Haryana’s Ishita Sangwan among 1st women to graduate NDA

ROHTAK: Ishita Sangwan, a native of Chhapar village in Charkhi Dadri district, scripted history by becoming a part of the first-ever batch of the women cadets that successfully passed out of the National Defence Academy (NDA), Pune.With dreams of flying a Rafale fighter jet, Ishita is on course to become the first woman from this pioneering NDA batch to pursue a career in the Air Force flying.Ishita's father, Charan Singh Sangwan, is a school principal in Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan. The family currently lives in Gudha Gorji, Jhunjhunu. Her mother, Anita, is a teacher.Ishita did her schooling from Rana International School, Degana, in Nagaur district of Rajasthan. She passed Class XII with physics, chemistry, and mathematics.Charan Singh said Ishita and her twin sister, Astha, always excelled in academics. While Astha is currently pursuing MBBS from GMC, Surat, Ishita always dreamt of becoming a fighter pilot. Her aspirations took flight when the Supreme Court in 2021 allowed women to join the NDA."I informed her of the opportunity just 28 days before the NDA written examination. She was confident of qualifying despite the limited time for preparation," recalled Charan Singh. In total, 1,78,000 women candidates had applied, competing for just 19 vacancies — only two of which were in the Air Force flying branch.Since the family had no military background, Ishita prepared for the Services Selection Board (SSB) interview using YouTube and other online resources. Her SSB interview was held in Bengaluru, and after qualifying, she went on to clear the Computerised Pilot Selection System (CPSS), which is mandatory for Air Force flying candidates. After successfully completing the medical examination, she was selected and officially joined the NDA on August 9, 2022.All of this happened while she was simultaneously preparing for her Class XII board exams, in which she scored 90.60%, having earlier secured 90% in Class X."Ishita told us that the training at NDA had been extremely rigorous, keeping them occupied from 5 am to 10 pm every day," her father said with pride.