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Three service chiefs visit NDA in Pune
The visit assumes significance in the backdrop of the recent Supreme Court interim order allowing women to appear for the NDA entrance exam
The chiefs of the Indian Army, the Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force visited the National Defence Academy (NDA), Khadakwasla, their alma-mater on Friday. The visit assumes significance in the backdrop of the recent Supreme Court interim order allowing women to appear for the NDA entrance exam.
In an interim order on August 18, the Supreme Court directed the Centre to allow women to take the next entrance exam for NDA, thus far a male preserve.
The chiefs reviewed the ongoing training of cadets and the available training and administrative infrastructure of NDA.
The visit marks a rare moment for the tri-service training academy as all three service chiefs are course-mates from the 56th course of NDA.
Earlier, it was only in 1991 that all three service chiefs were course mates from the first NDA (erstwhile joint services wing) course.
During their visit, the chiefs paid homage at the ‘Hut of Remembrance’, which commemorates the sacrifice of ex-NDA officers of Armed Forces who laid down their lives in the line of duty. The service chiefs also visited their parent squadrons ‘Hunter’ (Naval Chief) & ‘Lima’ (Army & Air Chiefs), and interacted with the cadets of the respective squadrons. Interaction with the faculty and staff of NDA was also organised towards the end of their visit.
“Their visit to the academy has provided unmatched inspiration and sense of pride to all the cadets and would further catalyse them to strive for excellence in their military careers and reinforce the spirit of camaraderie and joint manship amongst the three services,” said defence PRO in a release.
The idea of establishing the joint training academy for training officers of three services was conceived by a committee headed by the then commander-in-chief of the Indian Army, Field Marshal Sir Claude Auchinleck in 1945 and the academy commenced functioning in its interim location at Dehradun as joint service wing in January 1949.
The foundation stone of the academy at Khadakwasla was laid on October 6, 1949, and inaugurated on January 16, 1955. In its glorious history of over seven decades, the academy has produced the first chief of the defence staff, 13 chiefs of Army staff, 11 chiefs of Navy staff and 9 chiefs of the air staff.
Admiral Karambir Singh, assumed as the chief of the Naval Staff on May 31, 2019, while Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria took over as chief of the Air Staff on September 30, 2019, and General MM Naravane, took over as Chief of the Army Staff on December 31, 2019.
Speaking on behalf of the three chiefs on this historical occasion the chief of the Naval staff dwelled upon the emerging trends of modern warfare. He also exhorted the cadets to imbibe the basic tenets of modern military leadership.
