Meet Shweta Parmar, Skydiver Soars High To Spread Voting Awareness

Amid the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, adventure sports athlete Shweta Parmar has come up with the most hatke and daring way to urge you to vote. While skydiving from thousands of feet above the ground, she unfurled a flag that reads 'Vote India'. Parmar joined an elite and small club of women skydivers from India when she became the first female civilian from Gujarat to freefall at the young age of 28. Her tryst with the adventure activity began in 2016, with an instructor strapped to her back. The 31-year-old is India's fourth civilian woman skydiver. 

Know Who Is Shweta Parmar As She Sails The Skies

Shweta Parmar grabbed her skydiving license after training in the open blue skies of Spain. "Flying with my wings was the actual dream," she says, as quoted in The Times of India. With her feat, she stands among lofty personalities like Rachel Thomas, Padma Shri awardee and India's first woman skydiver ever. 

Parmar has used her skills and talent in skydiving to drive awareness to various causes. On Earth Day this year, (April 22, 2024), she made headlines when she held a flag reading 'No Plastic', about 13,000 feet above ground. Now, the Gujarat-based athlete has used her unique style to urge India to vote in the elections.  

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Shweta Parmar (@skydivershweta)

Parmar's journey as an extreme sports athlete was not easy. She lost her father at age 18, with finances left to be figured out by her sisters. She completed her education till MBA with support from home and scholarships, establishing a business with her brother. Apart from this, she is also a content creator and is also engaged in adventure other sports like skiing. 

With a United States Parachute Association (USPA-c) license in hand, Parmar can now skydive anywhere in the world. As per the USPA's division of demographics for those licensed under it, only 13% of skydivers in the US are women and "underrepresented." According to Parmar's Instagram bio, she has completed almost 300 dives in her career.

In India, reportedly only three women until Parmar had been licensed skydivers - Thomas, Shital Mahajan and Archana Sardana. Mahajan, also a Padma Shri awardee with Thomas, is a pioneering icon for women in skydiving, with eight world records to her name and recognition as the youngest-ever woman to dive in the North and South Poles. Sardana, meanwhile, is the country's first woman BASE jumper, as also the first woman master scuba diving trainer.