India First and Only Female Marine Pilot: Reshma Nilofer Naha
This Month, we have been looking at featuring and empowering women who have been making waves in the Ocean Shipping Industry.
This week we feature Reshma Nilofer Naha, India’s first and only female marine pilot. She was recently awarded the Nari Shakti Award by President Ram Nath Kovind himself last week.
Naha, as a river pilot, guides ships from Sagar right to Calcutta and Haldia ports through the Hooghly.
She was initially entrusted with the responsibility of handling smaller vessels, and then, upon gaining experience and graduating, she will be given larger ships to pilot. The ships, that either come to Kolkata or Haldia port, would have to contact Naha on Sagar Island on approaching the Sandheads. As there is little scope to manoeuvre, a pilot like Naha, would have to make the best use of the tides, be aware of the channels that the ship as to steer through and avoid stranding it.
The pilots that navigates the ships take around 148Kms, are unique to the Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT), and only have 56 in service, out of which Naha is the only Woman.
In an interview with Times of India, she said that initially most mariners assume she is a trainee and is shocked to learn that she is actually the pilot. She earns their respect by manoeuvring the ship through the bars and bends of the Hooghly.
“I keep telling women that how men treat them depends on how they carry themselves. They will be respected and taken seriously only if they behave in a certain manner and prove that they are in no way inferior,” Naha said.
We salute women like Reshma Nilofer Naha who have broken barriers and entered the industry with courage and determination and have made a mark for themselves. They have truly paved the way for future female marine pilots to enter.
