Captain Shiva Chauhan of Fire and Fury Corps has become the first woman officer to be deployed at the world’s highest battlefield, Siachen. Talk about breaking the glass ceiling!
Credit: Indian Army
Indian Army officer Shiva Chauhan has been deployed at Siachen’s Kumar post at an altitude of around 15,600 feet for a three-month stint
Shiva Chauhan had to undergo rigorous training to prepare herself to perform her duty at the snow-filled Siachen glacier where the average winter snowfall is more than 1000 cm (35 ft) and temperatures can dip up to −50 °C (−58 °F)
Officer Shiva’s training included endurance training, avalanche and crevasse rescue, ice wall climbing and survival drills at the Siachen Battle School alongside other Indian Army officers
Credit: Indian Army
The Indian Army posted a training video of Shiva Chauhan as she was seen mock climbing a wall to prepare herself for Siachen Glaciers, Shiva was then seen scaling icy mountains along with other officers
Shiva Chauhan, known to be a fighter since a tender age, lost her father early on and was raised by her mother. She did her schooling from Udaipur and graduated from NJR Institute of Technology, Udaipur, in civil engineering
As per a statement by the Indian Army, Shiva was motivated to join the Indian Armed Forces and showed unparalleled zeal at Officers Training Academy in Chennai. She was commissioned into Engineer Regiment in May 2021
The Indian Army had earlier issued a statement congratulating Shiva on achieving this feat. It said, “It was a proud moment for Indian Army when Capt Shiva Chauhan became the first woman officer to get operationally deployed at the world’s highest battlefield, Siachen, after a month’s arduous training at Siachen Battle School along with other personnel”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also congratulated Shiva Chauhan and said, “This will make every Indian proud, illustrating the spirit of India's Nari Shakti”
Shiva’s Siachen Glacier stint began in January 2023 and will end in April