Positive India: Meet Captain Swati Raval, Who Airlifted 263 Indians From Italy Amid Covid-19

This is a trying time, a test of the world in general amid the pandemic covid-19 which has affected so many and taken so many lives. You and I are just doing work from home or sitting at home and whining about not being able to step out. But have you stopped for a moment and wondered what all those doctors and people helping in coronavirus prevention are going through? They are dealing with the effected patients day in and out, in some or the other way touching so many lives that we can't even imagine. So we are taking a pause, we urge you as well to do so and read up on some of the people who are going out of their way for the safety of us Indians. HerZindagi and Jagran New Media have launched a #PositiveIndia campaign to make the negative atmosphere positive. Meet Captain Swati Rawal dear readers, the woman pilot who flew into Rome and airlifted 263 Indians and brought them back to Delhi amid the Covid 19 outbreak, on March 22.

Swati Raval, the commander of the Air India Boeing 777, flew to Italy and brought back so many Indians who would have probably caught the virus or lived in fear of it. She is one of those human beings who risked her own safety for the public and hats off to her. She too has a kid like so many mothers who worry over us all the time. But did you know that Swati was also one of the women in theAir India's all-woman crew which flew Mumbai to New York in 2010!?

For 15 years she has been flying and interestingly, she wanted to be a fighter pilot but at the time women were not allowed in the Air Force to fly. So then she became a commercial pilot.

Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, too had taken to social media and shared pictures of Captain Swati Raval and the Indians on the flight. He wrote: "When the going gets tough, the tough get going. The crew of @airindiain Boeing 777 led by Capt Swati Raval & Capt Raja Chauhan responded to the call of duty & displayed exemplary determination by airlifting 263 Indians, mostly students, stranded in Rome."

When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

The crew of @airindiain Boeing 777 led by Capt Swati Raval & Capt Raja Chauhan responded to the call of duty & displayed exemplary determination by airlifting 263 Indians, mostly students, stranded in Rome. pic.twitter.com/JfqC7kwmGG

— Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) March 22, 2020

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well applauded Swati and crew with Swati also being the first woman pilot to operate a rescue flight.

He wrote: "Extremely proud of this team of @airindiain, which has shown utmost courage and risen to the call of humanity. Their outstanding efforts are admired by several people across India. #IndiaFightsCorona."

Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan also lauded the team of Air India on Twitter.

Salute Capt. Swati Raval, Capt. Raja Chauhan and the crew of @airindiain, for keeping the call of duty above all else. Airlifting 263 Indians stranded in Rome, the team deserves every bit of admiration and appreciation for their humanitarian efforts. #IndiaFightsCorona https://t.co/cZGC22cc2z

— Dharmendra Pradhan (@dpradhanbjp) March 23, 2020

Swati Raval's husband Ajit Kumar Bhardwaj too took the social media website and congratulated his wife. He wrote: "I congratulate my wife Capt Swati Raval to become first civil woman pilot to operate rescue flight @airindiain AI122 from Rome to Delhi to rescue 263 indian students. Really proud. (sic)"

Till now in India, we have had confirmed coronavirus cases of 419, as of March 23. Eight people have already lost their lives.