CORPORATE CITIZEN CLAPS FOR THE NATIONAL DEFENCE ACADEMY (NDA) AND THE FIRST BATCH OF 19 YOUNG WOMEN WHO WILL TRAIN AND BE BATTLE-READY AT THE NDA’S PRESTIGIOUS TRI-SERVICES MILITARY TRAINING INSTITUTE AT KHADAKWASLA IN PUNE.

At an average age of 16 to 19.5 years, these brave women will undergo training for combat roles as part of the NDA (Women) ‘s 148th course. After completing the UPSC NDA written exam, and the Services Selection Board’s (SSB) interviews and medicals, they will be transferred to their specific services for further training with one of the three defence services. Of the 19 women, 10 will join the Indian Army, 6 will be inducted into the Air Force, and 3 will join the Indian Navy. The program’s uniqueness is that these young Bravehearts will undergo a 3-year ‘gender neutral’ training, which will be the same as their male counterparts. It will be skewed to command men as part of their battalion or troops. The topper among the girls is 19-year-old Shanan Dhaka from Haryana, who stood first and ranked 10th in the NDA entrance exam. The entire program is a fallout of the 2021 Supreme Court directive that has enabled women to register for the NDA test for the first time. With minimum changes to the existing curriculum, the academic and outdoor training, and drill, will be gender-neutral. To accommodate women candidates, the training will incorporate slight variations to the physical training aspect and likely follow a training template similar to that in other pre-Commissioning training academics, including OTA Chennai, INA Ezhimala, and AFA Hyderabad. “I saw the respect being accorded to army officers. Plus, the trust everybody has in army personnel motivated me to join the service. It’s an opportunity to serve the nation with unparalleled pride and honour,” said Dhaka. The overwhelming response of 1.77 lakh women who appeared for the NDA exam in November 2021 has opened new doors. It sparks new momentum for women’s empowerment in the Indian Defence sector.

CORPORATE CITIZEN SLAPS THE SO-CALLED ‘COOL’ PATRONS FOR DOMESTICATING EXOTIC WILD ANIMALS WITHOUT ABIDING BY REGULATIONS OR ACCLIMATIZING THEM.

The results lead to kangaroos going astray on the outskirts of north Bengal, smuggled orangutans missing in Mumbai, or the Pune district Railway Police Force detaining traders illegally smuggling 1200+ iguanas and 300 African sulcata tortoises crammed inside a small suitcase! While it is legal to own exotic pets, the lack of knowledge or effort in maintaining them becomes a ‘caged’ compromise. Sumanth Bindumadhav, Senior Manager, Wildlife, Disaster Response and Dharwad Program, Humane Society International/India, said, “Hefty amounts of money are paid to acquire these pets, and the growing demand is thus met with horrific acts of poaching from the wild, smuggling, or illegal breeding followed by incomprehensible trauma that these animals go through during transit and transport.” The animal’s ordeal compounds beyond the point of sale, and most are condemned to a lifetime of unnatural living conditions without animal welfare. Kudos to activist Antony Rubin who exposed an exotic petting zoo on Chennai’s East Coast Road (ECR) that charged patrons heftily for buying exotic wildlife species. And thanks to him, around 1,300 exotic animals were declared by Chennai-based individuals, the highest in India, Mumbai following suit on the voluntary declaration scheme under the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change’s (MoEFCC) Parivesh website. During the COVID outbreak, the MoEFCC issued an advisory to streamline the import and possession of exotic live species. It demanded voluntary disclosure based on the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). However, the lack of a unified information system on species at the state or central level makes it less viable. The exotic animals’ database was intended to control and manage zoonotic diseases, ensuring human and animal safety. Despite import advisory by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), the lack of stringent measures resulted in 6,000 species of flora and fauna being seized between 1999-2018, per the 2020 World Wildlife Report. “India is among the top ten countries in terms of using the airline sector for wildlife trafficking,” said Atul Bagai, head of the UNEP in India. “This is an unwanted accolade.”