UP IRS officer 1st Indian to be ICAO VP after 68 years

LUCKNOW: Shefali Juneja, an Indian Revenue Service officer of 1992, has been elected the first vice-president of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a specialist UN body on aviation. Juneja, who hails from Agra, is the first Indian to have occupied this coveted chair after 68 years.
She is the representative of India to the ICAO since 2019 and was elected the chairperson of the UN specialised aviation agency's Air Transport Committee (ATC) last year. She is the first woman representative from India at the ICAO. Juneja is the wife of senior UP cadre IPS officer Dipesh Juneja, who is at present ADG, prosecution, in Lucknow. 'India at ICAO' tweeted on Friday: "A big success for India. The International Civil Aviation Organisation today elected Representative of India, Dr Shefali Juneja as the first Vice President @icsa. India gets this after 68 years".
India to play a role in guiding aviation policy, says Scindia
Union civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has congratulated and appreciated this achievement. After being elected to the coveted chair, Juneja expressed her gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union civil aviation minister Scindia for having encouraged her all through her posting.
"Due to their unstinting support she has been able to bring laurels to the country and constantly keep the country’s flag flying high in the international arena. This also enhances the agenda of Women Empowerment of Prime Minister Narendra Modi," she said.
“It is an opportunity to claim attention to India's growing ability in the aviation sector globally. It will also enable India to play a deeper role in guiding aviation policies in the interest of emerging economies and developing countries,” she added.
During her stay at ICAO in the past four years, she has also headed important posts of various committees like Innovation, Gender, Strategic Policy, Alternate Fuels and Aviation Security. She was instrumental in getting an MoU executed between the ICAO and International Solar Alliance, the flagship project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Shefali, who was appointed as the Representative of India (ROI) in ICAO in 2019, was given an extension last year due to her Meritorious work. She has broken the glass ceiling at the ICAO, which has been dominated by the Western developed nations till date. As an IRS officer, Juneja has held important posts in the department including investigation, vigilance and assessments, in UP and Delhi. She worked in the ministry of civil aviation as director and joint secretary also before she was selected for this prestigious assignment as the ROI.
She had her secondary education at St Patrick’s College, Agra; graduated from Lady Shriram College and post graduated from St. Stephen’s College, New Delhi. She is a master in aviation management, M.Phil and a doctorate.
Headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, ICAO is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation and fosters the planning and development of international air transport to ensure safe and orderly growth.
The ICAO Council adopts standards and recommended practices concerning air navigation, its infrastructure, flight inspection prevention of unlawful interference, and facilitation of bordercrossing procedures for international civil aviation.
India is set to emerge as the third largest aviation market globally by 2025. The recent commercial agreements to buy new aircrafts by Air India and Indigo airline bear testimony to this booming aviation market in India.