Captain Shiva Chouhan has become the first woman officer to get operationally deployed at the world’s highest battlefield, Siachen, after a month of arduous training at Siachen Battle School alongwith other personnel.
Capt Shiva Chouhan from Rajasthan is a Bengal Sapper Officer. She got inducted to the Siachen Glacier on January 2, 2023 after an arduous climb. The team of Sappers led by Capt Shiva Chouhan will be responsible for numerous combat engineering tasks and will be deployed at the post for a duration of three months.
At a young service of one year, Captain Shiva successfully led the Sura Soi Cycling Expedition from Siachen War Memorial to Kargil War Memorial conducted on the occasion of Kargil Vijay Diwas in July 2022 covering a distance of 508 kms. The officer then took up the challenge of leading the men of Sura Soi Engineer Regiment at the world’s highest battlefield and based on her performance was selected to undergo training at the Siachen Battle School.
The officer was put through rigorous training at the Siachen Battle School where she trained alongside the officers and men of Indian Army. The training included endurance training, ice wall climbing, avalanche and crevasse rescue and survival drills. According to the statement from the Indian Army, the team of Sappers led by Captain Shiva Chouhan will be responsible for numerous combat engineering tasks and will be deployed at the post for a duration of three months
She has done her schooling from Udaipur and holds a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from NJR Institute of Technology, Udaipur. Since her childhood, she was motivated to join Indian Armed Forces and showcased unparalleled zeal during training at OTA, Chennai and was commissioned into the Engineer Regiment in May 2021.
She lost her father at a young age of 11 years and her mother who is a housewife took care of her studies.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh conveyed his best wishes to Capt Chouhan. He tweeted: “Excellent news! I am extremely happy to see more women joining the Armed Forces and take every challenge in stride. It is an encouraging sign. My best wishes to Capt Shiva Chouhan.”
Lately, the government has taken various initiatives to expand the female cadre base in the strategic wings of the armed forces. The Indian Army has started deploying its female soldiers at strategic locations across its various Command centres.
Women leaders in the Armed Forces
In 2016, in a landmark decision, the government announced that women will finally be allowed in combat roles in all sections of the Indian armed forces. This marked a radical shift towards addressing gender parity in male-dominated professions.
While the army, air force and navy began inducting women as short-service commission (SSC) officers as early as 1992, the roles were limited to non-combat areas.
Finally, in a major milestone, the Supreme Court of India gave a verdict based on the case filed by 17 women officers in 2020, who were denied a permanent commission even after serving for 14 years. The apex court upheld the right of serving Short Service Commission (SSC) women officers to be granted Permanent Commissions (PC) just like their male colleagues.
Three services have still maintained different parameters in the process. However, the Indian Air Force (IAF) has selected two women officers to train as helicopter pilots at Combat Army Training School, Nashik. So far, women officers were largely confined to conducting ground duties in the aviation wing.
The Indian Navy has also started recruiting women sailors. Under the Agnipath scheme, as many as 3,000 Agniveers have been selected, of which 341 are women.