EDITOR'S NOTE
This 3 years old piece was written by the author when the topic of women entry into NDA was hot after the favourable SC ruling . What the author says has become relevant today due to a recent official letter from a GOC Corps addressed to an Army Commander that was seen circulating on various WA groups on 24/ 25 November 24 and published on front page of ToI on 26 November 24 as a Rajat Pandit news story .Kindly open link above to read the letter and article . .Since the contents of the letter are now well known a debate can be initiated basically on the issues raised and focused on reasons for poor / dismal performance of women COs vide performance / review report with the reasons for the same .
REFERENCES
The pdfs of two relevant articles published by Fauji India Magazine, Apr 2021 issue are also given below. These would enable readers to refresh their memory about the subject and linked issues .
Responses are invited from our readers ,especially the military veterans who are quite knowledgeable and experienced about the subject and the intricately linked issues . MVI would welcome responses from women officers to know the other side of this subject that has once again drawn media attention although after a gap of 3 years .
Editor,MVI
The National Defence Academy (NDA) has been in the news lately, mainly because of the Supreme Court’s diktat to the Armed Forces to throw open the gates of the Academy to women candidates.
Those in favour of the move have given various reasons, some logical, others not so logical, but they do set off a train of thoughts that need due consideration.
Whatever may be the eventual fallout of this step, there is no doubt that this will shake the basic foundations of the Academy and will call for an impassionate re-examination of its very existence.
To begin with, some basic changes will need to be made in the lexicon of what used to me a man’s world. So, no more can we talk of “an officer and a gentleman”. Never mind that “an officer and a person” doesn’t quite carry the same punch. Similarly for “We’ll make a man out of you” or “Are you a man or a mouse?” And of course, the immortal words of Rudyard Kipling in his poem “If” that adorns each cadet’s cabin, and its iconic last line “And which is more, you will be a man, my son”. Henceforth, you will be a person, my offspring!
No more will the Drill Instructors be allowed to grip you by your belt and ask why it is loose. And all hell would break loose if he said “Stomach in, chest out!”
But leaving aside the light hearted banter, there are more important questions to ask, and the biggest of these is, “Has the National Defence Academy outlived its utility? Do we really need four years plus pre-commission training to make an officer?”
A very large part of a cadet’s training is currently aimed at building up his physical capabilities. However, we are now being told that physical fitness is no longer a criterion in the modern battlefield.
The battlefield now is high tech, and that is why women are better suited to it than their male counterparts. But where exactly is this battlefield that we are hearing about? We have not been able to design a simple basic assault rifle for the infantry soldier, and we are talking of high tech? For some unknown reason, we have glorified the technologically driven US Army as our role model. Which was the last decisive victory that their high-tech weaponry gave them? Vietnam? Iraq? Afghanistan?
The basic military training that an Army cadet receives in NDA (and subsequently in IMA) is based on the Infantry, the backbone of the Army, even in these technological times. Somebody with wisdom and pragmatism still realizes that, at least in our context, the war will eventually be won by the boots on the ground. And so, right up to the time that a Gentleman Cadet is allotted his Arm or Service in his final term in IMA, he remains an Infantryman. But now let’s shift our focus to the Lady Cadet (or will she be known as a Girl Cadet, because a Lady Cadet is the equivalent of the IMA or OTA’s Gentleman Cadet?). The idea being thrown around is that, until the Supreme Court throws another bombshell, the girls will not be a part of the Infantry, Artillery or the Armoured Corps. So unlike her male counterparts, she would only be wasting her time in learning Infantry tactics. Therefore, there is a need for a complete change of syllabus. No physical training, no infantry based service training, no drill, because none of these have any relevance in the imagined modern battlefield. We will thereby be creating an elite class within the Academy, destined
for higher things. Brotherhood and integration, the USP of the NDA, will be a thing of the past.
In the past, the basic aim of the NDA was neatly summed up in one short, simple sentence: “The Academy aims at making boys into men”. That is why the intake was of 16-17 year old schoolboys who became men by the time they passed out. Alas, this can no longer be the objective. We will now take 16-17 year old schoolchildren and turn them into college graduates.
