Daughter's Day- 27 September : Making Nation Proud

Daughters are angels sent from above to fill hearts with unending love. With a little support from their loved ones, no doubt they can reach the highest point of success. For the past several decades, there have been many of them who have not only made their parents proud but also the entire nation. With each passing year, they have participated and achieved equal efforts like that of the males.

Kalpana Chawla

Kalpana Chawla was the first woman of Indian origin to go to space. In 2003, Chawla was one of the seven crew members who died in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster when the spacecraft disintegrated during its re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere. She is regarded as a national hero in India.

Dr Kiran Bedi

Kiran Bedi is a retired Indian Police Service officer, social activist, former tennis player and politician who is the current Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry. She is the first female Indian Police Service officer and started her service in 1972. She remained in service for 35 years before taking voluntary retirement in 2007 as Director General, Bureau of Police Research and Development.

Dr Tessy Thomas

Tessy Thomas (born April 1963) is an Indian scientist and Director General of Aeronautical Systems and the former Project Director for Agni-IV missile in Defence Research and Development Organisation. She is the first woman scientist to head a missile project in India.

Ayyalasomayajula Lalitha

Ayyalasomayajula Lalitha MIEE (A Lalitha) was India's first female engineer. Lalitha graduated in 1943 with a degree in electrical engineering - becoming India's first woman engineer. She completed her practical training with a one year apprenticeship in Jamalpur Railway Workshop, a major repair and overhaul facility.

Shafali Verma

In September 2019, she was named in India's Women's Twenty20 International (WT20I) squad for their series against South Africa. She made her WT20I debut for India at the age of fifteen, against South Africa, on 24 September 2019. She was the youngest woman to play for India in a T20I matchand in November 2019 against the West Indies, became the youngest woman for India to score a half-century in international cricket. Against the West Indies, she scored 158 runs in five matches, and was named the player of the series.

Durga Bai Kamat

Durgabai Kamat was a Marathi actress, who was the first actress of Indian cinema. In the early 1900s, acting in film or theatre was a taboo for women, so much so Dadasaheb Phalke, the father of Indian cinema, had to use male actors to female role in first Indian film, 'Raja Harishchandra', however with its success, female actress were encouraged, thus he introduced Kamat in his 1913 second movie 'Mohini Bhasmasur' as a leading lady Parvati, while her daughter Kamlabai Gokhale , played the role of as Mohini, thus becoming the first female child actress of Indian cinema.

Pratibha Patil

Pratibha Devisingh Patil is an Indian politician who served as the 12th President of India from 2007 to 2012. A member of the Indian National Congress, Patil is the only woman to have held the office. She previously served as the Governor of Rajasthan from 2004 to 2007.

Indira Gandhi

Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was the first and, to date, only female Prime Minister of India. She served as prime minister from January 1966 to March 1977 and again from January 1980 until her assassination in October 1984, making her the second longest-serving Indian prime minister after her father.

Saina Nehwal

The first Indian badminton player to win an Olympic medal, Saina Nehwal can totally be credited for making the sport so popular in the country. She is the first female and the second Indian shuttler to be ranked first in the world and has been awarded with Arjuna Award, Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan for her achievements.

Geeta Phogat

Freestyle wrestler Geeta Phogat became a household name after she won a gold medal in wrestling at the Commonwealth Games (2010), something that has not been done before by any wrestler, male or female. She is also the first Indian female wrestler to have qualified for the Summer Olympics (2012), where she lost out on a bronze.

Sania Mirza

Sania Mirza is an Indian professional tennis player. A former doubles world No. 1, she has won six Grand Slam titles in her career.

Shakuntala Devi

Shakuntala Devi the first Indian woman mathematician who was also known as human calculator has given us mind cracking quick multiplication.

Radhika Nair

Radhika Nair is an Indian fashion model. Radhika Nair is an Indian fashion model. Radhika was the first Indian model & the first to walk for Demna Gvasalia Balenciaga SS17 show in Paris.

Mithali Raj

Mithali Dorai Raj is an Indian cricketer and the captain of the Indian women's national cricket team. A right-handed opening batter, she is often regarded as India's greatest batswoman.

