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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

‘The Ninety-Nines’ top honour for Mumbai woman pilot

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...

‘The Ninety-Nines’ top honour for Mumbai woman pilot

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.

Clever seat selection helped BJP to secure historic win

The party won 65 seats against Congress, 37 against NCP (SP) and 29 against Shiv Sena (UBT)

Clever seat selection

Mumbai: The BJP’s strategic seat sharing with the allies has proved beneficial for the party. An analysis of the Assembly election results show that the BJP has scored over its main rival, the Congress, in a big way because of the direct fights.


The analysis shows that BJP defeated all three constituents of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) – Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) – in the direct fights. This is attributed as one of the reasons for the BJP’s historic poll success.


The BJP contested 147 out of 288 seats. In 76 constituencies, it faced Congress. BJP secured victory in 65 seats and lost only 11 seats, making it a whopping 86 per cent of the total direct fights. This was followed by an even stronger performance against NCP (SP). Of the total 39 fights with Sharad Pawar’s party, BJP captured 37 seats making it 95 per cent of the total fights with NCP (SP). BJP and Shiv Sena (UBT) were head-to-head in 32 constituencies, of which BJP emerged victorious in 29 seats, making this 91 per cent of the total direct contests.


According to a BJP strategist the party had bargained hard with its allies, Shiv Sena and NCP to get the desired constituencies in the seat sharing formula. “We had studied to potential candidates of the MVA. That helped us in choosing the seats where we can register comfortable victories,” the strategist said.


BJP spokesperson Niranjan Shetty attributed the success to all the party workers who worked hard to boost development, infrastructure in the state. He gave credit to Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for his contribution to the party’s success.


Shetty pointed out that in 2019, Uddhav Thackeray had stalled all the “novel” and “legendary” projects that Fadnavis had started when he had taken over as CM, making it very easy for the people of Maharashtra to strike a comparison between both the leaders and the potential they had for serving the people. “Devendra Fadnavis gave up his post very easily for the larger good. There are many such examples like Venkaiah Naidu who was BJP National President and later worked as the Vice President of India because that was the need of the hour. We seldom care about our posts,” Shetty told The Perfect Voice.


Congress spokesperson Atul Londhe refused to call the election results as the people’s mandate. “This is not at all a Janata mandate. Despite Maharashtra struggling with so many basic social issues, how can BJP acquire such a huge mandate is the question. If a student copies and fails with just passing marks, it can go unnoticed, but if a student copies and bags the number one position, something is fishy. Why is the BJP scared of ballot papers?” he said.

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