Mumbai: Sixty-six years ago, when a young Mumbai pilot, Mohini Shroff harboured a dream of flying for India, she was told that she could not even apply for it. Last weekend, the world saluted that pioneering aviatrix with ‘The Ninety-Nines, Inc.’s 2026 Award of Achievements of a lifetime. Counted among India’s earliest women pilots and the first female pilot from the minority Sindhi community, Mohini Shroff, 90, was conferred the Lifetime Achievement Award-2026 by the prestigious Ninety-Nines Inc. at its international conference in Las Vegas, USA. Much more than a personal achievement, the award is described as “a fitting tribute to a woman whose relentless fight helped open the skies for generations of Indian women”; and culmination of almost seven decades starting with rejections, discrimination in aviation that was considered a “man’s domain”. Earning her pilot licence in 1959, the next year Shroff responded to an advertisement of Auxiliary Air Force, hoping to serve the country. The application form never came. When she demanded an explanation, officials bluntly told her that women were not eligible for combat roles. Shocked, Shroff pointed out that the ad had invited applications from ‘candidates’ without restrictions on male of females. “I am a ‘candidate’ and I possess the necessary flying qualifications,” she emphatically reminded them. When this did not work, she confided in her friend Durba Banerjee who displayed courage and wrote to India’s first Defence Minister V. K. Krishna Menon and the first Air Chief Marshal Subroto Mukerjee with a pointed query – “Why can’t Indian women join the air force?” There was again no reply, and Shroff decided to escalate matters. Along with the trailblazer woman pilot, Capt. Chanda S. Budhabhatti, Rabia Fatehally, Sunila Bhajekar, Mangala Joshi, Kumudini Rawal and Durba Banerjee, Shroff founded the ‘Indian Women Pilots Association (IWPA)’ in 1967 in Mumbai – the 5th of its kind women fliers body in the world, with other women fliers like Prem Mathur - and now it has chapters in Canada, Australia, France, Malaysia and the UAE. Shroff’s gritty campaign soon reached then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and a delegation of IWPA’s female aviatrixes stumped her with a simple question: “If India can have a woman PM, then why can’t Indian women fly for the IAF?” Nevertheless, though she was interviewed later, the door remained shut but after another nearly three decades – in 1990 – the IAF finally opened them in inches, for women pilots. Now, Shroff, an avid fan and practitioner of aero-sports, is grateful her relentless campaign bore fruits. Immense Proud “I feel immensely proud to see women fliers sporting uniforms of the IAF, Indian Army, Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard. They are allowed to enter the NDA (Pune) and other institutions which were once ‘No Entry’ for us,” smiled Shroff, speaking with ‘The Perfect Voice’ from Las Vegas. Her own flying journey began in 1959, when she took to the skies on a government scholarship and qualified as the first woman pilot from the minority Sindhi community – itself commendable in an era when women aviators in India could be counted on the fingers. Since 1965, Shroff has been associated with The Ninety-Nines founded (in 1929), by 99 pioneering women aviators, with the legendary Amelia Earhart as its first President. It inspired her to establish The Ninety-Nines India Section on March 26, 1976, currently celebrating its Golden Jubilee, with pilots like Chanda Sawant Budhabhatti, Rabia Futehally, Sunila Bhajekar, Durba Banerjee and Saudamini Deshmukh. These women are credited with laying the foundations for women in Indian aviation with the likes of Saudamini Deshmukh, Nivedita Jain-Bhasin, Anila Bhatia-Cheema, each with their names etched in history for various feats. “Today, India has nearly 15 pc women pilots in civil aviation, among the highest proportions anywhere in the world – and the ambition is to be higher, to 25 pc in the coming years,” said Shroff. High-flying heels ! Mohini Shroff recalls an anecdote when she won a government scholarship for flying and the interview board asked “what is your height”. The young girl said, “5 feet, 2 inches”. “Will your feet reach the rudder?” they shot back. Unsure of what exactly was a ‘rudder’, she blurted out, “I can wear high heels…” The interview board guffawed. Later, they assured that she need not wear high heels in the aircraft, and after measuring her from waist to feet, they decided to give her cushions.
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