When Will Girls Join The National Defence Academy? [ Updated]

Update on 24 Sep 2021: Breaking News, UPSC has reopened the NDA 2 2021 registration only for girls today. The last date to apply for the NDA 2 2021 is 08 Sep 2021.

Update on 22 Sep 2021: Court asked centre to allow girls to write NDA exam this year, can not wait further. “If they appear in exams in May 2022 then the intake will take place in June 2023. We cannot delay things by a year. We gave hope to the girls. We cannot deny them that hope now,” The Supreme Court said.

Update on 21 Sep 2021: According to the government, girls can write NDA 2022 written exam and can join the National Defence Academy from 2023 onward. For the 2023 NDA course, the written exam and SSB interviews will be conducted in 2022.

Update on 8 Sep 2021: “We are extremely glad to know that the armed forces themselves took the decision to induct women into the NDA,” the Supreme Court said. Today the centre approved the entry of women candidates into NDA. The arrangements will take some time and most likely girls will be able to take the next NDA Exam.

After the news of the supreme court allowing girl aspirants to apply for the NDA Exam to join the National Defence Academy, we are getting many emails and messages from the female aspirants who are interested to appear for the NDA Exam for the National Defence Academy. It is important for us to first understand what NDA & NA Exam is and what National Defence Academy is.

This article will help the female defence aspirants to know more about the NDA exam, especially for the girls who are from a civilian background and are not much aware of defence exams and institutes.

What is NDA aka National Defence Academy?

• The National Defence Academy (NDA) has the unique distinction of being the first institutions in the world, to impart combined training to officer cadets of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force. NDA imparts, to young men who choose the Armed Forces as their vocation, an intensive education in Science, Technology, Arts and Military subjects. At the end of their training the cadets receive a Degree from the Jawaharlal Nehru University. While a young cadet is being prepared intellectually to face the forthcoming challenges of high technology on tomorrow’s battle-field, he is also physically and mentally toughened by a rigorous regimen of physical conditioning which includes callisthenics, drill, swimming, horse-riding and the full gamut of games and sporting activities. At the same time, his horizons are expanded by exposure to various cultural activities, as well as hobby and adventure clubs.
• After passing out from the NDA, cadets move to their respective military training academies based on their service preference i.e. Indian Military Academy, Air Force Academy and Indian Naval Academy.

How to join the National Defence Academy?

• One needs to appear for the USPC NDA & NA exam which is conducted twice every year.

What is the age limit to join the National Defence Academy?

• The age limit for NDA is 16.5 to 19.5 years.

Can Women Apply for the NDA Exam now?

After the supreme court’s order, there is a high possibility that women will soon be able to apply for the UPSC NDA Exam. At the moment NDA online applications are not open, they may be able to apply from the next entry i.e. NDA 1 2022, or maybe later. But, there are a lot of other factors that have to be fulfilled before women can apply for the NDA Exam.

• First the armed forces has to create a suitable training structure for the women cadets at National Defence Academy. The current standard of training at NDA is designed for the young male cadets, the forces has to look at various factors while creating a training module for the young girls of 16 – 19 years old. Many of you might say they should have the similar training level as their male counter parts, the training will be more or less the same, but the current training standard will not be used as is, some modification will be required. Most likely this is being prepared right now.
• The force has to work on the accomadation structre for the female cadets, they might have a seperate squardron or it will be a mixed squardon. Nothing is clear at the moment but most likely the academy has already sorted it out.
• According to the reports, the three service chiefs are set to visit the National Defence Academy (NDA) in Pune to review facilities and arrangements for women cadets at NDA. So it is highely likely that most of the arrangements are being made, though we are not sure by when it will be finalised.

For young and energetic females defence aspirants who are ready to join the National Defence Academy have to wait a little more. Below we are mentioning the upcoming NDA Exam entries that you can look forward to.

Exam Name	Application Start	Application End	Exam Date
NDA 2 2021	9 June 2021	29 June 2021	14 Nov 2021
NDA 1 2022	22 December 2022	11 Jan 2022	10 April 2022
NDA 2 2022	18 May 2022	14 June 2022	04 Sep 2022

How to prepare for the NDA Exam?

• Take the best NDA Exam Online Course by SSBCrackExams.
• Take the NDA Exam Mock Test Series to boost your prep.
• To crack SSB and AFSB Interview ENROLL NOW: SSB INTERVIEW ONLINE COURSE

Conclusion: Looking at the recent happenings, this time we can say that females will be part of the National Defence Academy soon, but it might take a while to construct the things that facilitate this new beginning. On the flip side, we have to wait for the decision of armed forces in this regard, ultimately we have to respect the decision of our armed forces based on their organisation requirements and policies. We will be covering more articles related to females induction at NDA and their eligibility for the NDA Exam. In case you have more questions, you can call us on 18008906919 and reach us via [email protected]