PASSING OUT PARADE Of the 401 officers who passed out, 18 are from Punjab

DEHRADUN: A total of 401 cadets graduated from Indian Military Academy (IMA) in a colourful passing out parade, as rose petals were showered from a chopper, carpeting the institutes’ tarmac drill square.

VINAY SANTOSH/HTDeputy Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen NPS Hira presenting the sword of honour to Pratyush Kumar Mohanty at the IMA in Dehradun on Saturday, and (below) newly commissioned officers celebrating after the passing out parade.

Academy under officer Pratyush Kumar Mohanty was awarded the academy’s most prestigious ‘sword of honour,’ while the gold medal was awarded to academy cadet adjutant Malla Rajagopal Naidu.

Mohanty’s father, Pavitra Mohan Mohanty, who came to Dehradun from Bhubaneshwar in Odisha to attend the passing out parade at the magnificent Chetwode building, said: “I am one of the happiest fathers in the world…No one in family ever was part of the Armed Forces. Now, he (Pratyush) has to serve the country in the same way as he excelled in the training.”

Silver medalist Suyash Gupta told Hindustan Times: “My only aim in life was to join the Indian Army. This started with selection in Sainik School in Rewa.” Gupta is from Bhillai in Chhattisgarh.

Out of the 401 cadets, the maximum 77 are from Uttar Pradesh, 46 from Haryana, 29 from Uttarakhand, 28 from Bihar and 26 from Rajasthan.

Dehradun lad and academy under officer Anas Mohammed Khan shared: “My only goal was to join the Indian Army…I left a job at State Institute of Urban Planning and Architecture and joined the Officers Training Academy in Chennai and later left it to join the Indian Military Academy.”

His mother, Shakra Praveen, also expressed much joy.

“I am a happy mother. I want my son to serve the nation with honesty.”

 

Earlier, addressing the cadets after reviewing the passing out parade, deputy chief of army staff Lt Gen Narinder Pal Singh Hira said they were privileged to have trained at the Indian Military Academy, considered the best in the field, and asked them to make optimum use of the skills learnt here in serving the country.