Bhawana Kanth - Wikiwand

Indian aviator

Born (1992-12-01) 1 December 1992 (age 33)

Darbhanga,^[1]Bihar, India

Allegiance

India

Service

Indian Air Force

Service years2016–present

Squadron Leader Bhawana Kanth

Born	(1992-12-01) 1 December 1992 (age 33) Darbhanga,^[1]Bihar, India
Allegiance	India
Service	Indian Air Force
Service years	2016–present
Rank	Squadron Leader
Unit	No. 3 Squadron IAF
Awards	Nari Shakti Puraskar (2020)

Bhawana Kanth is the first female fighter pilot of India.^[2]^[3] She was declared as the first woman to qualify for undertaking missions on a fighter aircraft. She along with two of her cohort, Mohana Singh, and Avani Chaturvedi were inducted into the Indian Air Force fighter squadron in June 2016 and were formally commissioned by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar.^[4] After the government of India decided to open the fighter stream in India Air Force for women on an experimental basis, these three women were the first to be selected for the program.^[5]

In May 2019, she became the first female fighter pilot in India to qualify to undertake combat missions.^[6]

Kanth was born on 1 December 1992 in Darbhanga, Bihar.^[1] Her father Tej Narayan Kanth is an electrical engineer in Indian Oil Corporation and mother Radha Kanth is a home maker.^[7] While growing up, Kanth was fond of sports like Kho Kho, Badminton, swimming and painting.^[8]

Education

Kanth completed her schooling from DAV Public School in Barauni refinery.^[2] She prepared for engineering entrance examinations in Kota, Rajasthan, and joined Bachelor of Engineering in Medical Electronics from BMS College of Engineering, Bengaluru for further studies.^[9] She graduated in 2014 and was recruited for IT giant Tata Consultancy Services.^[8]

Career

Kanth had always dreamt of flying planes.^[10] She took the Air Force Common Admission Test and was selected to be commissioned into the Air Force.^[11] As a part of her Stage 1 training, she joined the fighter stream.

In June 2016, Kanth underwent a six month long stage-II training on Kiran Intermediate Jet Trainers at Hakimpet Air Force Station in Hyderabad soon after which she got commissioned as Flying Officer at Combined Graduation Parade Spring Term at the Air Force Academy in Dundigal the same year.^[9]^[3]

Kanth flew Hawk advanced jet trainers at AFS Bidar^[12] and it has been the plan to move her and the other two members of her cohort to MIG 21 Bison squadron.^[5] Flying Officer Bhawana Kanth on 16 March 2018 takes the solo flight of Mig-21 ‘Bison’. She made the solo flight of Mig-21 from Ambala Air Force Station at around 1400 hours.^[13]

Kanth also tried some modelling assignments and appeared in print advertisements.^[8]

On 9 March 2020, she was awarded with Nari Shakti Puraskar by President Ram Nath Kovind^[14]

She is posted to the Indian Air Force's No. 3 Squadron Cobras.^[15]

References

1 2 "Flt Lt Bhawana Kanth is the first woman fighter pilot to qualify for combat duty". The Indian Express. 23 May 2019. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
1 2 "Latest Current Affairs and News About Bhawana Kanth - Current Affairs Today". currentaffairs.gktoday.in. Archived from the original on 23 May 2019. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
1 2 Mohammed, Syed (19 June 2016). "For IAF's first women fighter pilots Mohana Singh, Bhawana Kanth & Avani Chaturvedi, sky is no limit". The Economic Times. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
↑ Krishnamoorthy, Suresh (18 June 2016). "First batch of three female fighter pilots commissioned". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
1 2 "Air Force's First 3 Women Fighter Pilots May Fly Mig-21 Bisons From November". NDTV.com. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
↑ Gurung, Shaurya Karanbir (22 May 2019). "Bhawana Kanth becomes 1st fighter pilot to qualify to undertake combat missions". The Economic Times. Retrieved 24 December 2019.
↑ "India's First Women Fighter Pilots Get Wings". NDTV.com. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
1 2 3 "Supported by parents, Bhawana Kanth to script IAF history, become a fighter pilot". News18. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
1 2 "Landmark event in IAF history: Meet India's first 3 women fighter pilots". Firstpost. 18 June 2016. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
↑ "First three women Air Force fighter pilots to be commissioned in December". Zee News. 5 October 2017. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
↑ "Meet country's first women fighter pilots- The Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
↑ "India's First 3 Female Fighter Pilots Will Now Learn Aerial Combat Tricks!". IndiaTimes. 9 April 2017. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
↑ Team, Editorial (19 March 2018). "Interesting Facts about Bhawana Kanth – 2nd Woman to Fly MiG-21 solo". SSBToSuccess. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
↑ "Flying MiG-21 Bison matter of pride: Flt Lt Bhawana Kanth". Livemint. 9 March 2020. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
↑ "Bhawana Kanth Is India's First Woman Pilot to Qualify for Combat Missions". NDTV. Retrieved 23 May 2019.

