NDA:- National Defense Academy
NDA is the acronym for National Defense Academy which a joint service academy for the armed forces of India where students of all three armed forces, namely – the Air Force, the Navy, and the Army are trained together before being sent for their respective service. It was established on 7th December 1954 and is the world’s first tri-service academy. Its motto is “sēvā paramō dharma” which translates in English to “Service Before Self”. It is a military academy affiliated to Jawaharlal Nehru University. The applicants are selected through a written exam conducted by the UPSC, followed by extensive interviews. Of about four lakh fifty thousand students that apply each year, 6,300 are called for the interviews out of which 320 are selected. Only males between the age of 16.5 years and 19.5 years can apply. The selection process takes place twice a year for semesters beginning in January and July. Out of the students chosen, 70 are accepted in the Air Force, 42 for the Navy and 208 for the army. The selected students are then sent to Dehradun, Hyderabad, and Kerala for the training of Army, Air Force and Navy, respectively.