General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Command Lt. Gen. SR Ghosh, PVSM, AVSM, SM, ADC today presented Vijayanta Tank to Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal for Maharaja Ranjit Singh Armed Forces Preparatory Institution Mohali.
In his welcome address appreciating the role of Punjab that had enriched country’s armed forces through enormous contribution of officers and jawans, Lt. Gen. Ghosh said that there was a strong bond between Punjab and Army especially with Western Command. He proudly said, “Punjab is Army and Army is Punjab”. Lauding the role of Punjab government for establishing Maharaja Ranjit Singh Armed Forces Preparatory Institution at Mohali, Gen. Ghosh said that it was a unique and first institute of its kind in the region that was visualized and conceptualized by Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal with sole aim to train the youth of Punjab for getting enrolled as officers in the armed forces through National Defence Academy.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Badal appreciated the gesture of presenting Vijayanta Tank for Maharaja Ranjit Singh Armed Forces Preparatory Institution Mohali and said that the first batch of 45 cadets had been started getting training from April 2011 and the second batch would be commenced training from April, 2012. He further said that to motivate our youth to join naval services, Punjab government was also setting up a Naval academy at Ropar.
Mr. Badal further said that in a significant decision for the setting up of Service Selection Centre at Ropar, the Cabinet had already approved to provide 200 acre land free of cost to the Western Command for setting up this first centre in the Northern region.
The Chief Minister has expressed serious concern over the recruitment in the army on the basis of population ratio based quota system and said that this system had drastically decreased the number of youth from Punjab getting recruited in the armed forces. Mr. Badal further said that the Centre should do away with this population-based quota system for recruitment in the armed forces and recruit maximum number of youth from this border state as officers and jawans in armed.
On this occasion, Lt. Gen. Ghosh announced a rolling silver trophy of Western Command for the best cadet of Maharaja Ranjit Singh Armed Forces Preparatory Institution Mohali.