Women Will Be Admitted To NDA, “Historic Move”: Centre to Supreme Court
- ByStartupStory | September 8, 2021
In a historic move, the centre today told the Supreme Court that women will be admitted into the National Defence Academy (NDA) for permanent commission into India’s armed forces. The government, however, said it needs some time to frame guidelines to pave the way for women to take NDA courses. The Supreme Court has given 10 days to the centre to reply.
“We are extremely glad to know that the armed forces themselves took the decision to induct women into the NDA. We know that reforms cannot happen in a day… The government will place timelines of the process and the course of action,” the Supreme Court said today while hearing a petition for allowing women to take NDA and Naval Academy exams.
“The armed forces play an important role… but need to do more for gender equality in the forces. We want them to take a proactive approach themselves in ensuring gender equality rather than waiting for courts to intervene,” the Supreme Court said.
Today’s hearing comes less than a month after the Supreme Court, in a landmark interim order, said women can sit for the NDA admission exam, which has been rescheduled for November 14.
In the hearing on August 18, the court criticised a “mindset problem” when it came to equal service opportunities for men and women in the country’s armed forces, and warned the government “you better change”. The court had also expressed hope that the interim order would persuade the army to initiate that change of its own accord, rather than be forced to do so because of a directive from the judiciary.
The government had argued that its recruitment policy was not discriminatory and that there were a wide number of ways in which women could apply.
Men recruited through the NDA exam are presently granted permanent commission in the armed forces; women candidates, however, are recruited as Short Service Commission officers before being considered for a permanent commission at a later stage of their career.
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