India’s 1st woman underground mine engineer: Akanksha Kumari says ‘It’s a dream come true’

History was made as India got its first woman underground coal miner with Jharkhand’s Akanksha Kumari. In a tweet shared, Central Coalfields Limited – a subsidiary of Coal India – said that Akanksha Kumari became is the second mining engineer in the Maharatna Conglomerate Coal India Limited (CIL) and the first one to work in an underground coal mine. 

Born in Hazaribagh’s Barkagaon, Kumari joined Central Coalfields Limited (CCL) at its Churi underground mines in the North Karanpura area of Jharkhand.

Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi, along with the official Twitter account of the Ministry of Coal congratulated the engineer and wrote: “You are an inspiration to many women.”

Women in India were barred from working in underground mines until as recently as 2019, when the government amended the law. Women in India as per data available comprise of less than a quarter of the labour force.