June 11, 2025 – In a historic first, Lieutenant Commander Yashasvi Solanki (27) has been appointed as the first woman Aide-de-Camp (ADC) to the President of India, officially assuming the prestigious role on May 9. Hailing from Bharuch in Gujarat, Solanki was selected in April, after which she under-went a month-long orientation before being awarded the coveted aiguillette from President Droupadi Murmu, who is the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces.

An ADC is a personal staff officer. As a rule, the President has five ADCs - three from the Army and one each from the Navy and Air Force. However, none of them have been a woman officer so far. 

Solanki has been appointed for a tenure of two-and-a-half to three years. 

This has been the first time that a woman officer from the Indian Navy has been given this role. Solanki joins a long line of cherished names of women who have been in important military roles and also been a part of the overall defence and security of India. 

The first Indian woman Lieutenant General in the Indian Army and also the Vice Admiral in the Indian Navy was Punita Arora while Padmavathy Bandopadhyay was India’s first woman Air Marshal and the first woman officer to become an aviation medicine specialist.

Yashaswi was commissioned into the Indian Navy after being commissioned in the Short Service.

On being asked what motivated her to join the Force, she said: "It's the aura that officers carry. When I was in Class VIII, we had a Republic Day parade in school where an IAF pilot was the chief guest. He carried a different energy.”