How to Join Indian Army as an Officer!

There are many ways and steps which are required to join the Indian Army. The Indian Army is the vast spread Army and has Active 1,237,117 personnel and 960,000 reserve personnel. But instead of these figures, our country needs more youth personnel to Join Indian Army and serve the nation with pride and dignity. We all know our Indian Army motto ” Service before Self “.

Now I will tell you the different steps to Join the Indian Army as Officer.

Combined Defence Service/Officers Training Academy (CDS/OTA)

University Entry Scheme (UES)

NCC (Special Entry Scheme)

Technical Graduates Course (TGC)

Short Service Commission (SSC-tech).

Judge Advocate General(JAG)

Army Education Corps(AEC)

National Defence Service(NDA)

Combined Defence Service/Officers Training Academy (CDS/OTA): This is the Examination conducted by UPSC twice in a Year CDS(1) and CDS(2). The examination consists of two parts one is CDS and another is OTA. The CDS has three papers in a day and OTA has two papers in a day. CDS have Mathematics, General English, And General Knowledge and the OTA has only General English and General Knowledge. Only the graduate students can Apply and the students who are pursuing his/her last year of graduation can also apply. Most important thing: Female candidates can only apply for OTA, not for CDS.

• Age limit for IMA are 19-24  &
• OTA for Male/Female is 19-25 years.

University Entry Scheme (UES): For UES the candidates who are studying in his/her last year of graduation can apply for this and every year the Indian Army shares the notification to  Universities. The educational qualifications should have obtained a minimum of 60 % aggregate marks till the pre-final year of V semester of 3-year course and BE/B Tech VII Semester of 5 years integrated degree course. Age limit must be 18-24 Years

NCC (Special Entry Scheme): This is the best way to join the Indian Army because if some candidate is not much interested in the study, they simply have to join the NCC from their respective college/school to achieve the A, B, & C certificate, also should have served for minimum three academic years in the senior Division/Wing of NCC. The age limit is 19-25 years.

Technical Graduates Course (TGC): In this, the candidate must have the knowledge of the technical field like  BE/B.Tech. Candidates who have passed the Engineering Degree course/final year of Engineering Degree course are eligible to apply. But the final year student has to submit the proof of the recently passed year marks sheet to the selection committee. The age limit of TGC(Male) is 20-27 years. Female candidates cannot apply.

Short Service Commission (SSC-Tech): This procedure is the same as the TGC has but in this female candidate can apply for SSC_tech with the age limit of 20-27 years old and for Widows of Defence Personnel Only is 35 years old. But for Widows of Defence personnel, there is SSC Tech with BE/B.tech and SSC Non-Tech / Non-UPSC with any graduate degree. SSC in the Army will be granted for 14 years(for an initial period of 10 years, extendable by four years).

Judge Advocate General(JAG): It is a special entry for both male and female law graduates. There is no written exam for this. Candidates will be shortlisted on the basis of their academics and then they directly face the SSB interview. If you are desperate to join the Indian army JAG branch, you can apply for a JAG entry through the official website of the Indian Army. The age limit for JAG is 21 to 27 years

Army Education Corps(AEC): Only those candidates who have passed PG Degree in the following subjects MA/MSc (English/Geography/Economics/History/Pol Science/ /International Relation)  and also in M.Sc (Physics/Chemistry/Maths/ Zoology/ Botany/ Geology /Nano Science/Computer Science/Electronics) With 1st or 2 nd Division are eligible to apply. Candidates must note that final year Result awaiting students are NOT eligible to apply. The age limit for AES is 23 to 27 years.

National Defence Service(NDA): This service has eligibility to pass class 12 or equivalent examination from a recognized board and then can apply for the NDA/NA examination.the exam is conducted by UPSC twice in a year and the age limit of applying this exam is 16 – 19 years. After clearing the exam candidates will go through the SSB interview. This examination gives the youngest youth of our country. The IMA considers 208 seats for the CDS examination.

All these entries for joining the Indian Army considers an officer Rank and if the candidate passed the written exam/shortlisted by academics/ NCC entry have to go through the SSB interview for the period of 5 days which has to be the turning point of his/her life and when he/she complete that 5 days period and passed all the tests in the interview, he/she will be commissioned in Indian Army as a rank known as Lieutenant.