COUNSEL OF THE DEFENCE

Singh, who is the only person from his family to join the armed forces and the first officer from his village, reflects the changing nature of India8217;s prestigious National Defence Academy at Khadakwasla near Pune. 8220;Joining the academy was something I always wanted to do. There are many people from my area in the armed forces but none is an officer,8221; says the proud cadet, who led the passing-out parade.

The academy has had a quiet transformation from a humble beginning as a small junior inter-services wing at Dehra Dun to the hi-tech 8,000 acre campus that churns out the brightest future officers of the armed forces, a growing number of them from the remotest parts of the country. Even among the 22 per cent of cadets who come from defence backgrounds, a majority are children of the non-officer rank personnel.

However, even a marked demographic shift8212;the academy has witnessed an increasing number of cadets coming from smaller towns and villages8212;has done little to arrest the declining trend of 8216;quality8217; applicants to the academy. The January batch this year had only 190 cadets qualifying against a vacancy for 335.

While the NDA does not consider it a problem, the Commandant, Air Marshal T.S. Randhwa, says that 8220;the performance and trainability of an individual only matters8221;, a number of small changes in the course and academic curriculum have been initiated over the years to adapt to the demographic shift.

While the academy had been strictly following an academic program set up by JNU for the past few decades, new capsules have been added to bring in basic military matters like nuclear energy, IT, computer sciences and military structures of other countries.

A special foundation course, which includes lessons on stress management and etiquettes, has been introduced over the past two years. A newly introduced gruelling one-month physical training course at the beginning of the term introduces cadets to all the major sports. A two-week Military Orientation Programme has also been started in the first month to cater to an increasing number of cadets from non-service backgrounds.

8220;For cadets who have never seen the armed forces way of life, adjusting to the academy is tough. Basic things, like rank and command structures and knowledge about the three services, are part of the course. This need was felt just over the past few years with the changing profile of cadets,8221; says an NDA instructor.

These are part of a major curriculum revision that was initiated by an inter-services study group two years ago to keep cadets abreast with the 8220;latest developments in military and academic fields the world over and thus meet the changed requirements of the Armed Forces8221;.

An interesting change at the academy over the past few years has been an increased focus on China. With Beijing replacing Pakistan as the centre of India8217;s defence policy, China now forms an important part of the training of future armed forces officers.

Mandarin is one of the six foreign languages, including French and German, being taught at the academy, and the response to learn it among cadets is tremendous. While cadets are not compulsorily forced to take it up, instructors say that 10-12 percent of cadets numbering, therefore, over 60 passing out each year are proficient in the language.

Other than geography, China forms part of the political science syllabus and figures prominently in a course on military history. However, what the cadets give the most rapt attention to is a special capsule on the 8216;ideology and organisation8217; of the Chinese armed forces.

AMONG all the changes, some traditions have stuck on, growing stronger with time. For one, a cycle is still the cadet8217;s only mode of transport within the NDA campus, helping to maintain a clean and quiet environment. Social skills still score high8212;officers-in-waiting hone their gentlemanly qualities at the bi-annual NDA ball, engaging in song and dance with ladies who turn up in dozens for the event. Misconduct or breach of rules is frowned upon, and an 8216;indisciplined8217; cadet finds himself undertaking a gruelling 10-km hike to the Sinhagad fort. Seniority is also greatly respected and severely enforced.

And a cadet8217;s day at the Academy too doesn8217;t look much different from what it was a couple of years ago. A cadet who joins the academy starts his day at 5 every morning with a brisk exercise followed by a King8217;s breakfast at the 1,800-seater mess-Asia8217;s largest dining hall. Cadets then make their way to classrooms, where they undergo training in Arts or Science streams BA or BSc until lunch. After the afternoon meal, they can pursue their hobbies8212;from aeromodelling, horseriding, paragliding and sailing to photography. Fun and games follow next, with the cadets taking to the playground for hockey, football, equestrian sports, athletics as well as boxing and swimming. At 10 p.m. sharp, it8217;s lights out.

While tradition is sacrosanct at the 60-year-old academy, an increasingly hi-tech battlefield has finally blown the IT revolution into its campus. Starting this year, all cadets will be trading in their books for laptops. All teaching material will be a click away for cadets and will be available on a high speed Local Area Network LAN.

Classrooms are being modernised to replace blackboards with display screens and computer-aided teaching is the new mantra at the campus.

In a seeming departure from the insulated nature of the academy, all cadets will soon have Internet access in their rooms over the LAN. 8220;There will be policing but cadets will be able to do their research work from their rooms. They will be carrying their specially made laptops for classes,8221; the Commandant says.

While the modernisation will not have much affect on the basic structure of the academy, a major change that can transform NDA is the introduction of women cadets. While plans have not yet been made and the Defence Ministry is pondering over allowing women in for permanent commission, the top NDA leadership, including Air Marshal Randhawa, is certain that at some point in the future, women cadets would undergo training at the academy.

Plans are afoot to increase the capacity of the academy. The academy will be adding one more 8216;squadron8217; or house to the existing 15 squadrons that could help increase intake by 200 cadets a year. This new squadron could also, theoretically, house the future batches of women cadets at the academy.

In the year of its diamond jubilee, among other things, the Academy will also be celebrating change.

LESSON FROM HISTORY
The idea of having a tri-services academy was born out of the lessons learnt by the British during the two World Wars that showed joint military operations as the way of the future. When the NDA was conceptualised in 1946, the matter was taken up on an urgent basis after independence since there was no officer8217;s training academy in the country.

The academy was funded by the gift of 100,000 pounds that the Sudanese government gave India in recognition of sacrifices by Indian troops in the liberation of Sudan during World War II. The main administrative building and the most distinctive feature of the academy was named Sudan Block.

Pune was chosen as the location for the academy due to the presence of an operational airfield at Lohegaon, number of military establishments in the vicinity, a lake and the presence of suitable training environment for cadets. The academy is spread over almost 8,000 acres of land that was donated by the then-Bombay state.

The foundation stone of the academy was laid by the then prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru in October 1949 though the formal inauguration took place in January 1955. As an interim measure, a junior inter-services wing was established at Dehra Dun.