Why 2019 Was the Year of Many Firsts

What do you want to achieve in life? Do you aspire to become a test development engineer or wish to swim across the English channel or become the next CEO of Google? If you think that such feats are too difficult to accomplish, take inspiration from these women who have made extraordinary breakthroughs in the year 2019:

 

 

1. Lieutenant Bhavana Kasturi: The year began with women power at display during India’s 70^th Republic Day celebrations. Lieutenant Bhavana Kasturi led an all-men army contingent and a slew of women officers in leading roles.

 

2. Garima Arora: In February 2019, Garima Arora was named as Asia’s best female chef by World’s 50 best restaurants. She is also the first Indian woman to win a Michelin star.

 

3. Pranjal Patil: The first visually challenged Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, Pranjal Patil took over as the sub-collector of Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala on October 14 this year. She lost her vision at the age of 6, but that did not deter her dream of becoming a civil servant.                                                      

 

4. Hina Jaiswal: The Indian Air Force got its first female flight engineer in Hina Jaiswal. Commissioned in the engineering batch of the Indian Air Force in January 2015, Flight Lieutenant Hina achieved this feat after undergoing a rigorous 6-month Flight Engineers’ course.

5. GC Anupama: Shattering stereotypes and paving way for more women in science, GC Anupama became the first woman to head the Astronomical Society of India (ASI). Anupama has received the Sir CV Raman Young Scientist Award in 2001 and is a fellow of National Academy of Sciences India and the Indian Academy of Sciences. She completed her PhD in 1991 from Indian Institute of Astrophysics and has been a faculty member at the institute since 1995.