Story Of Punita Arora, First Woman Lt. General Of Indian Army

Punita was commissioned in January 1968. Before becoming Vice Admiral of Indian Navy she was Commandant of AFMC. She took the charge of commandant of Armed Forces Medical College in 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 headquarters as additional director-general of Armed Forces Medical Services (Medical Research).She moved from the Army to the Navy as the AFMS has a common pool which allows officers to migrate from one service to another depending on the requirement.

Punita Arora was awarded Sena Medal by President of India for establishing Gynae Endoscopy and Oncology facilities in Armed Forces Hospitals. She was awarded Vishisht Seva Medal by President of India for the efficient and prompt treatment provided to the victims of Kalu Chak terrorist attack, under her leadership while commanding Military Hospital, Jammu. Lt Gen (Mrs) Punita Arora was appointed as Commandant, Armed Forces Medical College, Pune. Lieutenant General Punita Arora is the first woman in India to done the second highest rank i.e Lieutant General of Indian Armed Forces. and the first Vice admiral of Indian Navy.

Lt Gen Arora arrived in India after Partition when she was a year old. The only possessions her family had when they reached India were a blanket and a glass.Like the one million others who left their homes for a hard and uncertain future in a land they chose to live in after Independence, her family saw tough times. They started from scratch, made many sacrifices along the way and built their lives brick by brick.”A very strong point they had was unity of the family. If one working member got some money it was shared equally. My father was the eldest. His brother who expired just a year back at the age of 95, looked up to my father till the end,” she says.Sitting across in her living room, the general gives charming, everyday examples of the beauty of Indian family from her own life.

Of the time her mother accompanied her on her first posting to Fatehgarh, Uttar Pradesh in 1968. How her younger sisters, mother-in-law took turns in being with her on various postings; and that one time when her 75-year-old nani came to live with her only because she did not want her grand-daughter to be alone.”Our family system is so beautiful. If we disintegrate like nuclear families we are losing a lot. Today what I am I wouldn’t be without the support of my family,” says the officer whose husband retired as a brigadier from the Army Medical Corps.

As far back as Lt Gen Arora can remember, her father wanted her to become a doctor. “At every step I used to think if I want to be a doctor can I get my ears pierced or not? I was conditioned that way.”When she went for admission to the government college in Saharanpur, the college told her it was only for boys but she could get a seat if she found two other girls. She did and got admission.She joined the Armed Forces Medical College, Pune, as an undergraduate in 1962, did her post graduation, came back as faculty, was posted to its command hospital and has now returned for its top job as commandant.

“I’ve seen this college from every angle. I know its strengths and certain areas which I felt at that time, that it should be like this (changes to be made). Now that I am here if I can improve on those particular things I consider myself very privileged.”In those early days, when she joined AFMC — one of India’s premier medical colleges — it did not have the required infrastructure. “We never had a hostel, we were 23 girls in one barrack. There were so many departments that were in barracks but everything was compensated by the excellent teaching and care we got.”

Twenty-one-year-old Lt Punita arrived in Fatehgarh after doing an internship in Ambala. Till then she had lived in reasonably big cities and found herself in what was the badland of that time.”In 1968, Fatehgarh was infested with dacoits. I’d never seen a place like that before. Everybody roamed with a lathi or a gun.”At the hospital, people mistook her mother who was comparatively young, as the doctorsahib and thought of her as the daughter accompanying her.In hindsight, Arora feels it could not have had a better beginning. The area did not have many hospitals, no specialists and the nearest big hospital was in Kanpur or Lucknow, four to six hours away. The only train in that direction left at midnight.”If the patient missed the train you’d have to look after him/her yourself. So that gave me lots of confidence. It was a good tenure.”

When the war with Pakistan broke out, she was still posted in Fatehgarh and had married her doctor husband who was at the base hospital in Srinagar. She had come to the scenic city to deliver her son — currently a squadron leader in the Indian Air Force — and left a month before the war began. Her husband who used to be on airport duty witnessed the bombardment, and Punita saw the war preparations in Jammu & Kashmir, where the situation was completely different from her base in UP.”Fatehgarh never saw any war. People hardly knew what was happening. Like sitting over here, I’m sure you can’t even imagine what’s happening up there [in J&K]. If you go and spend even 15 days over there, you’ll come back with a totally different feeling.”

The gynaecologist who is one of the seven lieutenant generals in the Army Medical Corps has a family of doctors.Husband Brigadier P N Arora served the army as a dermatologist.Son Squadron Leader Sandeep Arora is also a dermatologist posted at the Air Force base hospital in New Delhi. His wife too is a doctor.Daughter Sabina left the army after a six-and-a-half year tenure to pursue a post graduate degree in Connecticut.”When my daughter wanted to go abroad, we didn’t know how to go about it. We had nobody in America. We told her you have a good career but she was determined. She did everything herself and I’m proud of her.