Chandigarh, December 15: To regain its losing sheen in the Indian Army and to ensure that Punjab sends large number of its youth into the armed forces, the state government has now decided to set-up Cadet Training Wings (CTWs) in various schools across the state to groom students for joining these forces.
The schools shortlisted under the programme will have to identify boys willing to join the National Defence Academy (NDA) and the trainers from the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Armed Forces Preparatory Institute (AFPI), Mohali would groom them for the services selection board (SSB) interviews.
The AFPI, Mohali, is emerging as the largest feeder for the forces, as 83 of its cadets have joined officers’ cadre in the Army, Navy and Air Force since 2013.
Sources told that ecstatic over the success of the AFPI, the Punjab government wanted to open three more similar institutes in the state but considering the issues of infrastructure, trained staff and resources involved in setting up new institutes, the state has decided to launch the CTW project instead.
Talking about the new venture, Maj Gen B S Grewal, director AFPI, Mohali, said they would invite applications by the end of this week from all schools of Punjab willing to set-up a CTW in their institution. “After selecting the schools, the AFPI trainers would visit such schools to established CTWs and impart training to students as is done at the AFPI. It is hoped that as a result, the number of students joining NDA will increase substantially”, Gen Grewal added.
He said the responsibility to prepare the boys for academics would be of the parent school and the AFPI would focus on their personality development and grooming in order to prepare them for the NDA.
Meanwhile, in an impressive ceremony held at AFPI, Mohali, on Thursday, 26 former cadets who had joined the NDA and Indian Military Academy (IMA) during the current year were honoured and presented with “Achiever Awards”. Lt Gen T S Shergill, senior advisor to the Punjab CM was the chief guest on the occasion.
While 26 cadets have been sent to various academies this year, nine more cadets are expected to join NDA/INA in January 2018.
Information sourced from the IMA has revealed that Punjab, once known as sword arm of nation, has lagged far behind in producing officers in the recent years. Only 41 (17 in June and 24 in December) boys from Punjab passed out as officer this year. Punjab’s contribution is much lower compared to its neigbouring small states, Haryana, which produced 107 and Himachal Pradesh that has produced 39 officers this year from the country’s premier training academy.
Source Time Of India
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