India's National Magazine
From the publishers of THE HINDU

Vol. 16 :: No. 06 :: Mar. 13 - 26, 1999

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THE SERVICES

The evolution of the NDA

The National Defence Academy celebrates its golden jubilee. A look at changing times at the premier joint Services training institution.

LYLA BAVADAM
in Khadakwasla

THE two portly men who were bent over the register at the reception desk took a few moments to recognise each other. But once they did so, the hall resounded with their voices. "Kilo," bellowed one; "Fox," roared the other. Their respective identities thus established through their former squadron names, they proceeded to clasp each other in bear hugs and to thump each other on the shoulders and backs, all the while talking animatedly about their days in "the academy".

It was at once a startling and heart-warming experience for an outsider. But for the Services personnel and their families, this was just one more way of expressing the kinship and closeness that life in the armed forces generates.

When the National Defence Academy (NDA) celebrated its golden jubilee in February 19 (the actual date was on January), officers who belonged to the first course, or batch, were present along with cadets of the current course, the 101st.

Established in 1949, the NDA had its origins in Clement Town near Dehra Dun; it was then called the Inter-Services Wing. Old-timers who attended the celebrations recalled the days when they stood in the freezing cold of January in the hill resort, outside barracks that were originally built to house prisoners of war. The NDA was shifted to its present location in Khadakwasla, 20 km from Pune, in 1955. The facilities of a combined Services training camp that existed there already and a generous donation of land by the then Bombay Government came in handy for the academy.

Located on 8,028 acres (3,209 hectares) of land, the NDA estate contains apart from NDA facilities - such as a gigantic kitchen and a dining hall to seat over 2,000 people - a mini sanctuary and the Peacock Bay, the lake that provides water to Pune city. Cadets are admitted to the academy every six months, a new course commencing in January and July each year. The academy receives more than 75,000 applications for each course, but only 300-340 candidates are selected. Before they start training at the NDA, the cadets are allotted their choice of Service - the Army, the Navy or the Air Force - based on merit and their choice. The three-year training is conducted over six semesters, each of 22 weeks' duration. The NDA provides education up to the graduation level and joint training for cadets of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force during the three years of their training, after which they proceed to the establishments of their respective Services elsewhere for specialised training for a commission in the armed forces. (Sixty-five per cent of those who pass out of the academy join the Army.) Although details of the NDA's budget are not made available, the Government apparently spends Rs. 4,800 a week on a cadet's training. This is exclusive of the expenditure on his uniform, mess and so on. The Army provides a major part of the funding.

The NDA was the world's only joint Services training academy until Australia established a similar academy in the 1980s. The NDA has given the country 23,000 officers, who include 12 Service chiefs. Gen. S.F. Rodrigues, Admiral L. Ramdas and Air Chief Marshal N.C. Suri, who served as chiefs of the three armed Services concurrently, passed out of the academy's first course.

Vice-Admiral Arun Prakash, Commandant of the NDA, said: "The unique selling point of the NDA is the joint training given to cadets here... the Gulf War has shown that operations of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force have to be synergised. When cadets grow together, there is a greater chance that these old bonds will help them understand each other better during a war."

Admiral Sushil Kumar, the Chief of the Naval Staff, said: "When you train, work, study and sweat together, it gives you a remarkable feeling of camaraderie." Gen. V.P. Malik, the Chief of the Army Staff, described the NDA as a "visionary" institution. He defined camaraderie as "something that comes when you have been through thick and thin together." Air Chief Marshal A.Y. Tipnis, the Chief of the Air Staff, said: "When the NDA was established, India's aspirations were at their zenith. India expected to be in the vanguard of nations... Things have not gone exactly as expected, but the spirit in which the NDA was established has not changed. I believe that the Services can provide the light we saw in the 1950s. See these portraits here (of Param Vir Chakra awardees). They are the epitome of what we should aspire to be."

VIVEK BENDRE
An aerial display by Indian Air Force fighterplanes, up above the National Defence Academy. The dome is that of the Sudan Block, which houses the NDA's administrative offices in addition to about 50 instructional classrooms.

SPEAKING at the golden jubilee celebrations, Vice-President Krishan Kant, who was the chief guest, said: "Coercive persuasion in the future means that defence preparedness and development of technology are imperative. We will need intellectual warriors, and the nature and training of officers are bound to undergo drastic changes."

In keeping with new demands, the NDA introduced computer training for cadets in 1998. Major A.K. Sikdar, the signals officer who heads the Department of Computer Science, said: "The O level is mandatory for cadets and the A level is optional. The aim is to make all cadets computer literate." The NDA develops software using actual terrain maps, and it is then used to train officers for company-level tactics.

About academic training, Vice-Admiral Arun Prakash said: "We compare very favourably with any high-quality college in the country. By the time we finish with a cadet in three years, we would have given him a solid intellectual grounding. This is essential since the war of tomorrow will be technology- and cyber-based. The armed forces handle much of the latest technology in the country, and we want to prepare our cadets for this." He said that the syllabus was being revised to give priority to training in information technology. "There is a revolution happening in military affairs. There are space-based sensors and ballistic missiles... we do not want to be left behind in the field of information technology and its applications in warfare."

WHILE the levels of formal education and technical, physical and professional training are now higher than in the past, there is no denying the fact that there has been a change in the academy's ethos too. Retired officers say that there are major differences in the backgrounds and attitudes of earlier cadets and the more recent entrants. A senior naval officer belonging to the 14th course said: "The Services are now attracting a different type of individual. In our days we never got much pay, but there were certain standards; these are the ones which set the Services apart. I believe the cadets are still taught this, but earlier, the academy could take much more for granted than it can now."

Course coordinators agreed with this viewpoint. Prakash said: "Societal values are changing. We now teach ethics and lay a moral foundation since we find that the boys need them. For four decades we did not need to teach them these things." Air Chief Marshal Tipnis is of the view that education at the NDA should be able to "penetrate the cynicism of character that is present nowadays".

Reacting to reports about shortage of officers in the Services, Prakash said that the problem was not pertinent to the NDA. However, if quantity is not a problem, quality certainly seems to be, and here senior officers instinctively fall silent. However, a senior naval officer, who is currently posted in Delhi, spoke informally to Frontline: "I won't say that there is a deterioration in the quality of officers. But at one time, the majority of cadets used to be from States with martial traditions."

Placing the change in the academy's composition in an economic context, the officer said: "A lot of our men have a rural background. They have found that their future is unstable in that set-up. Here everything - from their education to their food - is taken care of. This is a very attractive option for boys who have few options."

An officer who belonged to the 14th course, who is now retired, was more blunt: "Earlier, boys who joined the academy thought about what they could give it." Under the spit, polish and gloss that are synonymous with the armed forces, there now exist contradictory currents. Although he is wistful about "dying traditions", the officer takes a pragmatic view. "We need to ask ourselves if the present cadets are more representative of the Indian ethos and customs than we were. We were completely influenced by the British ethos. Then came a generation that was a little bit here and a little bit there. And now there is this generation of officers and cadets who are sloppy in their dress, prefer to eat with their hands.... Don't get me wrong. I am not denigrating this. After all this is part of my own culture, but not in the academy and not as part of my life as an officer."