Navy women sail around the world, create history

After covering more than 21000 nautical miles through fair and foul weather at sea, the INSV Tarini with its six Indian Navy women sailors onboard, waded into the pier at the INS Mandovi near Panaji, after scripting history as the first all women naval crew to circumvent the globe.

Defence Minister Niramala Sitharaman, who was flagged in the expedition after the crew spent nearly nine months at sea, said that the extraordinary and unprecedented feat by Indian Navy women sailors was a message to millions of youngsters in India, that tough goals can be achieved by them.

Sitharaman, who was glowing in her praise of Lieutenant Vartika Joshi and her crew, also said that their feat should not be viewed as an achievement for women alone, but for Indian youngsters, for whom the historic ‘Navika Sagar Parikrama’ should be a motivation.

“It is not just for the girls. It is not just for the women of this country. The women of the country have shown its possible for youngsters, if they want to do something, that they can indeed do it. So I would lift the whole motivation argument, not just confine it to the ladies of this country, but for all youngsters,” Sitharaman told a function held at the naval base, soon after the 55-foot sailboat was flagged during a formal ceremony, which was also attended by Indian Navy Admiral Sunil Lanba.

“So I would want not for a minute undermine this by saying the girls have achieved, young Indians have achieved and the kind of grit shown by these young ladies is amazing. They have made history, not only for themselves, but for the naval history and maritime history of the world,” Sitharaman also said.

The expedition was flagged off last year by Sitharaman, soon after the latter was appointed Defence Minister in the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance Government, and has since completed the global circumnavigation across six legs with stopovers in Australia, New Zealand, Falkland Islands, South Africa and Mauritius traveling a distance of 21,600 nautical miles.

Sitharaman also said, that the inspirational journey of the Navika Sagar Parikrama team was being keenly followed by herself, the Prime Minister of India along with several social media users, who constantly use to ask her for updates of the expedition.

“...wherever I went in this country, people would start a conversation (on social media) with me saying how are the girls, what are they doing, when are they returning. That has become the conversation among many people who have been closely following the ministry of Defence, particularly the navy,” Sitharaman said.

“I am immensely grateful that the Prime Minister kept tag of what was going on. Occasionally, he directly spoke to them to keep the nation’s motivation and interest on record. He has also agreed to meet them at the latest, that is day after,” the Defence Minister also said.