News18 has learned that out of a total of 8,000 successful candidates, over a thousand women have cleared the National Defense Academy (NDA) exam. This is the first time that women candidates appeared in the examination conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on November 14. The results were declared on Wednesday.
These 1,002 women candidates will now appear for the Services Selection Board and their medical test, after which 19 of them will be shortlisted for next year’s NDA course.
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News18 was the first to report that around 20 women cadets will be recruited into the NDA in the first place, so that they can join the Army, Navy and Indian Air Force as officers later.
NDA will recruit a total of 400 cadets next year, out of which the army will take 208 candidates including 10 women. The Navy will admit 42 candidates, including three women, while the Indian Air Force will admit 120 candidates, of whom six will be women.
In a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Defense Ajay Bhatt had said that the total number of applicants for the exam was 5,75,856, of which 1,77,654 were women.
The NDA is revamping its infrastructure, putting in place a strong security mechanism and starting to recruit women trainers, doctors and other essential support staff including gynecologists, and for the first time next year, women cadets on its campus. Taking other steps to welcome
Located in Khadakwasla, Pune, NDA was formally inaugurated in 1955. It currently has a total of 18 squadrons, each consisting of around 120 cadets. The institute currently has about 2,020 cadets in its six tenures.
Cadets join NDA for their pre-commission training after their class 12 board exams.
According to government sources, more than six lakh candidates apply for the four NDA entrance and combined defense services examinations every year. The exams are conducted by UPSC.
In September, the Supreme Court had ruled that women should be included in the NDA from this year itself and not from next year as demanded by the Centre.
So far, women officers have joined the Army from the Officers’ Training Academy (OTA), Chennai, and have joined the Navy and IAF from the Indian Naval Academy and Air Force Academy, where they enlisted after graduation.
NDA is already working to add two more squadrons to its existing 18 and increase the annual intake of military cadets.
Former Assistant Chief of Integrated Defense Staff (ACIDS) at Integrated Defense Staff Headquarters (HQ-IDS) Major General Arvind Bhatia (Retd) had earlier told News18 that the idea under consideration was to progressively induct around 120-150 women cadets into the NDA . a given time.
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