Two women Army officers bag top honours at Chennai academy

On the day the country celebrated Women’s Day, two newly commissioned women officers clinched top honours at the passing-out parade of the Officers Training Academy (OTA) in Chennai on Saturday.

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Lieutenant Manya M Kumar was awarded the coveted Sword of Honour for being adjudged as the overall best cadet of her course and the silver medal for standing second in the order of merit. Lieutenant Pragati Thakur was awarded the gold medal for standing first in the order of merit.

Manya, who held the rank of Battalion Under Officer during pre-commission training, belongs to Kochi and did her graduation from New Delhi. In 2021, she was adjudged as the all-India best cadet among senior wing girls during the annual NCC Republic Day Camp in the Capital.

Pragati was the Academy Under Officer at OTA, the seniormost appointment for cadets and has also been an NCC cadet. She is an athlete and a few weeks earlier had stood second in the Chennai Marathon.

There have been instances in the past where women officers have bagged the top honours on passing out from the OTA as well as other pre-commission training academies in the Air Force and Navy, though two women being top awardees at the same time has been rare.

In September 2010, Academy Under Officer Divya Ajith Kumar became the first woman officer to be awarded the Sword of Honour, along with the gold medal. In 2018, Academy Cadet Adjutant Preeti Choudhary received the Sword of Honour while Senior Under Officer Vreeti was awarded the silver medal, creating a first of sorts.

A total of 157 Indian cadets, including 24 women from the Short Service Commission (SSC)-119 and SSC (Women)-33 courses, were commissioned as Lieutenants in the Army. In addition, 12 cadets, including seven women, from five friendly foreign countries also passed out alongside and would be joining the armed forces of their respective countries.

The passing out parade was reviewed by Lt Gen Johnson P Mathew, Chief of the Integrated Defence Staff, who exhorted the newly commissioned officers to uphold the cardinal military values of ‘selfless service to the nation’ and remain steadfast in the pursuit of excellence in all their endeavours.

The parade also had its share of success stories and tales of overcoming odds to achieve the desired goals. Among the newly commissioned officers was Lt Soni Bisht, the widow of a soldier hailing from Haldwani in Uttarakhand.

In 2023, about a month after marriage, she lost her husband, Sepoy Neeraj Singh Bhandari of the Kumaon Regiment. Despite her grief, she found the strength to carry on, driven by her determination to fulfil Neeraj’s dream of serving the nation. With the support of her father and the Kumaon Regiment, she decided to pursue a career in the Indian Army.

There was also a rare instance of a brother and sister becoming officers together. Gayatri, a Junior Under Officer during pre-commission training and her brother Prathmesh Rajesh Patil had shared their dreams and aspirations of donning the uniform together during childhood.

As they trained together at the OTA, they found strength in each other, tackling every obstacle side by side, motivating one another to push harder, run faster and never give up.