The Union government on Wednesday informed the Supreme Court that it has decided that women, too, can join the Pune-based National Defence Academy (NDA) – a joint defense training institute of the Indian Armed Forces; for permanent commission through the NDA.

These developments come in the backdrop of interim directions passed by the Supreme Court on August 18, in which it said that girls can also appear for the NDA exam.

The Delhi High Court, judgment directed the government to grant permanent commission to women officers who joined the Army as short-service commission officers. The judgment was challenged in the Supreme Court, which was finally upheld in February 2020.

At present, women can join the Army only on short service commission (SSC) through the Combined Defence Services (CDS) exam.

All three wings of the Armed Forces – army, air force and navy – began inducting women as short-service commission (SSC) officers in 1992. They can enter forces by giving the SSC after graduation. They then need to complete 10 months to one year of training required before being commissioned as officers. Unlike male officers, women can join only through SSC.