NIT Calicut alumna Athira Suresh has been in the spotlight since joining the Indian Army on 5 September, after completing her training at Officers Training Academy (OTA) in Gaya. She left her job as a Project Controls Engineer at the multinational energy firm ExxonMobil in Bengaluru to pursue her dream of serving in the military.
Suresh, from Kerala's Kozhikode, was commissioned as a lieutenant during the academy’s 29th passing-out parade. Alonside her, 252 other officer cadets, 218 men and 34 women, completed the Short Service Commission (Technical) course and received their stars. A parallel parade at OTA Chennai saw 595 new officers, including 64 women, inducted into the Army on the same day.
Tracing Athira Suresh's military roots
Suresh secured a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from the National Institute of Technology Calicut after clearing the prestigious national-level IIT-JEE exam. Coming from a military family, she was influenced by family tradition. Her father, Naik Suresh, joined the Railway Protection Force after retiring from the Corps of Signals. Both of her maternal and paternal grandfathers, Gangadharan Nayar and the late Velayudhan Nayar, had served in the Indian Army. Her mother, Suma, chose a career in teaching, and her brother Harichand is studying engineering.
Schooling and higher education
She did her schooling from Dayapuram Residential School, and as a woman with military roots, she joined the National Cadet Corps (NCC) during her college years. Between 2021 and 2023, she was a part of Naval Unit NCC Kozhikode, according to her LinkedIn profile. At NITC, she was a part of the Literacy and Debating Club and also served as Vice Captain of the athletic team. In her final year, she became Deputy Sports Secretary.
“Athira pursued her B.Tech. in Civil Engineering at NIT Calicut from 2020 to 2024. During her time at NITC, she was an active member of the Naval NCC, NITC, as part of the KL-20 batch. She also served as the Vice Captain of the Athletics Sports Team during 2023–2024,” NIT Calicut wrote in a post on LinkedIn.
Her experience also includes her time at Larson and Toubro and HiLite Builders during her internship. Although Suresh's specific unit and posting have not yet been announced, she is expected to serve in a technical arm of the Army as a Civil Engineering graduate commissioned through the technical entry.
