"500 Disabled Cadets is Tip of Iceberg ! The Iceberg represents the Flaws, Lacunas ,Weaknesses , & Shortcomings in our 75 years old Officer Selection & Training Systems ." -- Col Vinay B Dalvi, Editor ,MVI

The hearing of the 'su motu ' case of 500 disabled medically boarded out cadets by a bench of the SC on 18 Aug 25 and the directions of the SC judge to various Govt agencies was indeed a landmark decision and turning point for giving the much needed and delayed justice to the affected cadets whom their parent organisation ,the armed forces themselves, has disowned , ignored and left "high and dry "!

The MoD / Govt sanction letter dated 29 Aug 25 that grants ECHS medical cover to all affected medically boarded out cadets has indeed given much relief not only to the cadets but many affected parents and guardians who have been caring for these unfortunate and helpless cadets for several years and even decades .

While the ongoing case in the SC promises much relief to these cadets ,especially after the favourable directions by SC not only for medical care,cover, insurance ,etc.,but also for rehabilitation of these cadets. The next hearing on 4 Sep 25 would surely indicate the likely steps that the Govt would take to address the genuine grievances of the cadets . Now that case is in SC much will surely be done to give full relief to these 500 cadets. However, there is something that is intricately and inextricably linked to these 500 affected cadets which is far more important and much too serious to be ignored and must be highlighted at this juncture for awareness of not only the SC but all concerned Govt agencies and military selection and training instititions/ academies that are primarily responsible and accountable for the selection and training of our officer cadets ,especially those in the NDA. What needs to be known and highlighted are the main causes for the injuries sustained by these cadets that led to their being medically boarded out . The main causes for the injuries in majority of cases can surely be reduced provided the age old ,rigid, traditional ,unofficial and unstructured training methodology at the academies, especially the NDA is reviewed ,revised and refined mainly in the 19 squadrons and also by reducing the physical overload of official training tests,punishment policies, and overall 24 hrs schedule of cadets much beyond the actual / minimum requirements of IMA!

Five volumes of The Victory India Campaign books published by Pentagon Press New Delhi, during 2013 - 19 covers virtually everything related to military officer selection and training and much ,much more ! These books contain invaluable articles, debates,letters , military papers and even news stories related to this campaign which actually took birth to reduce the known and inherent causes for the injuries that these cadets have suffered and sustaining for the past 25 years ! It's all well documented with around 200 articles in these 5 volumes plus over 100 articles in various monthly/ quartely issues of Fauji India Magazine (2015 -25) - and another 100 + articles in the Mission Victory India Website, think tank and news portal run by Col Vinay Baliram Dalvi. Several veterans, professors, news reporters and defence analysts have contributed articles that are published in these books and magazines . The authors include several former Commandants of NDA,IMA,OTA ,DGMTs and even include former Naval Chief Admiral Arun Prakash. The books of the Victory India Campaign have the endorsements of several former RMs,especially Manohar Parrikar whose Foreword adorns volume 3,2016 ,'A Campaign called Victory India' .Incidentally, it was late Shri Manohar Parrikar himself who actually initiated the case for relief to medically boarded out cadets ,whom he personally met and intereacted with. I personally met and had briefed Sh Parrikar about the Victory India campaign for 40 minutes on 28 May 2015 at Pune . Volume 1, 2012 ( Victory India- A key to Quality leadership ) was endorsed and personally released by Air Chief Mshl Browne in Oct 2012 . Vol 2 ,2014 is an NDA special that emerged after close interaction with NDA ,especially their Comdt Air Mshl KS Gill and Col IVS Gahlot, CO MH ,Khadakwasla and several NDA alumni.

Vol 4 & 5 of Victory India also cover other military subjects besides the selection and training issues of cadets.

The purpose of highlighting all the above information is to go back to the root causes for the all the injuries that the cadets have sustained for past 25 years despite well documented articles and volumes of the Victory India Campaign books presently lying in the libraries of all our military academies, especially NDA which the serving fraternity is well aware of but unable to do anything worthwhile to address the identified flaws and shortcomings due to inherent drawbacks in the system!

It is time to wake up , take a complete holistic overview of the issues, and address them sincerely and wholeheartedly. It is high time that we make our overall PT methodology more sensible, scientific and systematic for the entire 24 hrs training schedule .The physical training and medical fitness factors must be seen and go together so that our ' raw intake' the officer cadets becomes the required 'finished officer product' with minimum wastage of not only medically disabled cadets but also with drastic reduction of morbidity rates which have always been 10 times more than recruits ! The other causes of relegations, withdrawals and resignations too from the military academies need to be seriously reviewed as they are directly or indirectly related to the selection and training methodology in our military academies, especially NDA where the majority of miliary cadets are trained that too for the longest duration of 3 years which raises their risk factor for injuries to three times that of IMA and OTA!

Responses to this article are invited and most welcome besides full fledged articles on this subject and linked issues that support the theme of this article. It is high time that awareness of this subject and linked issues spread !

Col Vinay B Dalvi,

Editor, MVI

Editor ,Victory India Campaign,5 volumes

Associate Editor, Fauji India Magazine