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This is an archive article published on December 23, 2022
Sania Mirza | Girl from UP is first Muslim woman to become IAF fighter pilot
Earlier this year, the Ministry of Defence had decided to make permanent its experimental scheme of accepting women pilots in the IAF
Sania Mirza is a resident of Jasovar village in Uttar Pradesh. (Photo: ANI)
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Sania Mirza | Girl from UP is first Muslim woman to become IAF fighter pilot
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She will inspire every girl in the village to follow her dreams, says the mother of Sania Mirza, the first Muslim girl in the country to be selected to become a fighter pilot in the Indian Air Force (IAF). Hailing from Jasovar village in Uttar Pradesh, Sania will also be the state’s first woman IAF pilot, according to news agency ANI.
“I was inspired by Flight Lieutenant Avani Chaturvedi and seeing her, I decided to join the NDA. I hope the younger generation will someday get inspired by me,” Sania Mirza told ANI.
Sania’s father Shahid Ali, who is a TV mechanic in Mirzapur, said: “She was always inspired by Avani Chaturvedi and wanted to become like her.”
Mirzapur’s Sania Mirza will became first Muslim woman fighter pilot after securing 149th rank in NDA exam
“I was very much inspired by Flight Lieutenant Avani Chaturvedi & seeing her I decided to join NDA. I hope younger generation will someday get inspired by me: Sania Mirza pic.twitter.com/6SMKIi2g5m
— ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) December 22, 2022
Sania will be joining NDA Khadakwalsa in Pune on December 27.
Earlier this year, the Ministry of Defence had decided to make permanent its experimental scheme of accepting women pilots in the IAF. The Defence Ministry had approved allowing women to join the Air Force as fighter pilots in 2015, but the scheme for “Induction of Women SSC officers in Fighter Stream of Flying Branch” began in 2016.
Flying Officer Avani Chaturvedi lives by the motto ‘Never Give Up’. This IAF’s first batch of Female Fighter Pilot is also the First Indian Woman pilot to fly a Fighter Jet solo. @IAF_MCC #FirstLadies #NariShakti #SheInspiresMe #MinistryWCDhttps://t.co/bX3suzqwwe pic.twitter.com/xOj0V6ctQt
— Ministry of WCD (@MinistryWCD) March 8, 2018
Women fighter pilots came into the spotlight when Flight Lieutenant Shivangi Singh, India’s first female pilot for the Rafale fighter aircraft, was seen standing on the Air Force’s tableau in the Republic Day parade. She was the second-ever woman fighter pilot to be part of the Republic Day parade, the first being Flight Lieutenant Bhawna Kanth, who was a part of Air Force’s tableau in 2021.
2020 was a major boost to women joining the armed forces, as, after intervention from the Supreme Court, women have been allowed to join the National Defence Academy, that feeds officers into the three forces.
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