All time inspirational women personalities of India

New Delhi: Today (March 8) is International Women's Day, a day to speak about women's rights and revisit the stellar role of women in Indian society. Here we present a list of women who have established themselves as role models for Indian womanhood: 1. Kiran Bedi- First woman IPS officerIn July 1972, Kiran Bedi became the first woman to join the Indian Police Service. A pro-active police officer, Kiran Bedi created a reign of terror for Delhi's unruly and habitual traffic offenders by introducing cranes to tow away wrongly parked vehicles. As Inspector General Prisons in Delhi's Tihar jail, she introduced major jail reforms giving the prisoners inside the crowded jail a decent stay. In 1994, she won the Ramon Magsaysay Award for her pathbreaking reforms. Presently, Kiran Bedi is a social activist and working towards enactment of new laws to combat rampant corruption.2. Lakshmi Sahgal- First female Indian commanding officerLakshmi Sahgal or Captain Lakshmi was the first female commanding officer of Netaji Subhas Bose's Azad Hind Fauj (Indian National Army). Before her active participation in India's freedom movement, Sahgal received MBBS degree in 1938 from Madras Medical College. She left for Singapore in 1940 where she met members of Netaji's Indian National Army and there she set up a clinic for poor and migrant workers from India. It was this time when she took active participation in independence movement and headed the Rani of Jhansi regiment of Azad Hind Fauj. She was also the Minister of Women's Affairs in the Azad Hind government.3. Kadambini Ganguly- First Indian female physician Kadambini Ganguly is India's first female physician and among the first Indian female graduates from University of Calcutta . Born in 1861, She became the first Indian female physician in 1886. She was among the first South Asian women to be trained in European Medicine. She was also actively involved in social movement to improve the working conditions for female coal miners. 4. Bachendri Pal- First Indian woman to scale Mount EverestBachendri Pal became the first Indian woman and the fifth woman in the world to scale Mount Everest on May 22, 1984. She was part of a team named “Everest 84” consisting of 6 women and 11 men, who attempted to climb the highest peak in the world. She was the only person in her team that was able to make her way to the summit along with another person from another team. For this achievement, she was given the Padmashri Award. 5. Homai Vyarawalla- First Indian female photojournalistHomai Vyarawalla was India's first photojournalist. She became active in her career as a photographer in 1930. She photographed prominent national leaders and political leaders like Gandhi, Nehru, Jinnah and others during the freedom struggle. She was more commonly known by her pseudonym, “Dalda 13.” She passed away on 15th January, 2012.6. Harita Kaur Deol- First Indian woman airforce pilot Flight Cadet Harita Kaur Deol made history in September 1994 when she became the first Indian woman to do a solo flight in an Avro aircraft. It was a momentous occasion for the 5 feet 2 inch woman in the Indian Air Force. Originally hailing from Chandigarh, she achieved this feat at the age of 22 . In 1992, IAF advertised for the first time 8 vacancies for women pilots. She became the first to accomplish this feat among the 7 other cadets. 7. Vijayalaxmi Pandit- First woman president of UN General AssemblyVijayalaxmi Pandit became the first Indian woman to be appointed minister at the Centre. She was given charge of local self-government and public health in 1937. She later became the first woman president of United Nations General Assembly in 1953. She also served as governor of Maharashtra in 1962 and later Indian representative to UN Human Rights Commission.8. Punita Arora- First female Lt. General of Indian Armed ForcesShe was born into a Punjabi family from Lahore. When she was 12 years old, her family moved to India during partition and got settled in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh. Punita was commissioned in January 1968. Before becoming Vice Admiral of Indian Navy she was Commandant of Armed Forces Medical College. She took the charge of commandant of AFMC in 2004 thereafter becoming the first woman officer to command the medical college. Before that she was additional director-general of Armed Forces Medical Services (Medical Research). 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.9. P. T. Usha- First Indian woman to reach final of an Olympic event P.T. Usha shot to fame in the Los Angeles Olympics of 1984 when she finished first in semi-finals of 400 meters hurdles. She became the first Indian female athlete to reach the final of an Olympic event where she missed the bronze by 1/100th of a second. Though she didn't win a medal in Olympics, she inspired a generation of girls to become athletes. She has won a total of 30 international awards for her excellence in athletics. 10. Kalpana Chawla- First Indian woman in space Kalpana Chawla, born in Karnal, Haryana, was an Indian-American astronaut. She became the first Indian woman in space aboard the space shuttle Columbia in 1997. She was part of a six-member crew as a mission specialist and primary robot arm operator. She was later selected for a second mission in 2000 as part of a seven-member crew, which delayed due to scheduling conflicts and technical problem and finally the mission was scheduled for on January 2003.Chawla died during the shuttle's re-entry into atmosphere due to a faulty heat shield and all the mission crew perished in the mishap. The shuttle disintegrated over Texas.