Seventeen young women from Punjab's Mai Bhago Armed Forces Preparatory Institute (AFPI) have cleared the written examination for the National Defence Academy (NDA) — and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is calling it the highest such count from any government institute in the country. That claim, if it holds, is a striking benchmark in a competition where 94 percent of seats are reserved for male candidates.

Breaking through a 94% male exam

The NDA written exam is one of India's most fiercely contested defence entry routes, historically dominated by male aspirants by sheer structural design. For decades, women were entirely excluded from the NDA; it was only after sustained legal pressure that the Supreme Court directed the government to open permanent commissions and, eventually, NDA entry to women. Against that backdrop, seventeen qualifiers from a single state government institute in one cycle is a number that demands attention.

Chief Minister Mann framed it in his own words: 'ਇੱਕ ਇਤਿਹਾਸਕ ਤੇ ਮਾਣਮੱਤਾ ਪਲ' — 'a historic and proud moment.' He added that the result is 'proof of their immense hard work' and that 'our daughters have shattered the glass ceiling.'

What the Mai Bhago NDA Wing was built to do

Mai Bhago AFPI is a Punjab government-run Armed Forces Preparatory Institute designed to coach candidates for defence services examinations. Mann's government made a deliberate policy call to launch a dedicated NDA wing within the institute — specifically to channel female aspirants toward the exam and give them structured preparation that private coaching centres in smaller towns rarely offer.

That decision is now pointing to a return. Across India, state governments have increasingly set up targeted defence-exam coaching, recognising that regional representation in the officer cadre is thin and that girls in particular lack access to quality preparation infrastructure. Punjab's model — a state institute with a named women-focused wing — fits a growing national pattern, but the reported outcome puts it ahead of the curve.

What comes next for the 17 candidates

Clearing the written exam is the first gate. The Services Selection Board (SSB) interview — a rigorous multi-day psychological and physical assessment — awaits all seventeen. Final NDA selections will depend on their SSB performance and medical fitness. The road is long, but reaching this stage, especially in a cohort that came through a government institute, is itself the inflection point Mann is marking today.

He closed his post with 'Inquilab Zindabad!' — 'Long live the revolution!' — a phrase with deep roots in Punjab's freedom-struggle vocabulary, deployed here to underscore what he sees as a social shift, not just an exam result. For the seventeen young women and their families, it is both.