New Delhi : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday lauded the increasing participation of the country’s women in different fields.
“Dear countrymen, you would have heard a few days back that four women pilots commanded a direct flight from San Fransisco in the US to Bengaluru. The flight covering a distance of over 10,000 kilometres, brought over 225 people to India,” PM Modi said in his monthly radio programme ‘Mann ki Baat’.
In a historic move, Air India’s longest direct route flight with the all-women pilot team on January 11 landed at Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru from San Francisco, flying over the North Pole and covering a distance of about 16,000 kilometres.
Further appreciating women’s achievements, the PM said, “You must have seen two women IAF officers creating history in this year’s Republic Day parade. Be it any field, the participation of the nation’s women is continuously increasing.”
Two IAF women officers became the first women pilots to participate in the Republic Day parade.
India’s one of the first three women fighter pilots, Flight Lieutenant Bhawana Kanth, became the first woman fighter pilot to be part of the Indian Air Force contingent at the Republic Day parade.
Flight Lieutenant Swati Rathore became the first woman to be part of the flypast over Rajpath as she flew a Mi-17 V5 helicopter in a formation of four choppers. (Agency)