AFPI felicitates 26 commissioned officers

MOHALI: Twenty six former cadets of Maharaja Ranjit Singh Armed Forces Preparatory Institute (AFPI), Mohali, who joined the National Defence Academy and Indian Military Academy, during the current year were honoured and presented with ‘Achiever Awards’ on Thursday. Lieutenant general T S Shergill, Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM), senior advisor to the chief minister of Punjab was the chief guest on the occasion.
AFPI has been set up by the government of Punjab with a view to train selected young men for a commission into the armed forces through the National Defence Academy.The institute commenced training in 2011 and its first batch completed its training in 2013.
From June 2013 to June 2017, the institute has been successful in sending 83 cadets to National Defence Academy and other service academies. This is a remarkable improvement in the terms of the number of candidates over the previous years, when the entire state of Punjab was contributing a mere six to eight cadets in a batch of over 300.
It may be recalled that the institute has on two occasions in the past produced an All India Merit List topper in January 2015 and also in June 2017. This year, the institute has sent as many as 26 cadets to various academies. Further nine cadets are expected to join NDA /INA in January 2018.
Currently, 30 cadets of the institute are undergoing SSB training after clearing the NDA entrance examination conducted by the UPSC in September. Successful cadets will be joining NDA in June 2018.
Special prizes were given to cadets who excelled in various fields such as academics, sports and officer-like qualities. The Academics Trophy was won by CQMS Neerpreet Singh, the Best Officer-Like Qualities Trophy was won by Cadet Shashank Sharma and the Sports Trophy was won by CQMS Loveneet Singh. (Cadet Shashank Sharma had stood first in the All India Merit List for NDA 138 Course.) The Best All Round Cadet of the Fifth Course was CSM Arunav Laroiya. In addition to these, PT Badges were also awarded to the cadets of the sixth and seventh courses, who are currently undergoing training at the institute.
Shergill appreciated the ebullient spirit displayed by cadets of AFPI, and expressed his happiness at the outstanding results attained by Maharaja Ranjit Singh AFPI. He advised the cadets to continue to work hard and bring further laurels to their alma mater. He narrated incidents from military history to highlight leadership qualities required in a warrior and briefed the cadets about the code of the warrior.
Major General B S Grewal congratulated the cadets and their parents on the performance of the cadets. He expressed hope that the cadets currently under training at the institute will be inspired by the performance of their seniors and will strive to emulate their results.