India’s premier military training institution, the National Defense Academy (NDA), is facing an unprecedented burnout. Between January 2008 and November 2017, as many as 1,256 cadets quit the academy. This amounts to between 16% and 20% of the intake each year.
The excessive nature of the unsanctioned rigor at the NDA is purportedly leading to one-fifth of the cadets failing to complete the course.
A report jointly prepared by the Integrated Defense Staff Headquarters and the NDA, accessed by Asia Times, has revealed the rate of young cadets quitting the institution.
The NDA is arguably the only military training institution of its kind. Sixteen-year-olds join the Pune-based institute as army, navy and air force cadets after passing an entrance exam and a five-day personality, psychological and medical examination. They receive a bachelor’s degree at the end of three years and then enroll in their respective service academies – the Indian Military Academy (IMA), the Indian Naval Academy or the Air Force Academy – where they train to be future commissioned officers.
NDA alumni squarely blame ragging, “unofficial training” and excessive physical punishment for the high attrition rate and describe the torture at the hands of senior cadets as sadistic and misguided.
Retired Colonel P K Royal Mehrishi, an NDA alumnus, explained how senior cadets ask juniors to roll down staircases of three-story buildings, vault over a wooden horse, do backflips, hand-springs etc without the supervision of any qualified instructor.
“Senior cadets believe they’re toughening them for war or better performance in the hard-fought inter-squadron competitions,” he said.
A former NDA instructor, retired Colonel Vinay Dalvi, said senior cadets often justified the punishments as a mode of getting the freshmen into the grind. He said a senior cadet, or the overstudy, often faced punishment from divisional officers for newcomers’ mistakes. This, he said, put severe pressure on the freshmen.
Ankur Chaturvedi, a former NDA cadet, reveals that the bulk of the injuries are reported during the initial terms. He sustained a kidney injury during a boxing bout and left the academy in 1996.
Retired Air Marshal P P Rajkumar, a former deputy commandant and alumnus of the NDA, confirmed the long-standing culture of ragging and unstructured training. In 1975, a senior cadet lost his life after juniors assaulted him for all the physical abuse he had put them through, he offers as anecdotal evidence.
“This happened during the run-up to the passing-out [graduation] parade when the departing cadets bury the hatchet with the juniors while parting company in an event called Socials. Here, the junior cadets in the squadron are allowed to rag the sixth-senior cadets in a friendly setting. However, a group of juniors hit him so hard that he died,” he said.
Too exacting
Colonel Mehrishi suggests that the NDA’s revised physical standards are a bit too exacting, even more than that of commissioning academies such as the IMA. Retired Brigadier L C Patnaik points out that even cadets with backgrounds in sports find themselves underperforming in tasks such as a front roll. He pointed out that this is apart from the late-night unofficial punishments, which cause complaints of dizziness, headache, fatigue and changes in sleep patterns.
In his book Quality Military Leadership, Colonel Dalvi quotes a former director and commandant of the Armed Forces Medical College, retired Air Marshal B Keshav Rao, who had carried out an assessment of the NDA’s training regimen: “Inadequate rest between periods of intense physical exertion, inadequate sleep, missing meals and inadequate focus on personal hygiene [and] off-syllabus physical activity at the squadron level mitigated attempts at scientific and structured strength and stamina building.”
“Relegations,” “withdrawals” and “resignations” are the three heads under which departures from the academy are classified, depending on whether the cause was academic failure, rustication, medical fitness or voluntary separation. “Relegations” refers to repeating a semester for failing an academic or outdoor training (ODT) test. Dalvi said that sometimes the reason for relegation might be both, because a cadet is too exhausted to focus on studies, thereby flunking his exams or not having adequately recovered from the grueling physical regimen to crack the ODT.
Two consecutive relegations can lead to a “withdrawal,” which is a permanent release from the academy. It can also be on disciplinary or medical grounds. In the case of “resignations,” the cadet can choose to leave the academy within two weeks of joining, without paying the NDA the 1.35 million rupees (US$21,250) incurred on his three-year training.
It is not the only armed-forces institute witnessing burnout. According to the Directorate General of the Armed Forces Medical Services, the hospitalization rate among officer cadets across military-training institutes in the country between 2013 and 2015 was 34.14%.
Officials at the NDA did not respond to a detailed e-mail query sent on December 15, citing the absence of officials and staff on account of the mid-term break. This story will be updated if they respond.
Need for scientific methodology
Both Colonel Dalvi and Brigadier Patnaik recommend phased training that progressively increases the physical strain. Dalvi said cadets’ endurance and strength would have peaked by the time they graduated as officers. Patnaik recommended a scientific assessment of cadets, such as muscle and bone-density testing, before subjecting them to the rigorous regimen at the NDA. He said a dedicated department of physical education should be set up to oversee the cadet for the first year, with the proportion of military training gradually increasing in the last two years.
For retired Admiral Arun Prakash, former navy chief and commandant of the National Defense Academy, the remedies lie in the service headquarters paying greater attention to the training academies and ending the ad hoc methods in appointing the commandants. He said the commandant is a three-star officer, usually slated to retire within a couple of years. He argued that the commandant should ideally be a two-star officer, with another promotion left to go.
“A blue book for academies, prepared by the Chiefs of Staff Committee, with inviolable rules for their functioning, should be introduced. No commandant or instructor can introduce their own ideas,” he proposed.
Colonel Mehrishi advocates a mandatory supervision of all training and punishment by qualified instructors with a “ruthless, zero-tolerance ragging policy.” Most military veterans Asia Times spoke to believe that the problem also lies with the outdated officer-selection system.
