The first woman recipient of the 'Ashoka Chakra', India's highest peacetime gallantry award, is __________.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Neerja Bhanot
Neerja Bhanot, the senior flight purser of Pan Am Flight 73, was killed on 5 September 1986 while saving passengers when the plane was hijacked at Karachi. She was awarded the Ashoka Chakra posthumously, the first woman and, at 22, the youngest person to receive it. The Ashoka Chakra is India’s highest peacetime gallantry award; the Param Vir Chakra is its counterpart in war.