If the focus of the Academy shifts from physical conditioning and discipline to producing technically savvy ladies and gentlemen, then why have a military academy at all? The aim can be easily fulfilled by existing civilian colleges, IITs etc. (It is a different issue that no IIT graduate ever considers joining the Armed Forces). Imagine the cost saved to the nation by shutting down this white elephant. And imagine if this prime real estate abutting Pune meets the same fate as the Military Farms. Indeed, a lucrative target for the land mafia. Or even better, it could be converted into an elite holiday resort for the overworked political-bureaucratic-judicial brotherhood.
There is another serious problem in retaining the NDA in its present form, while allowing girls to enter, and this is something that has not been discussed on any platform. The age at entry of a cadet lies between 16 to 19 years on the date of joining. This means that for the first two years of training, a large number of cadets would be minors. For this duration, they will be cohabiting with the opposite gender but will be denied the most basic of human needs, the need for sex, because the law does not recognize consensual sex amongst minors aged below 18 But can anyone guarantee that this will not happen? And if it does and the situation becomes messy, will the perpetrators be charged under the Juveniles Act or the Army Act? We need the judiciary to advise us on how to proceed, the same wise judiciary that has brought about this situation by bulldozing a decision without considering the ground realities. An easy, ostrich-with-head-in-sand solution would obviously be to increase the age of intake to 18 years and thereby defeat the basic tenet of “catching them young”.
Whatever the crusaders for social justice and equality may say, the one undeniable fact is that the basic ethos of the NDA is under assault. Would that be a good thing or bad? Only time will tell. Maybe we, the veterans who passed out of these hallowed portals many years ago are out of sync with today’s world. Be that as it may, it breaks our hearts to witness the destruction of yet another great institution which was handed over to us in trust. Someone down the line has broken that trust. And sadly, we, like Nero, can only play the fiddle while Rome burns.
A very pertinent & important subject which has been always handled with an Ostrich head-in-sand/pigeon closed-eyes syndrome.
Armed Forces are to blame for molly coddling the whole subject, by not adhering to basic tenets of problem solving. The basic fundamental is define the problem & collate and collect your facts and figures in WRITING from the environment. Forces DID NOT DO IT.
When a CO over the years requested MS Branch to post him "with 1 Male officer against 2 Women Officers vacancies", these hundreds/probably thousands requests were not insisted upon in writing. For obvious reasons.
Result is when matter went to court, there was NO PROOF. Verbal requests/statements don't hold same status as written. Who knows if there was…
What is happening to our judiciary?
Can't they READ the reality in the Ground ?
God save the Judiciary!
What the environment needs to understand, is that we are talking about the CREATION, DEFENCE, PROTECTION, SUSTAINANCE, DETERRANCE & PROJECTION OF THE NATION.... We are talking about NATIONHOOD... not merely Law enforcement by a danda or day to day administration of a Nation once Created. We are not talking about Policemen or Bureaucrats, who have NO Accountability. We are talking about an institution that is the FIRST & LAST BASTION of the Nation.
Nationhood is all about Acquiring or Denying a Piece of Land that we call a Nation.... Bangladesh was once EAST PAKISTAN ! Warfare is Brutal, with No holds barred.
We are talking about diluting the Standards of that Institution that is already giving the Best Results... can…
Just because a lt gen has voiced doubts about women COs not really fit to command maj units, we need not have a rethink on girls joining NDA.
Very well penned article by the author....i agree and am in sync with his ideas ....If the standards of physical fitness to build up mental robustness is equal in training and thereafter including leave,and all duties are shared equally without only soft and no risk duties given to ladies (after all we need to fight and defeat a trained,and ruthless enemy)...then it's good...but is that the ground reality??if not ...a serious review needs to be done at the sr military leaders and political leadership needs to accept their suggestions...should revert back and the ladies should continue training in OTA with the NDA routine and training ..real brother hood and sister hood ..bonhomie is possible when one over come challenges toget…