PV Sindhu

Pusarla Venkata Sindhu is an Indian professional badminton player. Having made her international debut in 2009, she rose to a career high ranking of no. 2 in April 2017.

Mary Kom

Mangte Chungneijang Mary Kom is an Indian amateur boxer and incumbent Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha. She is the only female to become World Amateur Boxing champion for a record six times, the only female boxer to have won a medal in each one of the first seven World Championships, and the only boxer (male or female) to win eight World Championship medals.

Amrita Sher-Gil

Amrita Sher-Gil was a Hungarian-Indian painter. She has been called "one of the greatest avant-garde women artists of the early 20th century" and a "pioneer" in modern Indian art. Drawn to painting from an early age, Sher-Gil started getting formal lessons in the art, at the age of eight.

Sakshi Malik

Sakshi's bronze in wrestling ended India's medal drought at the Rio Olympics, 2016 and that instantly made her an inspiration for billions of Indians.

The 2016 Summer Olympics at Rio de Janeiro was quite nightmarish for the Indian contingent, only winning two medals. The silver lining? Both were won by women and Sakshi was one of them. With this feat, she became the first Indian female wrestler to win a medal at the Olympics. Belonging to a family that consisted of wrestlers, Sakshi picked up the sport at the young age of 12.

Rani Rampal

At an age when most children are giving their boards, Rani was representing the country at the (Hockey) World Cup. All of 15 years old at the time, she is now an important part of the team. Rani's breakthrough tournament was Champion's Challenge Tournament where she was adjudged 'the top goal scorer" and the "young player of the tournament.

Deepika Pallikal

Deepika is India's premier squash player, who was the first Indian to break into the top 10 in the PSA Women's rankings. She started getting noticed in 2011, when she won three WISPA (Women's International Squash Players Association) tour titles and attained a career-best ranking of 13th.

Sub Lieutenant Shivangi Singh

She is an Indian pilot serving in the Indian Navy. She became the first female Indian naval pilot on 2 December 2019.

Bachendri Pal

Bachendri Pal is an Indian mountaineer, who in 1984 became the first Indian woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.She was awarded the third highest civilian award Padma Bhushan by Government of India in 2019.

Sucheta Kripalini

Sucheta Kripalani, was an Indian freedom fighter and politician. She was India's first woman Chief Minister, serving as the head of the Uttar Pradesh government from 1963 to 1967.

Neerja Bhanot

Neerja Bhanot, Ashoka Chakra was an Indian head purser who died while saving passengers on Pan Am Flight 73 which had been hijacked by terrorists during a stopover in Karachi, Pakistan, on 5 September 1986, just two days before her 23rd birthday.

Gunjan Saxena

Flight Lieutenant Gunjan Saxena is an Indian Air Force (IAF) officer and former helicopter pilot. She joined the IAF in 1994 and is a 1999 Kargil War veteran. She is the only woman to be part of the Kargil War, making her the first woman IAF officer to go to war. She is the first of two women along with Flight Lieutenant Srividya Rajan from the IAF to enter a war zone flying Cheetah helicopters.

Sushmita Sen

Sushmita Sen is an Indian actress and model who was crowned Femina Miss India in 1994 and won Miss Universe 1994 at the age of 18. Sen is the first Indian woman to win the competition and has since primarily worked in Hindi films.

Menaka Guruswamy

Menaka Guruswamy is an advocate in the Supreme Court of India. She works mostly in constitutional law and criminal law. She has played a very active role in defending a provision in the Right to Education Act, which mandated that all non minority run private schools admit disadvantaged children.

MS Subbulakshmi

Madurai Shanmukhavadivu Subbulakshmi was an Indian Carnatic singer from Madurai, Tamil Nadu. She was the first musician ever to be awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour.

Durgabai Deshmukh

Popularly known as 'Iron Lady', Durgabai Deshmukh was an energetic and enlivened spirit. A firebrand freedom fighter, a dedicated social worker and an adept lawyer, she had the potential of turning on her magic at the wink of an eye whenever she felt that people and the country needed her.