India, like the rest of the world has always seen a battle of the sexes over equal educational opportunities to the women in its society. There were days when women were considered as a burden in the family, and marrying them off would be a priority to the parents even before they could rejoice or embrace their daughter’s birth. However, over the past few decades, India is not just evolving into a glorious nation which is recognized worldwide, but it’s also flourishing further because of the feats of achievements that Indian women have managed to achieve. Every other day, we come across stories of our sheroes (women heroes) who have fought all the odds to reach their goals successfully.
On the 19th of February, 2019 another such woman rewrote history. What is her name? What did she do? We’re answering all of your questions one by one.
Avani Chaturvedi became the first ever Indian woman to fly the MiG 21 Bison on her own which was a sheer moment of pride in the history of Indian Air Force.This flight wasn’t just of the MiG 21, it was the flight of women power. It helped break the gender stereotypes with respect to male-dominated professions. Avani not only declared that a woman from a town that’s unheard of, could earn herself the position of a combat pilot, but this achievement of hers also threw some light over the complex narratives surrounding gender equality in the largest democracy of the world— India.
This Isn’t The First Time She’s Setting A Benchmark For Women
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It was only in the year 2015, sometime around the October month that the government decided to permit even the women to go ahead and apply for the fighter stream of the Indian Air Force, it was something which was earlier solely reserved for men alone. Women take time to get ready, they say, look our government took so long too give us this opportunity!
This shows how women officers were still not allowed to hold any combat roles to themselves until then. Avani, along with two other pilots Bhawani Kamath and Mohan’s Singh became the first ever female pilot batch to get trained by the Air Force. These three became India’s first ever squadron of female fighter pilots of the Indian Air Force in June 2016.
Several social scientists and historians have always opined that combat, by nature, is solely a male occupation only! Women have always been denied spots in high-pressure professions which obviously includes the armed forces as well. But Chaturvedi and several other women like her have been working hard to prove things otherwise.
Some Unknown Facts About Avani
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Avani was born in the year 1993 on October 27, in a small town called Rewa which falls in Madhya Pradesh. Her elder brother was an Indian Army Officer, and Avani was greatly inspired by him. Her family showered unconditional love and support when she decided to join the Indian Air Force.
She did her schooling in Deoband, in Madhya Pradesh. She then joined the esteemed University of Rajasthan, Banasthali University for B.Tech course in technology but took the subject of aviation as an additional discipline at the campus aviation school in the university itself. It’s said that during one of the difficult verbal examinations for Student Pilot License her chief flight instructor who was Captain Gautam Bose realized that Avani truly had a very good understanding about aviation. They pushed Avani towards making her dream into a reality and the rest as we know, is history.
When she joined the flying club of the college, she flew a lot of planes which gave her good exposure and experience. After graduating in 2014, in the same year, she sat down to write the AFCAT exam where she ranked second in the merit list.
When it comes to drawing inspiration, Avani adored Kalapana Chawla and was greatly motivated by the works of former president APJ Abdul Kalam.
The First Indian Woman To Fly A Fighter Aircraft Solo
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She was selected as one of the trainees for the flying branch in the Air Force Academy at Dunigal in Hyderabad. She was trained there crucially for the next six months. She was then allowed to practice in easier-to-handle aircraft like Kiran, Kwan, Turboprops trainer jets. After which she carved herself a unique spot in the history of Indian women and their achievements by flying the MiG 21 Bison solo for 30 minutes. When she was asked about how her male counterparts reacted towards her presence while training, she said that just like how they were quite new to her, similarly, she was quite new to them. She says that the men exhibited great lengths of camaraderie.
At present, Avani is posted in Squadron No 23 (Panthers) at AFS Suratgarh. She will be allowed to fly Tejas and Sukhoi (Indian fighter jets) once she is done with her third stage training at Bidar. This young officer not just loves flying, she also loves playing table tennis, chess, and celebrates painting and sketching as well.
We’re sure many girls out there are already inspired by women like Avani. We truly hope that many more women join India’s armed and defense forces and make the country shine on the world map.
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