Referring to his recent visit to Turkey’s Gallipoli Helles, where he paid his respects to the martyred Commonwealth soldiers, the Punjab CM said there was a marked difference in the awareness levels of youth about the military exploits there than in India.

Expressing happiness over seeing the cadets from the Mai Bhago Armed Forces Preparatory Institute, and the Maharaja Ranjit Singh AFPI, Mohali, Amarinder said this was a step forward.

A SPECIAL CHILDREN’S DAY FOR US, SAY CADETS The young cadets listened attentively and some even took notes as the CM narrated the figures from his book. Savleen from Chandigarh said they weren’t used to hearing people share such knowledge and hence a personal interaction with the CM made this Children’s Day all the more special.

For Gurkirat from Pathankot, coming from a family of army officials made her want to join the forces.

NEED TO INCREASE NUMBER OF GIRLS Mohali’s Gurleen said it’s the desire to do something beyond the ordinary. “I like to believe we are women of substance and I don’t feel any domain is a male’s bastion any longer,” she told HT.

Her batch mates however said the pressure remains as they have to fight for 50 vacancies while their male counterparts have over 170 seats.

“This Independence Day, vacancy count for women is expected to increase, so we are hopeful,” said Nivedtha from the Mai Bhago AFPI.

For the boys, it were the startling number of soldiers who were lost in the War that gave them goosebumps. Harshit from Dera Bassi, seeing his sister and brother-in-law in the forces made him work hard to attain his childhood dream.