I am writing to you with the hope that you will help us in highlighting the discrimination we female defense aspirants are facing in terms of less no. of seats as compared to male candidates.  Every year 200 seats are declared for IMA and 175 seats for OTA for male candidates through CDS. Whereas we female candidates gets only 12 seats to fight on. This is not even 10% of total seats declared for male candidates. Through CDS 1/2015 only 118 sets are filled out of 200 of IMA, 82 seats are still vacant. Same is the case with OTA, only 137 seats are filled out of 175, 38 seats are still vacant. Whereas 30 girls got recommended to join by the SSB boards but only 12 will got the joining. A total of 18 girls could not join the academy not because they did not have the potential to be an officer. The SSB declared them recommended along with the medical board declaring them fit for forces. Then why merit out? It’s because of lack of government infrastructure to train them which is surely not a step towards development and empowerment. This is the data of non – technical entry only. Same discrimination is faced by female candidates of other entries like technical, NCC and JAG entry. We girls work equally hard and overcome all the social, economical, mental and physical barriers to get into forces but due to significantly less number of vacancies, only few manage to reach the respective academies. Our question to the concerned authorities is why these vacant seats of male candidates can’t be allotted to us? Why can’t we have a combined merit list? We wrote letters to the PMO and defense minister, even posted on their walls through Facebook and twitter but didn’t got any reply. So now we need your help to highlight this discrimination we are facing and get justice. I'm also enclosing the letter we posted to PMO office and defense minister. This is the letter posted to PMO and Defense Minister is - This letter is not like any other ordinary letter. It has been written with a blend of both facts and emotions after a thourough discussion and a detailed study. Before starting with what this letter contains, I would like to draw your attention to the following two facts. 1) Sir when you released your manifesto during 16th Lok Sabha elections, it preached 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas' along with other points which focused on empowerment of women like 'Beti Bachao Beti Padhhao' 2) We get to hear that common people directly contact with the government to address their issues and the government does reply to their queries or grievances. On the lines of both these facts, I too want to express my concern directly to the highest authorities as I believe that the honourable government of my nation listens to its each citizen. Sir, I voice my concern on behalf of a section of society, a section so small that hardly anyone notices the injustice being done to it, but sir, the dream of this section stands par with the biggest dreams of any other section of society and that is joining the Indian Armed forces. The section I talked about is 'FEMALE DEFENCE ASPIRANTS' Defence Forces are one of the elite services of Government of India. Ever since induction of women started into the forces, many girls have lived their dream of becoming an officer in the forces. But with the advancements and opportunities there lies a lack of equality in terms of number of vacancies. Every year a large number of girls apply for defence forces through the available entries but only a mere percentage gets merit in. We girls reach till the merit after clearing the written exam then, the five day SSB procedure along with medicals just to reach a fate where we are declared as merit out candidates. There are rare chances of boys getting merit out because of two reasons 1) more number of entries 2) fairly large number of vacancies per entry. We girls work equally hard and overcome all the social, economical, mental and physical barriers to get into forces but due to significantly less number of vacancies, only few manage to reach the respective academies. We take Combined Defence Services Exam after graduation as part of non tehnical entry and we cover the same syllabus (except maths which is not required for OTA) and put same amount of effort and all we get is one choice that is Officer Training Academy. We should be allowed to put forward our preferences for Indian Airforce and Indian Navy too. The discrimination doesnot end here. I would like to draw your attention to the fact that every year, so many seats are left vacant which are declared for boys because of less number of potential male candidates. These seats could be alloted to potential female candidates who miss to be a part of the the merit because of very less vacancies. To make you understand this scenario in a better way, I want to put forward some figures. The number of vacancies declared for boys in the following three elite training institutes are listed below For boys:- IMA Dehradun- 1800 OTA Gaya         -   350 OTA Chennai    -   700 Total                  -2850 Just the data from only three acadamies and the number goes to nearly three thousand. Lets look at girls, a petty number of 35-40 only. Not even 2% of the males vacancies from three academies. But the more disheartening reality is that out of all the seats which are declared for boys per year, just 50-60% get fulfilled.  