v t e Nari Shakti Puraskar recipients
1999	K. V. Rabiya Chinna Pillai Kinkri Devi
2013	Manasi Pradhan M. Venkaiah Bina Sheth Lashkari T. Radha K. Prashanti Vartika Nanda Seema Sakhare
2014	Rashmi Anand Nanditha Krishna Laxmi Gautam Neha Kirpal Latika Thukral Sailakshmi Balijepally P. Kausalya Swaraj Vidwan
2015	Lucy Kurien Saurabh Suman Basanti Devi Suparna Baksi Ganguly Meena Sharma Priti Patkar Uttara Padwar Polumati Vijaya Nirmala Vasu Primlani Sujata Sahu Jyoti Mhapsekar Sumita Ghosh Anjali Sharma Krishna Yadav Shakuntala Majumdar
2016	State of Rajasthan Chhanv Foundation Mizo Hmeichhe Insuihkhawm Pawl (MHIP) Sadhana Mahila Sangha Shikshit Rojgar Kendra Prabandhak Samiti Tripunithura Kathakali Kendram Ladies Troupe Amruta Patil Amala Akkineni Anatta Sonney Anoyara Khatun B. Codanayaguy Bano Haralu Deepa Mathur Divya Rawat Ilse Kohler-Rollefson Janki Vasant Kalpana Sankar Kalyani Pramod Balakrishnan Mumtaz M. Kazi Nandita Shah Pallavi Fauzdar Pamela Malhotra Qamar Dagar Reema Sathe Ringyuichon Vashum Sangita Iyer Smita Tandi Sumitra Hazarika Sunita Singh Choken Subha Varier Tiasa Adhya V. Nanammal Zuboni Hümtsoe
2017	Gargi Gupta Sindhutai Sapkal Gauri Maulekhi Navika Sagar Parikrama Malvika Iyer R Umadevi Nagaraj Thinlas Chorol S. Siva Sathya Bharti Kashyap Beti Zindabad Bakery Mittal Patel Sabarmatee Tiki Jayamma Bandari Syamala Kumari Vanastree Lizymol Philipose Pamadykandathil Chirom Indira Urmila Balawant Apte Deepika Kundaji Purnima Devi Barman Anita Bhardwaj Ambica Beri Pushpa Girimaji Avani (organization) Shrujan C. K. Durga Rekha Mishra Mehvish Mushtaq Karuna Society for Animals and Nature One Stop Centre, Raipur Millet Network of India State of Punjab Madhu Jain Jetsun Pema M.S. Sunil Sheela Balaji Anuradha Krishnamoorthy and Namrata Sundaresan Gita Mittal
2018	A. Seema Anshu Khanna Anu Malhotra Anuradha N. Naik Chetna Gala Sinha Darshana Gupta Kollakkayil Devaki Amma Didi Contractor Gowri Kamakashi Hekani Jakhalu Ipsita Biswas Iti Tyagi Kagganapalli Radha Devi Kalpana Saroj Lalita Vakil Madhuri Barthwal Manju Manikuttan Meenakshi Pahuja Mini Vasudevan Munuswamy Shanthi Neelum Sharma Nomita Kamdar Pamela Chatterjee Pragya Prasun Priyamvada Singh Pushpa N. M. Rahibai Soma Popere Rajani Rajak Reshma Nilofer Naha Rhea Mazumdar Singhal Ruma Devi Seema Mehta Seema Rao Shivani Verma Smriti Morarka Snehlata Nath Sonia Jabbar Sujatha Mohan Sunita Devi Twinkle Kalia Urmi Basu One Stop Centre, Lucknow Millet Network of India Qasab-Kutch Craftswomen Producer Co. Ltd. Social Welfare & Nutritional Meal Programme Dept, Tamil Nadu
2019	Arifa Jan Avani Chaturvedi Bhageerathi Amma Bhawana Kanth Bina Devi Chami Murmu Kalavati Devi Karthyayani Amma Kaushiki Chakroborty Mohana Singh Nilza Wangmo Padala Bhudevi Rashmi Urdhwareshe Sardarni Mann Kaur Tashi and Nungshi Malik
2020	Anita Gupta Ushaben Dineshbhai Vasava Nasira Akhter Sandhya Dhar Nivruti Rai Tiffany Brar Padma Yangchan Jodhaiya Bai Baiga Saylee Nandkishor Agavane Vanita Jagdeo Borade Meera Thakur Jaya Muthu, Tejamma (joint) Ela Lodh Arti Rana
2021	Sathupati Prasanna Sree Tage Rita Madhulika Ramteke Niranjanaben Mukulbhai Kalarthi Pooja Sharma Anshul Malhotra Shobha Gasti Radhika Menon Kamal Kumbhar Sruti Mohapatra Batool Begam Thara Rangaswamy Neerja Madhav Neena Gupta

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