Girls in Aviation Day held

Pothashang News Service: Imphal, June 13, 2018:  Governor of Manipur, Dr. Najma Heptulla on Wednesday said professional words should not be gender identified and as such professions should not have different names by gender.

She was addressing at the celebration of “Girls in Aviation Day” organized by Women in Aviation International (WAI) India Chapter and Lockheed Martin at Classic Grande, Chingmeirong, Imphal East today.

She said women and girls should be trained in every field including those considered mainly as domain of men and such celebration of “Girls in Aviation Day” would introduce girls of the state to the wonderful careers and opportunities that aviation offers.

Prior to 1970 women were restricted to serving in support fields like flight simulation training, air traffic control and as flight attendants in the aviation industries. However, after 1970 they had been allowed in military training, flying commercial airlines, etc and their strength is considerably increasing in comparison with the global number of women airline pilots, said the governor.

Expressing a great pride about the Manipuri girls, Lt. S. Vijaya Devi of the Indian Navy who had been awarded the Nari Shakti Puraskar, she said that Manipuri women and girls had excelled in different spheres of life, sports, art and culture, hospitality and many other sectors. The girls of the state could do much more if given the opportunities through training in every avenues and livelihood programme which is in line with the  Prime Minister’s vision of “Beti Ki Udaan, Desh Ka Swabhimaan”, She added.

Mentioning about air connectivity and convenience of direct flight between Imphal and Delhi, Dr. Najma also stated that she would try hard to connect Imphal with other metro cities of India through direct flight. And this will facilitate students of the state who are studying in those metro cities.

APD, Imphal Airport, S K Panigrahi said that owing to high growth rate of air passengers in the recent times with 17% last year, aviation industry has become a big scope for youths in the country. With the UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) scheme, with the objective of “Let the common citizen of the country fly”, the aviation industry will provide many opportunities to the youths and so they should be trained to garner such opportunities and be ready to drive the particular industry.

The celebration was also attended by Mr. Phil Shaw, CEO, Lockheed Martin India; members of Women in Aviation International (India Chapter) and School Students. A short movie on WAI India Chapter was also screened during the function.