Girls have begun to top the National Defence Academy (NDA) entrance examination just a year after being admitted. According to the results announced a day earlier, an Aurangabad girl placed second in overall merit in the NDA entrance examination, while a Dewas girl placed third.
Anushka Anil Borde from Aurangabad, Maharashtra, has achieved the all India rank of second position in the common merit list which includes boys too while Vaishnavi Borde from Dewas in Madhya Pradesh has come third in merit.
The news follows another watershed moment in the history of women in the military, when four female officers were admitted for the first time to the Defence Services Staff College (DSSC) in Wellington. Two more female officers have been selected for the Technical Staff College, as well as one for the administration and logistics management course.
After the Supreme Court intervened, the government finally extended permanent commission to women officers and opened the staff college examination to them. Attending the Staff College will allow these female officers to compete for important command and staff positions in the Army. Maj Gen Yash Mor (retd), a mentor for young boys and girls who want to join the military, revealed the NDA result, saying that there are approximately 60 girls on the overall merit list of 519 candidates.The vacancy for girl cadets is at 19, he says.
Along with Anushka, three other female candidates mentored by Maj Gen Mor have made the NDA merit list. Prakriti is ranked 56th on the merit list, while Akshita and Akshada are ranked 73rd and 376rd on the combined list. In addition to the girls, 12 boys being trained by Maj Gen Mor have made the NDA merit list. Maj Gen Mor, a native of Haryana’s Jind district who now lives in Gurgaon after retiring, provides online mentoring to candidates interested in joining military training academies.