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She?s showcasing the Army
SHE?S SIMPLE, down to earth and has a first to her credit. No, no, we won?t go for the cliche that another woman has stormed a male bastion but yes, we salute this woman?s grit and determination in getting where she is today. The first woman Public Relations Officer (PRO) of Central Command, Kismet Sagar, knows her job and is up to it. ?My objective is to bring people closer to the Army (through the media),? says the lady who?s armed with a Ph.D. ?The Army has a charm and the citizens should know how we function,? she says.
SHE’S SIMPLE, down to earth and has a first to her credit. No, no, we won’t go for the cliché that another woman has stormed a male bastion but yes, we salute this woman’s grit and determination in getting where she is today.
The first woman Public Relations Officer (PRO) of Central Command, Kismet Sagar, knows her job and is up to it. “My objective is to bring people closer to the Army (through the media),” says the lady who’s armed with a Ph.D. “The Army has a charm and the citizens should know how we function,” she says.
Hailing from a civilian background, Kismet recalls her first interaction with senior military officials as an encouraging one. “They welcomed the fact that a woman officer was handling the task,” she says.
On what made her to choose this field, the petite woman officer says the job was challenging and unlike the previous one where she had to interact with the masses. Here she would be in a system that is regimented, excellent and a niche above the rest. “Of course I will miss the interaction with the people but there’s so much to do here,” she adds.
As regards her previous job, Kismet recalled that her past ventures had brought her closer to the realities of life. She served in the office of the Directorate of Field Publicity (DFP), wherein, she was had handled projects on pulse polio, anti-HIV awareness, and anti-foeticide. “Adversity was our teacher,” she says.
The reluctant parents showered us with many sorts of comments, she said. “I recall how we were told, during the Pulse Polio programme, ‘First go and get two drops of water for us’. Parents locked their children in houses and warned them not to come before us. And, I also recall a frightful scene, wherein, a woman with a sickle yelled, ‘If you go near to my child I am going to cut you into pieces’. It was tough,” she says. But then, the tough times get the tough going and today, she’s taken up the new challenges with the Army after the field work heading a team of four.
Even on advocating administering ion tablets, the villagers used to look at us in suspicion, she said and added that the team was subjected to comments like ‘Our child will turn black, and then who would marry him or her?’ or, ‘What if my child is overgrown in the womb after consuming the tablets?’.
However, she expresses concern at the lack of sensitivity in the media about these issues.
Sagar plans to pen her field experiences in the form of a book. “I intend to cover all aspects countered during the campaigns,” she says. Terming as the ‘true crusaders’ of the pulse-polio campaign, the PRO says the tail-level vaccinators are putting in their best to eradicate polio. Tail-level vaccinators comprise a team of four or five vaccinators, who walk several kilometres at a time to administer polio drops to children.
“As behind every successful man there’s a woman, so is true for women,” she concludes with a glint, giving to credit to “my husband Anil Sagar who’s an IAS officer and we have two beautiful children.”
Back to clichés, another woman of grit and ambition… But then, no other words would describe her better!
