India, May 24 -- For Ishita Sangwan, a random phone call from her father while preparing for the JEE was a turning point in her life. Sangwan's father is a school principal, her mother a teacher, and, at the time, she was studying for the JEE. When she picked up the phone, Sangwan's father was excitedly telling her that women could finally join the National Defence Academy (NDA), the country's most elite defence training school.

Three years later, Cadet Ishita Sangwan from Haryana will make history when she takes the salute at the NDA's graduation ceremony, at its Khadakwasla campus near Pune on May 30. Sangwan and 16 other women cadets will comprise the first-ever batch of women to graduate from this world-class military training academ...