AFPI achievers feted for making it to NDA, IMA

CHANDIGARH: As many as 26 former cadets of Maharaja Ranjit Singh Armed Forces Preparatory Institute (AFPI), Mohali, who joined the National Defence Academy (NDA) and the Indian Military Academy (IMA) during the current year, were honoured and presented with “Achiever Award” by Lt Gen TS Shergill, senior adviser to the Punjab Chief Minister, during a function held at the institute today.

The best cadet trophy being presented to Arunav Laroiya by Lt Gen TS Shergill (retd), senior adviser to Punjab CM, at the MAFPI in Mohali on Thursday. Tribune photo

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 14

As many as 26 former cadets of Maharaja Ranjit Singh Armed Forces Preparatory Institute (AFPI), Mohali, who joined the National Defence Academy (NDA) and the Indian Military Academy (IMA) during the current year, were honoured and presented with “Achiever Award” by Lt Gen TS Shergill, senior adviser to the Punjab Chief Minister, during a function held at the institute today.

Special prizes were given to cadets who excelled in various fields.

Neerpreet Singh won the Academics Trophy, Shashank Sharma the Best Officer-Like Qualities Trophy and Loveneet Singh the Sports Trophy.

Shashank had stood first in the all-India merit list for entrance to NDA’s 138th Course. The Best All-Round Cadet of the fifth AFPI course was Arunav Laroiya.

Appreciating the ebullient spirit displayed by cadets as well as the AFPI’s outstanding results, Lt Gen Shergill advised the cadets to continue to work hard and bring more laurels to their alma mater. He narrated incidents from military history to highlight leadership qualities required in leaders in uniform and briefed the cadets about the Code of the Warrior.

The AFPI was set up by the Punjab Government to train selected young men for a commission into the armed forces through the NDA. The first batch completed its two-year training in 2013.

The institute has so far sent 83 cadets to the armed forces. This is a marked improvement over the previous years when the entire state of Punjab was contributing a mere 6-8 cadets in a batch of over 300.

Maj Gen BS Grewal (retd), Director General, AFPI, said the institute had on two occasions — in January 2015 and in June this year — produced an all-India merit list topper.

This year, the institute has sent as many as 26 cadets to various service academies.

Further, nine cadets are expected to join NDA in Jan 2018. At present, 30 cadets of the institute are undergoing training for SSB interview after having cleared the NDA entrance examination.

Maj Gen Grewal also spoke about the new venture being undertaken by the AFPI for training students in selected schools under a scheme, Cadet Training Wings (CTW). AFPI trainers would visit such schools where CTWs would be established and impart training akin to what is being given at the AFPI.