The Centre on Monday told the Supreme Court that induction of women cadets in the National Defence Academy (NDA) had been a major policy decision and it needed at least three months for deliberating implications in the long term for induction and deployment of ex-NDA women cadets in the armed forces.
It said that in respect of the number of women to be inducted for "NDA-II 2021" and "NDA-I 2022," it was submitted that each course at the NDA had 370 vacancies for the three Services of which 208 would get commissioned in the Army, 120 in the Indian Air Force (IAF) and 42 would get commissioned in the Navy.
The Centre’s affidavit was filed in pursuant to the top court’s direction on a plea filed by advocate Kush Kalra about the data of the women who had appeared for the NDA-2021 examination and the number of women inducted.
The Union government said, “It is submitted that a total of 5,75,854 candidates applied for the exam and 3,57,197 candidates took the examination. A total of 8009 candidates, including 1002 women candidates passed the NDA written examination held during November 2021. The Service Selection Board is scheduled with effect from March-April 2022”.
Younger profile
Justifying the number of women cadets for all three forces, the Centre said that in respect of the Army, the ratio was to ensure that there was a younger profile and mobility of officer cadre, borne out of its operational role and tasks in difficult areas.
“The total vacancies planned for the Army through the NDA are 416 every year that is 208 per course. These vacancies are planned for all arms and services of the Army. Officers commissioned through the NDA have a major component of combat arms and Women officers (WO) are not being inducted in combat arms”, the affidavit said. The Centre said the average intake in the last four years of women officers in the eight arms and services had been up to 15% of the total cadre strength.
“With the present allotment of 10 women candidates per course in the NDA, that is 20 per year, the women cadre in these arms will witness a growth of 5% from the existing 15 to 20%”, the affidavit said.
It emphasised that a considered decision had been taken to allot 10 vacancies for women cadets in the NDA and this major policy decision needed an adaptation period to evaluate the effect and therefore a substantial amount of time was required to review, analyse and assess the net impact of induction of women officers.
With regard to the Navy, the Centre said that despite gender-neutral induction, in the last two decades, women had constituted approximately six per cent of the total strength of the Navy’s officer cadre (amounting to 20.72% of the total officers in the branches/cadres/specialisations open for induction of women).
Regarding the Air Force, the affidavit said the IAF was inducting women in all its branches and its sub-streams and they were cleared and being trained for all combat roles associated with these branches.
On January 18, the apex court had asked the Centre to explain why, despite its orders, the intake of women candidates in the NDA for the year 2022 had been restricted to 19, the same figure as last year.
It had asked the Centre to place the figures on record about the total number of candidates including women who have appeared in the NDA examination 2021, for entrance tests for Rashtriya Indian Military College (RIMC) and for Rashtriya Military School (RMS).
On September 22 last year, in a first, the top court had permitted female candidates to appear for the entrance exam to the NDA which was to be held in November saying their induction cannot be postponed by one year as sought by the Centre.
The Centre had submitted that a study group had been formed to facilitate the entry of women, and the necessary mechanism to facilitate that can be put in place by May 2022.
On October 7, last year the top court had permitted female candidates to appear in the examination for Rashtriya Indian Military College (RIMC) in Dehradun, scheduled to be held on December 18, last year, saying the Centre has walked a mile and should walk a step ahead.
