Avneet Kaur

Jalandhar, October 10

Daughter of a security guard, Anu (20) has been working religiously for the past three months to improve upon her physical strength, communication skills and overall personality as she aims to clear the forthcoming Combined Defence Services (CDS) examination.A second year student at KMV College, she has been taking a regular, professional training at a three-month-long NCC camp that concluded in the city today. “We are four siblings. Despite less income, my father is committed to making my future in the defence services. It is because of my father that I am today studying in a reputed college while also simultaneously attending this camp. My father has a dream that at least one child of his should be an army officer. I have taken it upon myself to fulfil his dream and make him feel proud. I am confident that I will become an Army officer one day,” she said.Like Anu, there were other girls from humble backgrounds in the 38-cadet batch who want to make it to the Army and have been striving hard for this. Another participant at the camp is Navjot Kaur (21), daughter of a carpenter. A student of Lyallpur Khalsa College, she says, “Love for the olive green and the proud feeling one gets while donning it is the sole reason behind choosing to join the defence forces.”She said, “The coaching has been very beneficial for each one of us. We all have been charged very nominally. Even in case a cadet was not able to pay the amount, the entire fee has been sponsored by Brig IMS Parmar, Group Commander of the NCC.”“We have learnt different sections of examination in detail here. Moreover, special attention has been given to hone our personality development and communication skills. Even if we fail to crack the exam in the first attempt, we still will believe that we have become a better human being and learnt many lessons for lifetime,” she added.The camp, which was in progress since July 10 at a career centre owned and run by Col MS Chadha (retd) at Cool Road here, concluded today with a special three-hour session. The aim of the camp was to instil confidence among the cadets and provide them a launching platform along with quality coaching under the expert faculty to crack the competitive exam.Speaking on the last day of the training programme, Brig Parmar said, “Hard work is the key to success and I felt that NCC cadets who are already ‘C’ certificate holder if given the right exposure and guidance, can achieve wonders in life. The cadets were made to attend guest lectures too which were held from time to time by retired Army personnel.”He also said, “In addition to the academic classes held, special personality development programme classes were also held to ensure that the desired candidates made all the way through the exams and the final screening at the Service Selection Board (SSB) level.”