‘A historic day’: President Murmu on women cadets’ participation in NDA parade

This Autumn Term POP also marks a special milestone as the country’s premier tri-services academy completes 75 years of its foundation in January 2024.

The NDA POP, one of the most prestigious military events in the country, marks the culmination of the three-year-long, extremely demanding and arduous training at the academy.

A total of 1,225 cadets participated in the Thursday’s parade of which 348 were from the passing out course. The passing out course comprised 186 Army cadets, 36 Naval cadets and 105 Air Force cadets including 21 from Friendly Foreign Countries —Bhutan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Sudan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Bangladesh.

A contingent of 15 women cadets, presently in their third term of the six-term training, marched shoulder to shoulder to their male fellow cadets. As the contingent — that was placed next to the prestigious squadron of cadets holding academy appointments — passed the attendees, a loud round of applause cheered them.

As the reviewing officer of the parade, President Murmu inspected the parade line-up of the passing out cadets, addressed them and pinned medals on the award-winning cadets.

After the conclusion of the POP, the President paid homage at the Hut of Remembrance at the NDA, which is a cenotaph that commemorates the sacrifice of the NDA alumni Armed forces officers who have laid down their lives in the line of duty.

The event was also attended by Governor of Maharashtra Ramesh Bais, Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan and Southern Army Commander Lt Gen AK Singh.

Murmu also laid the foundation stone of the building of the fifth Battalion of the NDA which will house four squadrons of strength of 120 each.

Each year, two courses of cadets pass out of India’s premier tri-services military academy — often hailed as the cradle of the country’s military leadership. In June last year, the NDA admitted its first batch of women cadets, with a strength of 19 — 10 for Army, six for Air Force and three for the Navy.

The academy has said that training is being conducted in a “gender neutral” manner.

The previous NDA POP, which was of the 144th course, saw participation of women cadets in various preparatory roles and also among the contingent of second-term cadets that mans the Quarterdeck mast and hails their passing out seniors.

The first batch of women cadets, which is part of the 148th course, is slated to pass out from the academy in May 2025.

After passing out from the NDA, the cadets head out for one more year of pre-commissioning training at the academies of their respective armed forces – Indian Naval Academy in Ezhimala located in Kannur district of Kerala, Indian Military Academy in Dehradun for Army, and the Air Force Academy in Dundigal, Telangana.

All three present service chiefs — Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari, Navy Chief Admiral Hari Kumar and Army Chief General Manoj Pande — are from the 61st course of the academy.