Seema Rao – The Iron Lady of Indian Army
From the society where it’s said that women should not raise their voice, we have transformed to a platform where women have undertaken male dominated areas. Having the potential in almost every field’s women have come out of their shackles of exclusion.
The dictionary defines patriotism as love for one’s own country with an earnest desire to contribute towards the welfare of the countrymen. A 7th degree black belt holder in martial arts, Seema Rao is India’s first and only female commando trainer. Seema has been commando training to various armed forces in India for 20 years. She is also trained in Jeet Kune Do under Richard Bustillo, a student of the iconic martial artist Bruce Lee. This bold and courageous woman calls herself ‘50 years young’.
Being born to a freedom fighters family she had acquired the temptation to serve the nation. Her father was a freedom fighter. As a child she used to hear a lot of stories about his participation in the freedom struggle which motivated her. She always used to think of getting such opportunities in order to serve the country by doing something. While recalling her childhood days she states, “As a child in school I was weak and dominated, bullied around, and I wanted to change that.” Her tough childhood motivated her to become what she is today. She grew up as an attentive kid.
Seema Rao was married to Major Dr Deepak Rao. He was a military trainer, physician, writer, grandmaster and Zen philosopher. In order to train the soldiers Seema has acquired the skills of scuba diving, mountaineering and taekwondo. After her marriage she learnt martial arts from her husband. She is also an expert in air rifle shooting. Besides being a doctor of traditional medicine (MD) she holds an MBA and a PhD in crisis management as well.
In 1996 Dr Seema Rao and her husband Deepak Rao approached the service chiefs of army, Navy, BSF and NSG and introduced their system. The chief was impressed with the couple’s dedication. They got interested in their idea of unarmed combat skill and asked them to give a demonstration to their force. They were totally impressed with the demonstration and wanted them to train their force. They then decided to try out their training program. In 2010, the government of India authorized them to train the police forces and the anti-terrorist squad in 12 states. Being the only female she along with her husband has provided training to almost every elite unit of Indian forces which included the Para commandos, NSG Black cats, Marine commandos, Garud, BSF, the army corps, battle schools and its commando wing. They also initiated the Defence against Rape and Eve teasing (DARE) programme for women to deal with offenses like sexual harassment, sexual assault, stalking and rape.
She has been training them for almost 2 decades for free. Even when there was a shortage of money, she and her husband did not accept money from the military for their services. There were times when they became bankrupt. Being a demanding field she had faced certain challenges that she had suffered from a back injury. She fractured her back bones and that was when she had even thought of discontinuing, as the work was laced with physical injuries and danger. But being a strong woman with a powerful vision she was not ready to give up her passion.
But the path to success has always been difficult for Seema with her personal sacrifices. Rao decided to sacrifice having a child to remain dedicated to her work. As a heartwarming believer of women empowerment, she adopted a child named her Komal Rao who is now 25 years of age. She have willingly given up having her own biological child due to the physical demands of her work but she states that she have not once regretted it. Her daughter, has become the world’s only woman to defeat a male opponent in a cage fight during a Mixed Martial Arts tournament.
Dr Seema Rao has improvised with the Close Quarter Battle (CQB) with better techniques exclusively for the use of Indian Armed Forces. She was also Mrs India World pageant finalist. She also was an HMI medalist in rock climbing. In 2009 she also received IAF Para wings and was trained by Garud commandos for this. She is a recipient of Nari Shakthi award. Apart from being an exceptionally strong woman Dr.Seema Rao also showcased her talents in writing, directing, editing, her movie named Hathapayi, delivering action and mixed martial arts to the silver screen. She also produced the music and gave her voice for the soundtrack of the movie. The movie stayed unreleased but won the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Film Festival Jury award for 2015. She has also authored and co-authored several books on combat training. For her job as India’s first woman commando trainer who has until now trained over 20,000 soldiers from Indian paramilitary and police, armed forces , Seema has received three Army Chief Citations, a commendable record and also won the World Peace Award.
“Each award means a lot – they are all about appreciation of one’s work. But to be honest, receiving the Nari Shakti award from the President of India is something I hold very dear to my heart. My achievements would be incomplete without this award,” says Seema.
While she has been taking up fewer assignments at present, she benefits her story to make a difference to society. As a whole she has five Ted Talks under her belt and is often invited to share her story with the youth.
She delivered her ideas to 15,000 young girls recently at the National Women’s Parliament in Amravati, Maharashtra, saying “I like my military assignments, but I like contributing to society too. I hope that my story will inspire the youth—especially women—to break out of their shells and explore their inner attributes, even if it means taking an unconventional path.”
Seema Rao believes that “life is short. You have to power through with full force. Don’t let your challenges defeat you. I am proud that I can serve my country in my own way”.
Dr. Seema Rao is the essence of a woman’s emotional, mental, and physical strength. She exhibits to all women that there is no obstacle capable of withholding their dreams and living their lives fearlessly. For women who feel they are weak or are not good enough to join the army she states, “I think it’s high time we women should contribute to our country’s Forces by joining the Army. There is nothing like weakness. It is more imagined than real. There’s nothing like being “not good enough”. As long as you have the fire in your heart to do something, and walk on the path to achieve it, nothing can stop you. You can even rule the world if you want to!”
