In order to match the naval standard of the Indian Naval Academy (INA), the National Defence Academy, Pune (NDA) is soon going to launch a Bachelor of Technology (BTech) course in Applied Electronics and Communication Engineering for Naval cadets. From the sources it has been revealed the course has been introduced considering the increasingly technical nature of modern warfare and to ensure training compatibility at the Indian Naval Academy (INA).
NDA is a tri-services training academy, which cadets join after Class 12. At NDA, they undergo a three-year training at the end of which they are awarded a BA or BSc degree. Thereafter, these cadets go for a year to the Indian Military Academy (IMA) at Dehradun, INA at Ezhimala or the Air Force Academy (AFA) at Dundigul for their pre-commissioning training into respective forces. Cadets from the Navy stream who pass out of NDA are awarded a BSc degree and, at INA, they are awarded a masters degree in science.
From the sources it has been revealed that the Naval officers passing out of INA with an engineering degree have more chances of doing better than NDA officers who are only trained in pure science. The second reason why more and more people prefer INA over NDA is that the former offers an engineering degree whereas the latter provides a B.Sc degree.
During the year 2012, NDA introduced BE (Military Engineering) course in the mid-session in which 350 cadets of the 127th course, who had joined in January 2012 were taught. Initially for the first three months these cadets were taught BSc thereafter it was shifted to BE (Military Engineering) course. No doubt the students are being taught but the course has not yet got approval.
In the year 2012, when the 127th course progressed to the second term of the yet-to-be-approved BE syllabus128th course was introduced in which 400 cadets enrolled for BE and 50 for BA. A year later in March 2013, NDA suddenly scrapped the course as it did not get approval. This time, sources said, NDA has already taken steps to obtain the necessary approvals.
