Meet the officer who assisted PM in hoisting the flag

A woman Indian Army officer, Major Shweta Pandey, assisted Prime Minister Narendra Modi in unfurling the national flag atop the ramparts of the Red Fort during the 74th Independence Day celebrations on Saturday.

It was only fitting as the prime minister spoke about women empowerment and their achievements in his address to the nation.

Women are toiling in coal mines, but India's daughters are also flying fighter planes and touching the skies, he said.

Hailing from Lucknow, Major Pandey was commissioned in the Army in March 2012 from the Officers Training Academy, Chennai.

She is an alumna of City Montessori School, Lucknow, and holds a B.Tech degree in computer science. She is an achiever, officials said.

At the training academy, she won the Garhwal Rifles medal for topping in tactics. She has won over 75 medals and 250 certificates in various national and international events during her school and college days.

Major Pandey's father Raj Ratan Pandey served as an additional director in the finance department of the Uttar Pradesh government and her mother Amita Pandey is a professor of Sanskrit and Hindi.