Pune’s Rutuja Warhade and Nandini Waikar break barriers to join NDA.
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00:00I was very fascinated by the fighter jets. I liked the fighter jets very cool.
00:03Until 2021, the National Defense Academy was only for men. Now, two girls from Pune just made it in.
00:1017-year-old Rutuja Varhade is one of the top-ranked female candidates, all India ranked 3.
00:16She said her dream of joining the military began in class 9.
00:19I was a desire to be a pilot.
00:21And besides my father's desire to go into armed forces, but because of lack of opportunity or resources, the dream was not made possible.
00:32Then I decided to join the 9th standard that I would like to join the Defense Forces.
00:37Academics, fitness and interviews, she trained with retired officers. And it all paid off.
00:42She ranked number one among 1.5 lakh girls who appeared for the NDA entrance exam.
00:47Varhade is now gearing up for four years of intense training, three at the NDA and one at her respective service academy.
01:14The other topper is Nandini Vajkar, All India ranked 27, the third highest female rank.
01:21Their discipline, uniformity, the entire India was looking at me.
01:26Three years of preparation, one mission, NDA.
01:30Sir, this was decided in my childhood, because my father is a government dealer, he operates a business.
01:36So that's why he visited Pune's Southern Command Cantonment area from Pune.
01:39He visited a lot of work there.
01:40She too grew up dreaming of joining the armed forces, and has already shared her preferred service for the future.
01:51Though the training environment has historically been male-dominated, both cadets have stated they expect to be treated no differently.
02:09In 2021, the Supreme Court ordered that women candidates be allowed to take the NDA examination after a PIL was filed by advocate Kush Kalra challenging their exclusion on the grounds of constitutional rights.
02:21Women were first admitted to the National Defence Academy in August 2022.
02:26The first batch of women cadets joined the NDA at that time, and since then, over 126 females have been admitted.