4 female cadets from Punjab’s Mai Bhago preparatory institute selected to defence academies

Diksha, who is joining the Officers’ Training Academy in Chennai, is the daughter of Pawan Kumar, a businessman hailing from Pathankot.

Harsimrat Kaur, selected to the Air Force Academy’s flying branch, is the daughter of Subedar Ravinderjit Singh, an Indian Army veteran from Beas.

Congratulating the cadets, Punjab Cabinet minister Aman Arora said their remarkable achievement will undoubtedly inspire more young women from the state to pursue careers as commissioned officers in the national defence services.

Arora said the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in the state, led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, had taken the pathbreaking initiative of starting an NDA Preparatory Wing for Girls at Mai Bhago AFPI in 2023, to further empower women in Punjab. “This institute is undoubtedly the pride of Punjab,” he added.

Expressing happiness over the four female cadets being selected to join the pre-commission training academies, Major General Jasbir Singh Sandhu (retd), director of Mai Bhago AFPI, stated that their selection will galvanise the institute’s efforts to send more girls from Punjab into the defence services. He wished the cadets a bright future ahead, expressing confidence that they would excel in their training and future roles.

Meanwhile, on May 30, the 148th course of the NDA went down in history as the first batch to have female cadets pass out from the prestigious defence academy. The batch had 336 cadets, of which 17 were women.