Republic Day 2020: Captain Tania Sher Gill led an all-men contingent during the ceremonial parade.
Wearing a khaki uniform and holding a ceremonial sword, Captain Tania Sher Gill, 26, led an all-men contingent during the ceremonial Republic Day parade in Delhi's Rajpath. This was be the second time in a row that a woman officer led the Corps of Signals Contingent.
Captain Shergill had recently created history by becoming the first woman Parade Adjutant to lead all-men contingents during the Army Day function.
In an interview to NDTV, Tania Sher Gill, a fourth generation officer in the family, had said that her affinity towards the Army developed at an early age.
"Ever since I was a little girl, I always wanted to join fauj (Army), I had always seen my father getting ready, wearing his uniform. So I always had it at the back of my mind that one day I will earn the uniform," she said.
"You feel alive, you feel grateful, you feel happy that you are down on the ground and leading the contingent", Captain Sher Gill said.
On women's representation in the Army, Captain Shergill said admission in the armed forces cannot be on the basis of a person's gender, religion, caste or where she is coming from. "It is on the basis of merit. If you are deserving, you are worthy, then you go ahead," she said.
Last year, woman officer Bhavana Kasturi, then a lieutenant, had for the first time led an all-male Army Service Corps (ASC) contingent during the Republic Day parade.