Education and Career Forum

Respected Sir/Ma'am, I will get passed in my 10th this year. I want to join Indian Army and want to make it my profession. Is there any obligations to chose specific subjects like PCM in 12th for your Army selection and what exam will I have to qualify to join Indian Army? I am a female candidate.

First, thing I would like to let you know being a female, you can get into Indian Army by joining OTA (Officer's Training Academy) wing of CDS (Combined Defense Services).

Further, for joining OTA, you are required to qualify the CDS examination held by UPSC twice every year.

The minimum eligibility criteria required to apply for CDS examination to join OTA are as below :-

* You must hold the nationality of Indian.

* Your age need to lie within 20 years to 25 years.

* You must have completed your degree course in any discipline from a recognised university. Students pursuing final year of their bachelor's degree course are also eligible.

* You must hold the physical fitness as per the service requirement norms.


As evident from above mentioned eligibility criteria to join Indian Army, there is no requirement of a particular subject or stream at any level of academics and therefore you can choose for any subject group for your Class 12th and later on graduation degree course as per your interest.

For complete details regarding various entries available in Indian Army, you can refer to the link www.joinindianarmy.nic.in.

For female candidate you have opportunity after your graduation.
It is not compulsory to opt PCM to join Army but you should choose PCM because you have one entry which is UPSC CDS Examination.
This examination have mathematics paper which is compulsory to clear with minimum cutoff marks.

No, it is not compulsory to have PCM in Std 12th to join Indian Army.

Candidate passed 12th from a recognised board in any discipline and have passed bachelor degree from a recognised university are eligible for recruitment in Indian Army through various entries.

So, you can apply for SSC (Women ) entry for recruitment after bachelor degree.

Selection is after qualifying in the various stages of examination.

-Female candidate can join Indian Army/Air force / Navy only after the graduation in any specialized course from recognized university via CDS,OTA..As of now you have ample of time to prepare for the exam and focus on current education course
Good Luck

*No. It is not compulsory to opt science stream with PCM in 10+2.

*There are no vacancies for female candidate to join Indian Army after 10+2.

*It is necessary for a female candidates to have a graduate degree then only they can apply for CDS examination held by UPSC. In case the candidate does not have maths in graduation, then they have to fill OTA as their first preference in CDS exam form. If they do so, only their English and General Ability paper marks will be added for cutoffs.

** Indian army has open vacancies for the posts of 99 Soldier General Duty (Women Military Police) from 10th pass candidates.
The registration has started from 27 July 2020 and will be closed on 31 August 2020.