil engineering. And today, it’s because of this decision that she has been able to script history.”
Captain Chauhan, 25, an officer of the Bengal Sapper who was commissioned into the engineering regiment in 2021, was deployed at the Kumar post at an altitude of around 15,600 ft in Siachen on Monday for a period of three months after undergoing rigorous training.
Her family belongs to Udaipur district in Rajasthan. Her father, Rajendra Singh Chauhan had died when she was 11 years old, said Anjali.
Shubham, who is preparing for Judicial Services examination, said the family was overjoyed after being informed about the feat of Captain Chauhan.
“I once aspired to be an Army officer and was also a part of the NCC. Later, I encouraged my sister to join the Army. Our mother has always encouraged us to get a reputed job. While she was in college, she used to teach children to pay expenses. Prior to being deployed in the Siachen, she underwent training. Since no woman had gone there before, the training was the same as that of men,” she said.
Captain Chouhan will be leading the team of Sappers entrusted with the task of carrying out various combat engineering assignments. (Fire and Fury Corps/ Twitter)
“Shiva never doubted herself. Her training started in October. Later, when she was on her way to the Kumar post, we couldn’t reach her on the phone due to the remote nature of the location. Being an officer, she was leading the group and called our mother after reaching the destination,” Shubham said.
Equally proud of her achievements, Captain Chauhan’s teachers said she had been a topper in her stream throughout the college. “Captain Chauhan had topped the civil engineering stream and had passed in 2019 after completing her B Tech in civil engineering,” said RS Vyas, Director, Techno India NJR Institute of Technology, Udaipur.
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