Punita Arora

Lieutenant General
Vice admiral
Punita Arora
PVSM, AVSM, SM
Born (1946-05-31) May 31, 1946
Allegiance  India
Service/branch  Indian Army
 Indian Navy
Rank Lieutenant General
Vice Admiral
Commands held
Awards Param Vishisht Seva Medal
Vishisht Seva Medal
Sena Medal

Punita Arora is the first woman in India to don the second highest rank i.e. Lieutenant General of Indian Armed Forces.[1] and the first female Vice admiral of Indian Navy.[2]

Early life

She was born into a Punjabi family which hails from Lahore. When she was 01 year old, her family moved[3] to India during partition and got settled in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh.[4]

Education

She studied in Sophia School in Saharanpur till 8th grade. After that she moved to Guru Nanak Girls Inter-College. In 11th Standard while getting admitted to Government school for boys she decided to take science as a career. She joined Armed Forces Medical College, Pune in 1963[5] which was the second batch of the AFMC and she turned out to be the topper of that batch.[4]

Career

Punita was commissioned in January 1968.[6] Before becoming Vice Admiral of Indian Navy she was Commandant of AFMC. She took the charge of commandant of Armed Forces Medical College in 2004 thereafter becoming the first woman officer to command the medical college.[7] Before that She was co-ordinating Medical Research of the armed forces at the Army headquarters as additional director-general of Armed Forces Medical Services (Medical Research).[6] She moved from the Army to the Navy as the AFMS has a common pool which allows officers to migrate from one service to another depending on the requirement.[8]

Awards and Medals

She has been awarded with 15 medals in her 36 years of career in Indian Armed Forces.[7]

Param Vishisht Seva Medal
Vishisht Seva Medal(2002)
Sena Medal(2006)
30 Years Long Service Medal
20 Years Long Service Medal
9 Years Long Service Medal
  • Vishisht Seva Medal for providing efficient and timely help to victims of the Kaluchak massacre .[7][9]
  • Sena Medal for providing gynae-endoscopy and oncology facilities and pioneering invitro-fertilisation and assisted reproductive techniques for infertile and childless couples in military hospitals.[7]
Indian Army
Headquarters
New Delhi
History and traditions
Indian military history
British Indian Army
Indian National Army
Equipment
Equipment of the Indian Army
Installations
Regiments
Exercises
Exercises
Personnel
Chief of Army Staff
Ranks and insignia
Para Special Forces

References

  1. ↑ "The General in Sari". Rediff.
  2. ↑ "Navy gets its 1st lady vice-admiral". The Times Of India. 16 June 2005.
  3. ↑ "rediff.com: The General in a Sari - A Slide Show". specials.rediff.com. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
  4. 1 2 http://www.indianexpress.com/oldStory/57011/
  5. ↑ http://www.thesundayindian.com/26082007/storyd.asp?sid=2438&pageno=1
  6. 1 2 http://www.financialexpress.com/news/a-doctor-who-looks-after-an-army/114580/0
  7. 1 2 3 4 http://www.tribuneindia.com/2004/20040912/women.htm
  8. ↑ http://www.tribuneindia.com/2005/20050621/nation.htm#15
  9. ↑ http://www.thesundayindian.com/26082007/section.asp?sname='Cover%20Feature'&idate='26/08/2007'
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