The recruitment to the Armed Forces is voluntary and every citizen of India, irrespective of his caste, class, religion and community is eligible for recruitment into the Armed Forces provided he meets the laid down physical, medical and educational criteria. Individuals selected for Short Service Commission are trained at the Officers Training Academy, Chennai. For Technical Branches, women special entry scheme, NCC special entry scheme and service entries is made directly through the respective Recruiting Directorates for the Army, the Navy and the Air Force. University graduates are eligible to appear in the examination. On an average, about 1.7 lakh candidates appear in the UPSC examination and the UPSC recommends about 13-14 thousand candidates every year.
Successful candidates join the respective training academies, viz.
On completion of the NDA course, they are sent to the respective service academies for their pre-commission training. All Arms and Services. On completion of training at the OTA, successful candidates are inducted as Short Service Commissioned Officers in the technical branches of the Army. Recruitment of Medical Officers Medical graduates from the Armed Forces Medical College, Pune are directly inducted as permanent Commissioned Medical Officers in the Armed Forces. Recruitment of medical officers in the Armed Forces is done through two sources.