The North News
Chandigarh, December 13
Five former cadets of the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Armed Forces Preparatory Institute (MRSAFPI) in Mohali have been commissioned as officers in the Indian armed forces, continuing Punjab’s long tradition of military service. Four cadets were commissioned into the Indian Army during the Passing Out Parade of the 157th Regular Course at the Indian Military Academy (IMA) in Dehradun. The parade was reviewed by the Chief of the Army Staff, General Upendra Dwivedi.
Those commissioned into the Army are Gurkirat Singh of Amritsar, the son of an ex-serviceman from the Corps of Engineers; Barjinder Singh of Gurdaspur, whose parents are a school principal and a superintendent with the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited; Sukhdev Singh Gill of Gurdaspur, son of a retired junior engineer of PSPCL; and Vinayak Sharma of Pathankot, whose parents are in private employment.
Another MRSAFPI alumnus, Kush Pandeya from Ludhiana, was commissioned as a Flying Officer in the Indian Air Force after graduating from the 216th course at the Air Force Academy in Dundigal, near Hyderabad. The Passing Out Parade there was reviewed by the Chief of Defence Staff, General Anil Chauhan. Mr Pandeya comes from a military family, with his father a retired Indian Air Force Group Captain and his mother serving as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Medical Corps.
Punjab’s Employment Generation, Skill Development and Training Minister Aman Arora congratulated the newly commissioned officers, urging them to uphold the values of the armed forces and bring honour to the state. He said the state government, under Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, was committed to supporting young people aspiring to careers in the defence services.
The director of MRSAFPI, Major General Ajay H Chauhan (retd), also extended his congratulations and called on the officers to live up to the ideals of the Indian defence services. He said that with the latest commissioning, a total of 186 MRSAFPI cadets have joined the Indian armed forces since the institute was established.
