Chennai  :

A total of 279 cadets were commissioned as officers on Saturday,  including 230 gentleman Cadets, 33 lady cadets and 16 foreign cadets (15 were from Afghanistan and one from Lesotho, Africa) at the centennial passing out parade of the Officers Training Academy.

Maribenyane Samuel, from Maseru, Lesotho told Express that the training he received was of a much higher standard compared to the previous training he received as part of the Lesotho Defence Force, as the Indian Army was one of the largest armed forces in the world.  The 49-week training will help him as Platoon Commander with the Lesotho army, he added.

Suriya Narayanan from Tambaram, one of the 15 cadets from TN, is an engineering student who joined the army, preferring it over IT jobs and is the first in his family to do so. He said retired officers should help increase awareness about army vacancies and recruitment process  which would reduce unemployment tremendously.

K C Mahali, Additional Director General of Police (Welfare) was present at the event as his son Dikshanth Mahali from PSG Tech in Coimbatore was passing out and will join the Gorkha rifles as Captain.

During the parade, the Reviewing Officer, Lt Gen Praveen Bakshi presented the “Sword of Honour” to Senior Under Officer (SUO) Pragun Bali for his best all round cadet of the passing out course. Winner of Mr.OTA (on-stage show), son of Col Rahul Bali, Pragun had represented the country through youth exchange programme in Kazakhstan even before graduation.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Express News Service / September 13th, 2015