Surgeon Vice Admiral (

Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

) Punita Arora

PVSM Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM) (IAST: ) is a military award of India. It was constituted in 1960 and since then it is awarded in recognition to peace-time service of the most exceptional order and may be awarded posthumously. All ranks of the ...

, SM, VSM is a former

Flag Officer A flag officer is a commissioned officer in a nation's armed forces senior enough to be entitled to fly a flag to mark the position from which the officer exercises command. The term is used differently in different countries: *In many countr ...

of the

Indian Navy The Indian Navy is the maritime branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff, a four-star admiral, commands the navy. As a blue-water navy, it operates sig ...

and the

Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...

. Arora was the first woman in the

Indian Armed Forces The Indian Armed Forces are the military forces of the Republic of India. It consists of three professional uniformed services: the Indian Army, Indian Navy, and Indian Air Force.—— Additionally, the Indian Armed Forces are supported by ...

to be promoted to a

Three-star rank An officer of three-star rank is a senior commander in many of the armed services holding a rank described by the NATO code of OF-8. The term is also used by some armed forces which are not NATO members. Typically, three-star officers hold the ...

. She held the ranks of

in the

and Surgeon Vice Admiral in the

Early life

She was born into a Punjabi family which hails from

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

. When she was only one-year-old, her family moved to

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

during partition and got settled in

Saharanpur Saharanpur is a city and a municipal corporation in Uttar Pradesh, India. It is also the administrative headquarters of Saharanpur district. Saharanpur city's name was given after the Saint Shah Haroon Chishti. Saharanpur is declared as on ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

Education

She studied in Sophia School in

till 8th grade. After that she moved to Guru Nanak Girls Inter-College. In 11th standard while getting admitted to Government school for boys she decided to take

Science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

as a career. She joined

Armed Forces Medical College, Pune upright=1.1, AFMC main building The Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC) is a leading medical training institute in Pune, India, in the state of Maharashtra. The college is managed by the Indian Armed Forces. Established in May 1948 as a po ...

in 1963 which was the second batch of the AFMC and she turned out to be the topper of that batch.

Career

Punita Arora was commissioned in January 1968. Before becoming Surgeon Vice Admiral of Indian Navy she was

Commandant Commandant ( or ) is a title often given to the officer in charge of a military (or other uniformed service) training establishment or academy. This usage is common in English-speaking nations. In some countries it may be a military or police ran ...

of AFMC. She took the charge of commandant of Armed Forces Medical College on 1 September 2004 thereafter becoming the first woman officer to command the medical college. Before that she was co-ordinating Medical Research of the armed forces at the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

headquarters as additional director-general of Armed Forces Medical Services (Medical Research). She moved from the Army to the

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

as the AFMS has a common pool which allows officers to migrate from one service to another depending on the requirement.

Awards and medals

She has been awarded with 15 medals in her 36 years of career in Indian Armed Forces. *

Vishisht Seva Medal The Vishisht Seva Medal (VSM) is a decoration of the Indian Armed Forces. It is awarded to recognize "distinguished service of a high order" to all ranks of the Indian Armed Forces. From 1980, the Yudh Seva Medal was introduced to recognize excep ...

for providing efficient and timely help to victims of the Kaluchak massacre.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arora, Punita Indian Army personnel Female generals of the Indian Army Female admirals of the Indian Navy Living people 1946 births Women in 21st-century warfare Women in warfare post-1945 Indian female military personnel

Early life

Education

Career

Awards and medals

See also

References