SRINAGAR: Thirty-year-old Iram Habib has become the first Kashmiri Muslim woman to become a pilot. Habib will join a private airline next month.

Iram succeeds Tanvi Raina, a Kashmiri Pandit, who joined Air India as the Valley’s first woman pilot in 2016. In April last year, 21-year-old Ayesha Aziz, also from Kashmir, became India’s youngest student pilot.

Her father is a supplier of surgical equipment to government hospitals. In her pursuit, Iram even gave up her dream of achieving a doctorate in forestry to give wings to her childhood ambition.

Iram, who is presently taking classes in Delhi to get a commercial pilot license, told TOI that she completed her training from Miami in the US in 2016. “Everyone was surprised to find that I am a Kashmiri Muslim doing flying but I went ahead to achieve my goal,” she said.

courtesy : timesofindia.indiatimes.com


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 New Delhi (PTI): Noted sculptor Ram Sutar, known for designing the world's tallest statue — Statue of Unity — in Gujarat, passed away late on Wednesday night at his Noida residence, his son said.

He was 100 and ailing with age-related illnesses.

"It is with profound grief that we inform you of the passing of my father Shri Ram Vanji Sutar on 17th December midnight at our residence," his son Anil Sutar said in a note shared with the press on Thursday.

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Born in a humble family in Gondur village under the Dhule district of present-day Maharashtra on February 19, 1925, Sutar is known to have been drawn to sculpting from his childhood.

A gold medallist from JJ School of Art and Architecture, Mumbai, Sutar, has to his credit a long list of achievements.

The iconic statues of Mahatma Gandhi seated in a meditating pose and of Chhatrapati Shivaji riding a horse on the Parliament premises rank among his finest creations.

The Statue of Unity honours Sardar Patel, country's first deputy prime minister and home minister.

Sutar was honoured with the Padma Shri in 1999 and the Padma Bhushan in 2016.

Recently, Sutar was conferred with the Maharashtra Bhushan Puraskar, the state's highest award.