Process to induct women into NDA by May 2022: govt.

What is the News?

The Ministry of Defence has informed the Supreme Court that it proposes to have the ‘mechanism’ to induct women cadets into the National Defence Academy (NDA) for entry into the armed forces to be ready in May 2022.

What is the issue?

In 2020, the Supreme court had asked the government to abide by its own policy and grant Permanent Commission to women in Short Service Commission (SSC). The court had also directed the government to give women command postings in all services other than combat.

Similarly, in the recent judgement, the SC allowed women to sit for National Defence Academy (NDA) exam as the current policy is based on “gender discrimination”.

What was the Government’s response to this?

The government has informed the Supreme Court that the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) would include women in its NDA exam notification, expected to be published in May 2022.

This is because preparations are required for this such as what medical standards that candidates have to meet, aspects for training among others to ensure smooth induction and training of women candidates. There is also the need to upgrade infrastructure depending on the intake strength of the women candidates.

What was Supreme Court observation for government response?

The Supreme Court made it clear that the NDA exam has to allot seats to women this year, even though the number is small. The SC denotes that the induction of female candidates into the National Defence Academy (NDA) could not be postponed till next year.

The bench said it cannot vacate its order for allowing female aspirants to take the entrance examination scheduled for November after giving them hope to get into the NDA.

The bench left it for the Centre and the defence forces to take a call on how many women should be inducted in the first batch and whether they need an additional campus for separate training or could work along with their male counterparts.

Source: This post is based on the following articles

• “Process to induct women into NDA by May 2022: govt” published in The Hindu on 22nd September 2021.
• “Admit women to NDA from this year itself: Supreme Court” published in Times of India on 23rd September 2021.