Entries in Indian Army as an officer

Hector Telien Kom
Indian Army is the second largest army in the world. Its role is to mandate the safeguard of National interests from the external Aggression and Internal Subversion.
The distinguished history of Indian Army dates back more than thousand years. The two grand epics of ‘Ramayana’ and ‘Mahabharata’ constitute the fundamental framework around which the edifice of Indian Army is built. Joining Army is possible both after school as well as after graduation.
Aspirants can join army as a Doctor in AMC/ADC/RVC, an Engineer in EME/Army Corps of Engineers known as Sappers, as a Teacher in Army Education Corps and as a Nurse in Military Nursing Service.
The Indian Army promises both professional and personal growth at every stage of the career. But joining Indian Army as an officer is not an easy task, an aspirant has to work very hard from his/her Senior Secondary school and according to that an aspirant has to choose the Stream of their interest in 10+2 level.
There are a number of ways in which one could join Indian Army as a Commission Officer and can join through Direct Entry and Indirect Entry through UPSC NDA/CDS Examination followed by extensive interview of five days Services Selection Board except for Medical Entries. SSB Interview covers general aptitude, psychological testing, team skills as well as physical and social skills along with medical tests.The selection procedures are impartial, objective and are uniformly applied to one and all and have one aim–to “select the best”.
Army offers both Permanent Commission (PC) which means a career in the Army till he retire and Short Service Commission (SSC) which means serving for a short period of time range from 7 to 14 years after that they can opt for Permanent Commission according to their merit.
Permanent Commission (PC) Entries:
National Defence Academy (NDA) Exam: UPSC conducts NDA Entrance Exam twice a year for Unmarried Male Candidates. NDA is the joint defence service training institute of Indian Armed Forces and is located in Khadakwasla (Pune). An aspirant aged between 16 ½ and 19 years can apply after clearing class 12 exam from any Stream. NDA also provide three years BA/BSc Degree to all the Cadets, which is affiliated to Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi. Army Cadets who are accepted and successfully complete the three years program or training are sent to Indian Military Academy (IMA), Dehradun for one year of training before granting of commission.
Combined Defence Service Examination :
UPSC conducts Combined Defence Service Examination (CDSE) twice a year for Direct Entry (DE) into Indian Military Academy (IMA), Dehradun for Unmarried Male Candidates only followed by SSB Interview and Medical. Any Graduate from 19 to 24 years of age are eligible to apply for CDSE for IMA course.
In IMA, Cadets are known as Gentleman Cadets (GC). NDA Pass out GC’s are trained for one year and DE GC’s are trained for one and half year in IMA before their commission.
10+2 Technical Entry Scheme (10+2 TES): TES is one of the entry schemes to join Indian Army. It is for unmarried male candidates who has passed 10+2 examination with Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics subjects and aged between 16 ½ tand  19 ½ years. India has officially declared that passing in the Joint Entrance Exam (Main) conducted by National Testing Agency (NTA) is now mandatory criteria for recruitment through TES followed by SSB Interview and Medical.
The duration of this course is 5 Years (1 Yr at Officer Training Academy (OTA), Gaya and 4 Yrs at Cadet Training Wings (CTW) in CME Pune/MCTE Mhow/MCEME Secunderabad.
Technical Graduates Course (TGC) : A candidate who has engineering degree and aged between 20 and 27 are eligible to apply for TGC course. Only shortlisted eligible candidates depending on the cut off percentage will be interviewed at one of the SSB selection centers followed by Medical.  Selected candidates will be trained at Indian Military Academy, Dehradun for 49 weeks.
University Entry Scheme : A candidate who has BE/B Tech, Engineering Degree students in Pre-Final year, who wish to join Indian Army as Permanent Commissioned Officer through direct SSB Interview without written exam and aged between 19 and 25 Years can apply for UES. Selected candidates will be trained at Indian Military Academy, Dehradun for 1 year.
Permanent Commission Entries for Soldiers (OR/JCO) in Indian Army
Army Cadet College (ACC) Exam :
 Indian army conducts ACC Entrance Exam twice a year for its soldiers in Indian Army as Permanent Commissioned Officers. The eligible Other Ranks (OR) in age group of 20 to 27 years and minimum of two years of service and having 10+2 pass qualification can apply.
After qualifying in written examination conducted by the Military Training Directorate, the aspirants are screened by SSB Interview and the Medical Board.
Successful candidates are trained at Army Cadet College Wing of Siachen Battalion (IMA, Dehradun) for three years at the end of which they get a graduation degree and is affiliated to JNU, Delhi followed by one year pre-commission training at IMA, Dehradun.
Special Commissioned Officers (SCO) Scheme: Under this entry JCOs/OR in the age group of 28 to 35 years, with Senior School Certificate Pass (10+2 pattern) qualification are eligible for Permanent Commission after screening by SSB and Medical Board. They have to undergo pre-commission training at OTA, Gaya for 1 year.
Permanent Commission (Special List) (PC SL) : Under this entry, JCOs/OR up to 42 years of age and minimum 10 years of service, with a Senior School Certificate Pass (10+2 pattern) qualification are eligible for Commission after screening by SSB and Medical Board.
They are granted PC (SL) after successful completion of four weeks orientation training at the OTA, Gaya.  
(To be contd)