Padmavathy Bandopadhyay

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Padmavathy Bandopadhyay

Padma Bandopadhyay.jpg
Bandopadhyay in 2012
Birth namePadmavathy Swaminathan
Nickname(s)Padma
Born(1944-11-04)4 November 1944
Tirupathi, Madras Presidency, British India (Now Andhra Pradesh)
Allegiance India
Service/branchAir Force Ensign of India.svg  Indian Air Force
Years of service1968 - 2005
Rank India-AirForce-OF-8-collected.svg Air Marshal
Spouse(s)Sati Nath Bandopadhyay (m. 1968–2015; his death)
Children2

Air Marshal Padmavathy Bandopadhyay, PVSM, AVSM, VSM (born 4 November 1944) is the first woman Air Marshal of the Indian Air Force. She is the second woman in the Indian armed forces to be promoted to a three-star rank.

Contents

Early life

Bandopadhyay was born on 4 November 1944 at Tirupathi, Andhra Pradesh. Her mother was bedridden with tuberculosis, and Padma ended up being her primary caregiver at the age of 4-5 years. In addition, her neighbor in the Gole Market neighborhood in New Delhi was Dr S.I. Padmavati, Professor of Medicine at Lady Hardinge Medical College. She has said that her experience with her mother’s illness and hospitalization at Safdarjung Hospital and having a neighbouring lady doctor with the same name as her were early motivations to become a doctor. [1]

Education

She studied at DTEA in the Humanities stream. After graduating from school, she made the difficult and uncommon transition from Humanities to Science stream in Delhi University. She studied Pre-medical at Kirori Mal College and then joined Armed Forces Medical College, Pune in 1963.

Career

She joined the IAF in 1968. She married S. N. Bandopadhyay, a fellow air force officer [2] . She was awarded the Vishisht Seva Medal (VSM) [3] for her conduct during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. Sati Nath and Padma were the first IAF couple to receive a Presidents award in the same investiture parade. [4]

In her career she has been first woman to become a Fellow of the Aerospace Medical Society of India and the first Indian woman to have conducted scientific research at the North Pole. [5] She is also the first woman Armed Forces officer to have completed the Defence Service Staff College course in 1978 [6] . She was the Director General Medical Services (Air) at the Air Headquarters [7] . In 2002 , she became the first woman to be promoted to Air vice Marshal (two-star rank).She subsequently went on to become the first woman Air marshal of Indian Air Force . Bandopadhyay is an aviation medicine specialist and a member of the New York Academy of Sciences. [8]

Military Awards and Decorations

Ati Vishisht Seva Medal ribbon.svg Vishisht Seva Medal ribbon.svg IND Paschimi Star Ribbon.svg
IND Sangram Medal Ribbon.svg IND Operation Vijay medal.svg IND High Altitude Medal Ribbon.svg IND 50th Anniversary Independence medal.svg
IND 25th Anniversary Independence medal.svg IND 30 Years Long Service Ribbon.svg IND 20YearsServiceMedalRibbon.svg IND 9YearsServiceMedalRibbon.svg
Ati Vishisht Seva Medal Vishisht Seva Medal Paschimi Star
Sangram Medal
Operation Vijay Medal
High Altitude Service Medal
50th Anniversary of Independence Medal
25th Anniversary of Independence Medal
30 Years Long Service Medal
20 Years Long Service Medal
9 Years Long Service Medal

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References

  1. https://www.amazon.in/Lady-Blue-memoirs-First-Marshal-ebook/dp/B078K451F9
  2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rETtLRO4z8o
  3. http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Database/11528
  4. https://books.google.com/books?id=-MxaDwAAQBAJ&lpg=PT252&dq=first%20VSM%20couple&pg=PT252#v=onepage&q=first%20VSM%20couple&f=false
  5. http://www.anusandhan.net/women/suc_padma.htm
  6. https://www.thebetterindia.com/83280/brave-women-soldiers-indian-armed-forces/
  7. http://www.indianyouth.net/padmavathy-bandopadhyay-woman-air-marshal/
  8. "First woman Air Vice Marshal". The Times of India. 26 November 2002. Retrieved 5 September 2019.

Awards and honors

  1. "Padma Awards 2020 Conferred To 13 Unsung Heroes Of Medicine". Medical Dialogues. 27 January 2020. Retrieved 27 January 2020.