Captain Shiva Chauhan of the Indian Army’s Fire and Fury Corps became the first women officer to be deployed at the world’s highest battlefield in Siachen.
It was a proud and joyous moment for the Indian Army when she got officially inducted on 2 January. Before this, no women officer was deployed at the Siachen Glacier at a height of 15,600 feet.
Captain Shiva Chauhan
She is from Rajasthan, did her schooling in Udaipur and has a bachelor’s degree from NJR Institute in civil engineering. Her mother, who is a housewife took care of her studies as Captain Chauhan lost her father at age of 11. She wanted to join the Indian Armed Forces. After completing her training at Officers Training Academy (OTA) she got commissioned into the Engineer Regiment in May 2021.
She was also Bengal Sapper Officer. Captain Shiva successfully led the Sura Soi Cycling Expedition of 508 km from the Siachen War Memorial to the Kargil War Memorial conducted on Kargil Vijay Diwas in 2022. The officer’s performance of leading the team of the Sura Soi Engineer Regiment decided that she would go through the training at the Siachen Bateel School.
After months of strenuous training at Siachen Battle school, along with other personnel- the officers and men of the Indian Army. The training included avalanche rescue, ice-wall climbing, endurance training and survival drills.
After she went through the training period of three months Shiva Chauhan was deployed at the Kumar post, located at an altitude of 15,600 feet in Siachen. And she will be leading the team of Bengal Sappers and also carrying out combat engineering tasks.
The Fire and Fury corps based in Leh tweeted the picture of the officer and team and called her achievement ‘Breaking the Glass Ceiling’.
Captain Chauhan got inducted on 2 January and she and her team Bengal Sappers will be responsible for engineering tasks and will be deployed there for three months.
As part of the regular posting team, women officers were posted to the Siachen base camp at 9,000 feet, along with the unit.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated the Captain and gave her best wishes and also mentioned that he is happy to see more and more women joining the forces. He tweeted-
“Excellent news! I am extremely happy to see more women joining the Armed Forces and take every challenge in stride. It is an encouraging sign. My best wishes to Capt Shiva Chauhan,”
Siachen Glacier at the height of approximately 20,000 feet. Located in the Karakoram range in the Himalayas, is the most highly militarised zone in the world and also where India and Pakistan fought since 1984.
It became tourist-friendly in 2019 under the guidance of the Defence Minister. The bridge across the Shyok River which is connected with Daulat Beg Oldi and the Line of Actual Control(LAC) with China- got inaugurated on 21 October 2019. The area from the Siachen Base Camp to Kumar Post is open to tourists.
