Hailing UP girl Sania Mirza for her selection to the National Defence Academy, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday said Indian Armed Forces have opportunities for the youth of all castes and religions.
Addressing the convocation ceremony of a university here, Singh said, "Indian Armed Forces have opportunities for the youth of all castes and religions. A Muslim girl Sania Mirza will become India's first female Muslim fighter pilot after successful completion of the course."
"There was a time when women were hardly represented in Defence forces but today women are deployed on warships and in extreme areas like Siachen," added the Defence Minister.
Sania Mirza, daughter of a TV mechanic from Mirzapur, has cracked the entrance exam of National Defence Academy (NDA).
Sania Mirza, hailing from Jasovar village under the Mirzapur Dehat Kotwali Police Station, aspires to become a fighter pilot like the country's first woman fighter pilot Avni Chaturvedi.
Sania, who studied in a Hindi medium school, said that Hindi medium students too can achieve success if they are determined. On December 27, she joined NDA Khadakwasla in Pune.
Sania's schooling till class 10 was completed in her village itself. She studied from primary to Class 10 at Pandit Chintamani Dubey Inter College. After that, she went to Guru Nanak Girls Inter College in the city. She was the district topper in the 12th Uttar Pradesh (UP) Board and started her preparations for NDA.
( With inputs from ANI )
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