Woman civil engineer becomes Army officer

A woman civil engineer from an agrarian family was among scores of cadets who underwent grueling training at the Officers Training Academy here and became a commissioned officer in the Indian Army on Saturday.

Earlier, a defence release said that the widow of an IAF aviator, who died along with India's first CDS General Bipin Rawat in a chopper crash in the Nilgiris, was also among the cadets who participated in the passing out parade.

Defence officials later issued a correction and said that Yashwini Dhaka, the widow of an IAF Squadron Leader Kuldeep Singh, will be completing her training and passing out of OTA in September this year.

Besides the civil engineer, Shauryan Thapa, a sixth generation member of his family to don the Army uniform and the youngest (21 years) candidate in the academy, too, was among the 184 officer cadets, who completed the training. He was awarded the OTA gold medal at the passing out parade today.

Shauryan would join his father Col Mohit Thapa in serving the 7/8 Gorkha Rifles.

In the case of Saranya M, from an agrarian family in Tamil Nadu's Erode district, a career in the Indian Army seemed to fascinate her. This civil engineer and also the first graduate in her family spurned her job in an IT firm and opted to train at the OTA and become a commissioned officer.