Vice Chief of Indian Army Lt Gen S K Saini reviews the parade
The Indian Military Academy (IMA) yet again lived up to its reputation of supplying finest young officers to the Indian army and to the armies of the friendly foreign countries on Saturday when a contingent of 325 Indian and 70 Foreign Gentlemen Cadets (FGC) passed out of its famed portals braving inclement weather conditions.
These officers were part of 147 Regular and 130 Technical Graduate courses of IMA. A marker’s call made from atop the historic Chetwode hall marked the commencement of the majestic parade commanded by Gentleman cadet Majhi Girdhar at 8.45 am.
The parade marched in perfect harmony to the tunes of “Col Bogey” and “Sare Jahan Se Acha”. The synergy and enthusiasm of the cadets during the parade was regularly applauded by the audience which consisted of military officers and family members of the newly commissioned officers. A ceremonial guard of honour was presented by the parade to the Chief Guest and Reviewing Officer (RO), the Vice Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General, S K Saini.
After the parade, the RO presented awards to the GCs. The prestigious Sword of Honour was awarded to Watandeep S Sandhu. The Gold medal for standing First in order of merit in Regular course was presented to Maji Girdhar. The Silver medal for standing second in overall merit in Regular course was handed over to Nidesh Singh Yadav while Bronze medal for GC standing third in order of merit from the regular course was presented to Shikhar Thapa. In the Technical Graduate Course, J P S Sidhu was presented with a Silver medal for standing first in overall merit. Tandin Dorji of Bhutan was bestowed with a Silver medal for being the best Foreign Gentlemen Cadet (FGC) of the POC. The Chief of Army Staff banner was handed over to the Cassino Company for standing first among 16 companies of academy in the autumn term- 2020.
Audience was thrilled when army helicopters flew past the drill square throwing petals over the marching contingent when it entered the Chetwode building for the ceremonial Antim Pag (last step). This step marks their metamorphosis into an officer of Indian Army from a cadet of academy.
After the POP, the contingent headed to sprawling Somnath stadium for pipping ceremony where proud parents put epaulets of officers on the shoulders of young officers. In the PoP held in June this year, the parents were not allowed to attend the ceremony and in their absence, the officers and their families did the piping ceremony. However this time the IMA administration allowed the parents to attend the ceremony.
After this ceremony the young officers took oath to serve the nation after which the stadium erupted in celebrations as young officers celebrated their new status as officers of India Army after the end of an arduous training.
Sunday, 13 December 2020 | PNS | Dehradun
