Chennai: Not wishing to remain grieving over her husband’s death in an anti-insurgency operation two years ago, a soldier’s wife passed out of the training academy here to become an army officer.
Dehradun’s Priya Semwal, 27, mother of a seven-year-old Khwaish, braved all odds to go through the gruelling 11-month training at the Officers’ Training Academy to create history in the Indian Army. “Priya’s story is unprecedented. It’s the biggest tribute she could pay to her martyred husband and the greatest service she could render to our nation”, said OTA commandant Lt Gen S. S. Jog.
Naik Amit Sharma had encouraged his wife Priya to continue studies even after marriage even though he himself was just a matriculate. She completed MSc in mathematics and got a teaching degree (BEd) as well and was working as a maths teacher at a private tutorial at Dehradun when Naik Sharma of 14 Rajput Battalion was sent on a counter insurgency operation in Arunachal Pradesh and was killed.
Normally, a soldier’s widow would end up working in an army canteen but Sharma’s commanding officer Colonel Arun P. Agarwal encouraged her to appear for the SSB exam and become an officer in the Army. “I am grateful to colonel (Agarwal) saab. I am happy to take my husband’s place in serving the nation, said Lieutenant Priya.
