Two girls in top three merit slots in NDA exam

The development comes on the heels of another momentous occasion in the journey of women in defence services, four women officers have made it to the Defence Services Staff College (DSSC), Wellington, for the first time. Two more women officers have been shortlisted for the Technical Staff College and another for administration and logistics management course.

The staff college examination has been thrown open for women officers after the government finally extended permanent commission to them on the intervention of the Supreme Court. Attending the Staff College will pave the way for these women officers to have a shot at important command and staff positions of the Army. Disclosing the NDA result, Maj Gen Yash Mor (retd), a mentor for young boys and girls who wish to join the military, said that there are around 60 girls in the overall merit list of 519 candidates. The vacancy for girl cadets is at 19, he says. In addition to Anushka, three other girl candidates being mentored by Maj Gen Mor have also made it to the NDA merit list. Prakriti has achieved 56th rank in the merit list while Akshita and Akshada are at 73 and 376 in the combined list. Apart from the girls, 12 boys being trained by Maj Gen Mor have also made it to the merit list of NDA. A native of Jind district in Haryana and now living in Gurgaon after retirement, Maj Gen Mor gives online mentoring to candidates wishing to join military training academies.

Commissioned in the Brigade of Guards, Maj Gen Mor has commanded an armoured brigade and was the first GOC of the Sub Area set up in Leh, Ladakh for logistical and administrative back up to the formations deployed in that area. “After almost four decades in uniform, I decided to give back to the society as part of my Personal Social Responsibility (PSR) and started mentoring aspiring young people across India. I slowly build a team of retired officers who were also passionate with the same cause. These officers had tenures as assessors in various selection centres,” he says.

Yash Mor Academy (YMA) was established by Maj Gen Yash Mor post his retirement. Coming from a rural background himself in Haryana, Maj Gen Mor says his aim was to touch lives of students from rural India, who are unable to afford high coaching fees of numerous academies running all over. At a fraction of a cost the team started online mentoring sessions. The students were taking classes from the comfort of their homes. For the girls, initially, the first batch was started as soon as the Supreme court gave a ruling to induct them in NDA. From an initial 65 girls , the list was further pruned to 12 girls’ and three of them made it to the NDA in the first batch. They are now under training in NDA.

“YMA does not indulge in the run of the mill coaching, but believes in mentoring the candidates aimed at making a difference in their overall grooming, all aimed at creating a lifelong bond between the assessors and the candidates,” says Maj Gen Mor. He adds that by virtue of the entire setup being online, it affords the candidates a better perspective of a wider cross section of the society aimed at better Social Adjustment and Social Adaptability.

“It aims at enhancing their reasoning ability, developing a sense of responsibility, developing a good power of expression, focus them to develop initiative and self confidence and decision-making ability with a high degree of moral courage,” he adds.