Brigadier Patnaik says the existing personality and psychological tests that assess “officer-like qualities” only consider the behavioral process and observable responses, neglecting the mental processes that trigger actions and decisions. He points that out tests such as the British Army Recruitment Battery and the Australian Computerized Cognitive Assessment Tool judge the mental processes and not the response.
Medical tests, Patnaik insists, should be revised to include exercises such as 1.6-kilometer shuttle runs, pushups, chin-ups, sit-ups etc to match with the physical capability required during training.
Dalvi argues that the British Raj-era selection and training system has destroyed the careers of many talented young potential officers.
(Parth Satam is a Navi Mumbai-based freelance writer and a member of 101Reporters.com, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters.)
The selection system in vougue is perhaps the best if not the best. It is tweaked periodically. A general lack of interest in physical activities as well as staying in ‘comfort zone’ is the new norm among the youth.
Suggestions for introducing rigourous physical tests at the SSB stage have often been made as a reaction to the aforesaid phenomena, however, after due deliberations at various levels it’s been decided to maintain status quo. Assigning greater weightage to physical robustness also gives an unfair advantage to those not having opportunities/ exposure to such a regimen, say like RIMC/ Sainik School cadets. There are many cases where the candidate at SSB stage may not not have performed well in physical tests yet shows potential & is given a chance. A coursemate of mine was in same bracket but improved significantly during training at NDA & is an aspiring Lt Gen today!
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There is nothing wrong with the training. Children are pampered these days and hence fail to cope up. We require the mental strength to lead in times of adversity. Cadets who can not do that do not deserve to pass out.
Very well said…i am an ex NDA alumni of 86 Vintage…i didn’t find anything wrong in official or unofficial training so called…its a brilliant institution meant to train for war and not for film industry…dont dilute…those who can not take it…pl quit
Don’t play with the time tested system…those who quit are not fit to continue. ..its a blessing..We attribute our seniors for the level we achieve at various academies..structured training alone does not make one tough…soldiering is a tough profession and not for weak hearted. .
The whole article is crap. Written by an armchair journalist with no insight into what goes into making Indian army officers amongst the finest and fittest in the world who lead from the front.They are shaped in their formative years in the NDA and the IMA.
Colonel Mehrishi, are you ex-NDA?
It is the NATIONAL DEFENCE ACADEMY and not the National Defense Academy. Wake up.
Well said. In fact, NDA is dubbed as the "Cradle for Leadership", which it most genuinely is!! The attrition rate is due to the weaker links in the otherwise robust chain. It is best that they be pruned out early, to keep the flock healthy, happy & focussed..
I’ve been there, done that. I personally don’t think any Major change is needed.
Well said. NDA has stood the test of time & churned out the best of Officers.
I am proud to have passed through the hallowed portals of the NDA in 1971.
100% correct… These days, youngsters are used to an excess dose of comfort and hence cannot handle the training. It is better that they are weeded out early, rather than put them in command of men and weapons at a later stage in life, and have them jeopardize the safety, honour & welfare of his troops, as also the Security of the Nation!!
Agree with you completely. The finished product has to be up there with the best, if we expect him to die for his country. NDA does just that!!
Your first statement is absolutely true. It is incorrect to make general off the cuff statements with vague & obscure statistics, that too, by a bunch of arm chair experts!! NDA is just too good.
I know, I’ve been through the grind.
Well said. Even in the animal kingdom, it is the weaklings who fall prey to the predator, to ensure safety and growth of the remaining herd!!
Well said. Nothing is a patch on NDA.
NDA is a great institution. It has produced the best offrs in the Armed forces to incl the army, AF and Navy. These offrs have done extremely well in war. pl dont get doctors into this. They r not soldiers pl
The number of dropouts is exaggerated as most of these dropouts are in the first one month, where a vacancy is immediately filled by the next in the Waiting list.This is because number of cadets can’t get adjusted to hard physical training requirements.This has been always there.
As far as selection system is concerned,it is the best system.The article gives an impression that the system has not been updated.The COSC regularly monitores the selection system and it gets updated.We do look into the psychological aspects as per the latest techniques.There may be a scope for improvement but stating that it is still of British Era is totally far from truth.
As far as physical tests are concerned,though a little importance is there as part of obstacle tests, not much weightage is given, primarily for the fact that this is highly trainable quality, within two terms at NDA, there is marked improvement in 100% of the cases.This is because of the age group in which these cadets are selected.Ther has been a long debate on this and it’s a conscious decision based on valuable inputs.
NDA is the best entry for the Armed Forces, please do not start attacking it. Let’s not destroy a system which has done us all proud
Twenty percent sifted out, is very low.
Many courses eliminate that number within the first week.
Having everybody pass, might be good for the number counters, but we are not all born equal physically, and soldiers must be physically very very fit, along iwth being up near the top in other aspects.
What a load of crap. Sissies join the NDA and expect the same comforts they were used to at home. Three days later, they run away. Look at the numbers that have passed out since 1st NDA and how the attrition built up. It’s very easy to make a report on the subject, medical or otherwise.
Yes, there are sadistic sods but one has to learn to live around them.
We can manage without cry babies.
NDA is a unique crucible which inculcates tremendous physical and mental toughness. There is a need to monitor and weed out sadistic ragging and also have a better health assessment system. Officers of the Armed Forces have to have a never say die attitude in the face of all odds. The battlefield is not fair. I believe that the training imparted is excellent and unnecessary tampering due to the point of view of quitters should not be given much cognisance. Many youngsters under pressure feel the desire to run away to an easier life from the harsh training and exacting standards. That’s why the Armed Forces are a calling and not a mere job.
Tinker with time tested process which shapes the best of the best..
Invite nemisis..
Don’t confuse change with progress..