When IBN Live released a news report on one of Rajya Sabha sessions where honourable Defence Minister quoted that, ' There is a shortage of officers in Defence Forces. There is a shortage of 9, 106 officers in Indian Army and Indian Navy faces a shortage of 1467 officers'. If there is a shortage of officers in indian army then why we girls are facing merit out after getting recommended and being declared physically and medically fit. Now, who should be held responsible for this concern building scenario? I want you to look at the following data being presented to you. It shows how many male candidates passed out from OTA Gaya which has a capacity to enroll 350 male candidates per course. June 2012          -149 December 2012 - 176 June 2013          - 128 December 2013  - 160 June 2014           -125 December 2014   - 163 June 2015            - 154 In IMA there were 200 vaccancies through 2/2015 CDS out of which only 118 were filled. It is evident that nearly, half of the seats go vacant as there is a shortage of potential male candidates. Now lets consider the case of Merit Out girls candidates in 2015 Non tech entry   -30 Technical entry  -21 NCC entry           - 26 A total of 77 girls couldnot join academy not because they didnot have the potential to be an officer. The SSB declared them recommended along with the medical board declaring them fit for forces. Then why merit out? Its because of lack of government infrastructure to train them which is surely not a step towards development and empowerment. Out of all the merit out girl candidates there is a possibilty of any girl securing more marks than a boy who later became an officer. But the girl remained a merit out case. So, what has led to this situation? The fact that male candidate never feels short of vacancy. He had multiple entries, posts and vacancies. Hence even after securing lesser marks than a girl, he happens to become an officer. Next issue that deserves your immediate attention is the number of training academies. There is no defence training academy which has been established  especially for girls while there is a provision for this for boys in IMA and OTA Gaya. Training is an important part of this whole procedure of making an individual an officer and I on behalf of this section of female defence aspirants feel that we female candidates  should also be provided with separate female academies. If there will be a separate academy for girls then vacancies for girls will automatically increase and more deserving lady candidates will get a chance to be a part of this honourable profession. We often come to know that our concerned authorities are focusing more on increasing the number of SSB  centres. I would like to politely put forward a point regarding this. No matter, how many SSB centres come up, until all recommended candidates becomes an officer, its of no use. What we really need to increase now is the number of training academies and not the number of SSB centres to recommend the candidates to get merit out later. The shortage of officers in indian army is not due to lack of deserving candidates but because of lack of infrastructure in terms of academies to train the potential recommended candidates. We are even ready to suggest you with some solutions depending upon the level of our intellect to address these problems. 1) Increase the number of entries and also vacancies per entry in Armed Forces. 2) Release a combined merit list so that lady candidates can compete for all seats and not just for a small number like 35-40. 3) Transfer vacant seats of male candidates to potential female candidates to reduce merit out cases which is a very high number among girls. 4) Lady cadets should be allowed to get trained in IMA Dehradun also. 5)Separate academies to train lady cadets. 6) We are ready to contribute our complete stipend which an officer gets at the time of training and our one month salary every year during the tenure of our service for the establishment of new training academy to train lady cadets to become an officer in the forces. Along with these suggestion I on behalf of all the merit out girls have a request sir. Even after enrollment of male candidates in IMA this year, 82 seats are still vacant. Sir can't they be alloted to merit out female candidates. If ota gaya can be establishedhd in three months than IMA can also b equipped in one month with the facilities to train lady cadets. Please Sir, kindly give a thought to it as it will be a dream come true for so many girls who are waiting for the one fine day when they will be able to live their dream. Last year the theme of Republic Day was also Women Empowerment. Wing Commander Pooja Thakur was the first lady officer who extended Guard of Honour to Honourable President of the USA Mr. Barack Obama on 26 january 2015. But sir, how many girls will get a chance to become the next Pooja Thakur. I appreciate that the goverment is working towards all round development but the discrimination in defence forces is now a major concern. Many dreams dont get a chance to turn into reality because of this. Sir, not alone Beti Bachao Beti Padhhao is the need of hour but actualy Beti Bachao Beti Padhhao Beti ko Aage Badhhao is  what we girls need because simply reducing the female foeticide and educating the girls wont bring any good unless their future is secured from all kinds of discrimination. After acquanting you with all the possible known areas which require your immediate attention I want to put a stop on my thoughts by requesting you to kindly look into the matter and please offer all the female defence aspirants a hope of keeping their dream of becoming an officer in defence forces alive as one fine day it will be a reality. Thank you Jai Hind