Maritime job for girls!! People used to raise their eyebrows with surprise. Maritime sector was mainly male dominated profession till recently. Now with the advent of Globalisation and Liberalisation policies of the government this has changed the perspective of maritime sector at placement level also, however small it is. Now manning agencies, parents and whole society changing, even though slowly. Girl cadets have proved their mettle at their training institutes and hiring companies also. They are working at par with their male counterparts.

The seminar held at Tolani Maritime Institute, Talegaon was one of its kinds to try and search for some of the questions frequently raised by all maritime related agencies. The seminar was well represented by all spectrum of Marine professionals.

The welcome address by Dr. (Mrs.) Sujata Naik-Tolani, Vicechair person, TMI Governing Council perfectly set the ball to roll on the idea of Women in Shipping-managing Sea Change. She mentioned about how women have thrived in all spheres of life and profession and proved their excellence. She was quite pleased to bring it to the notice of audience, shipping industry, which is a male dominated profession by tradition has given a chance to women cadets.

Ms. Sharvani addressed the seminar as a girl cadet of Pioneer batch of TMI and shared her experiences to work in the shipping industry as a sailor herself.

Many stalwarts from the Shipping industry like Mrs. Aruna Kulashreshtha, CEO Karmahom Conference (IPBCC), and Capt. Jairam, Director, Seaarland Shipping & Chairman, MASSA, Capt. Hiranandani, Marine Consultant, Chevron Manning Services and Mrs. Firoza Bhot, Vice President, Wilco Ship Management and Travels Pvt. Ltd all contributed to the theme of the Seminar.

Mrs. Kiran Dhingra, Director General of Shipping, Govt. of India, delivering her keynote address, appealed to all stake holders of the industry to be open to the idea of recruiting more girl cadets and to give up the apprehensions related to gender issues regarding the suitability of girls for an arduous career. She advised girl cadets to get into management jobs and also shore based jobs.

A panel discussion was arranged to make the seminar more interactive where in the the panelists included Mrs. Kiran Dhingra, Mrs. Anu Aga, Director Thermax Ltd, Vice Admiral (Retd) A. S. Krishnan, Mrs. Jyotsna Deshpande, Chairperson, The Institution of Engineers, Pune and Mr. Vijay Handa, VP Reliance Shipping discussed various issues and was well moderated by Capt. S. G. Deshpande of TMI.

Principal B. K. Saxena summed up the seminar and Vote of thanks was paid by Capt. P. S. Barve, Chairperson, Academic Council.

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Tolani Maritime Institute is one of the premiere marine engineering institute recognised by DG Shipping, Ministry of Shipping Govt. of India and Off Campus of Prestigeious Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani established by great visionary Dr. N. P. Tolani.