Republic Day 2023: Meet the women officers who are leading various contingents at R'day parade

Republic Day 2023:The 74th Republic Day celebrations will take place at New Delhi's Kartavya Path with glory and grandeur. In recent years, women officers in various branches of the Indian Armed Forces have time and again shown that they are capable of taking any leadership role, and the Government of India also open many paths for women officers that were closed earlier.

Women officers in Indian Army are now given Permanent Commission in several corps, the National Defence Academy (NDA) in Dehradun saw its first batch of women officers which was earlier only a place for male cadets, Indian Air Force also got its first three women fighter pilots and a dozen of other feats are achieved by women officers in recent years.

The 74th Republic Day parade will also stand witness to these ground-breaking changes when several women officers will be seen leading their platoon at Kartavya Path in New Delhi. Here are some of the women cadets and officers participating in this year's parade on Thursday, 26 January.

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1. Lt Cdr Disha Amrith

Lt Cdr Disha Amrith (29), a naval air operations officer, will lead the naval contingent of 144 sailors. Lt Amrith had always dreamt of leading the naval contingent since she joined as an NCC cadet. The naval tableau's central theme is 'Nari shakti'.

Lt Ashwani Singh, SLt Valli Meena S and SLt M Aditya will lead as Platoon Commanders.

2. Squadron Leader Sindhu Reddy

Squadron Leader Sindhu Reddy, a Mi-17 pilot, will be the contingent commander for Indian Air Force (IAF) and the tableau theme is the ‘Indian Air Force: Power Beyond Boundaries’.

Comprising four officers and 144 air warriors marching in a box formation, the contingent will be led by Sqn Ldr Reddy, along with three supernumerary officers, Flt Lt Ayush Agarwal, Flt Lt Tanuj Mailk and Flt Lt Pradhan Nikhil.

3. Lt Dimple Bhati

Lieutenant Dimple Bhati from the Corps of Signals would be part of the Indian Army’s Daredevils motorcycle team at the R-Day parade. The woman officer has been training with the team for the last one year.

4. Lt Chetana Sharma

Lieutenant Chetana Sharma will beleadingthe 'Made in India' Akash surface-to-air missile system.She said she always wanted to take part in the R- Day parade watching it on TV every year & her dreams have come true this year.

In an interview to a YouTube channel, Lt Sharma expressed her happiness about being given the opportunity to lead the contingent. She said, “There should be courage and spirit to realise the dream into reality. One should try and try again until you achieve success."