Chandigarh, May 13:
To provide wings to the dreams of large number of girls aspiring to don olive green uniform, Chief Minister S Bhagwant Mann led Punjab Government has given go ahead to start National Defence Academy (NDA) Preparatory Wing at Mai Bhago Armed Forces Preparatory Institute for Girls, SAS Nagar (Mohali) from this academic session. With this decision, Punjab continues to remain a front runner in providing opportunities for women in Defence Forces.
Punjab Employment Generation, Skill Development and Training Minister Mr Aman Arora said that this path breaking initiative would go a long way to further empower women in the state as it will help thousands of girls to realise their dream to join armed forces as Commissioned Officers.
He informed that online registration for the entrance exam, which is scheduled on June 4, 2023, has already begun and the last date for the registration is May 28, 2023.
Mr. Aman Arora said that the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Armed Forces Preparatory Institute in Mohali has already been offering preparatory courses for boys from Punjab who want to join the NDA to serve the country. Mai Bhago AFPI has taken this first of its kind initiative by offering preparatory courses exclusively for girls who are aspiring to join Defence Services.
Notably, The Central government had cleared the path for women to join the National Defence Academy (NDA) two years ago and the first batch of 19 girls, presently under training at NDA, also includes Lady Cadet Dilpreet Kaur of Mai Bhago Armed Forces Preparatory Institute. Dilpreet had secured rank 27 in All India Combined Boys & Girls Merit. She was in the top three in Girls overall ranking and topped in Punjab.
The Director of the Mai Bhago Armed Forces Preparatory Institute for Girls Major General JS Sandhu (Retd.) informed that ten girls will be selected this year for the first batch and these girls should have passed class 10th examination in 2023 and should also have a domicile of Punjab in order to apply for the NDA preparatory course. The state government would bear the entire cost of the training of the girls, including boarding and lodging, at the institute.
