Maharaja Ranjit Singh Armed Forces Preparatory Institute, Mohali (AFPI) added another feather in the cap with twenty five former cadets of the institute joined the National Defence Academy and Indian Military Academy during the current year. These cadets gets “Achiever Awards” today in an impressive ceremony held at the Institute. Air Marshal GP Singh, VM (Retired) was the Chief Guest on the occasion.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 BCA Manraj Singh; the Best Officer Like Qualities Trophy was won by CSM Bimalroop Singh and the Sports Trophy was won by Cdt Kushal Sharma. The Best All Round Cadet of the Seventh Course was BCC Harshit Bakshi. In addition, PT Badges were also awarded to the cadets of the eighth and ninth courses currently undergoing training at the Institute.Air Marshal GP Singh appreciated the zeal and enthusiasm displayed by cadets of AFPI, and expressed his happiness at the outstanding results attained by the institute. He advised the cadets to continue to work hard and bring further laurels to their alma mater. Maj Gen BS Grewal, Dir AFPI congratulated the cadets and their parents on the wonderful performance of the cadets. He expressed hope that the cadets currently under training at the institute will take inspiration from the performance of their seniors and strive to emulate their results.
Gen. Grewal also spoke about the new venture being undertaken by AFPI for training students in selected schools under a scheme called Cadet Training Wings. AFPI trainers would visit such schools where CTWs would be established and impart training to students to motivate them to join the armed forces. It is hoped that as a result of this the number of students from these schools joining NDA will increase substantially. He also mentioned that the govt of Punjab is planning to open another AFPI at Hoshiarpur in the near future.Admission process for the Tenth AFPI course commencing in April 2020 is currently in progress. AFPI aspirants may apply by 3 Jan for the entrance exam which is to be held on 19 Jan 2020.It is pertinent to mention that AFPI has been set up by the govt of Punjab with a view to training 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 Jun 2013 to date the institute has been successful in sending 134 cadets to National Defence Academy and other service academies. It may be recalled that the institute has on three occasions in the past produced an All India Merit List topper for NDA / OTA. This year the institute has sent 25 cadets to NDA/other academies and 23 cadets of AFPI have earned their commission in the Armed Forces. With this the total number of commissioned officers from the first three batches is now fifty-eight.Thirty-Seven cadets of the Eighth Course currently under training at AFPI have already cleared the UPSC entrance exam for NDA and will be going for Services Selection Board interviews shortly. Successful cadets will be joining NDA in June 2020.