The tradition of supplying fine young officers to the Indian Army and the armies of friendly nations was followed by the Indian Military Academy (IMA) on Saturday when a contingent of 610 young officers passed out from its famed portals.
The contingent was part of 138 Regular, 121 Technical Graduate and 24 University Entry Scheme courses and included 45 Foreign Gentlemen Cadets (FGC) from six friendly foreign countries.
On the markers' call given by sounding of bugle from the top of historic Chetwode building, a majestic Passing out Parade (POP) led by GC Rajendra Singh Bisht rolled out at the tarmac. The parade marched in perfect harmony to the tunes of "Col Bogey" and "Sare Jahan Se Acha" raised by a combined band of IMA, Dogra Regiment and Rajputana Rifles.
The synergy and enthusiasm of the cadets during the parade was regularly applauded by the large number of military and civil dignitaries and family members of the newly commissioned officers.
The parade presented a ceremonial guard of honour to the chief guest, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of South-Western Command (GOC-in-C), lieutenant General Sharath Chand, the IMA Commandant, lt Gen S K Saini, and the Deputy IMA Commandant, Major General Mandeep Singh.
In his address, the chief guest and reviewing officer of the parade, lt Gen Sharath Chand said that the modern battle field is changing rapidly with the advent of a more lethal weapon system due to which the officers should develop a habit of constantly evolving and updating themselves.
lt Gen Chand also presented awards to the outstanding GCs after the parade. The prestigious Sword of Honour was handed over to Rajendra Singh Bisht for being adjudged the best among the GCs of Passing out Course (POC). The
gold medal for standing first in order of merit in Regular Course was presented to Aman Dhaka while silver medal in Regular Course was handed over to
N Dinesh Kumar. The silver medal for GC first in order of merit in Technical Graduate Course was
presented to Avijit Hazara Chowdhary while Choki Dorji of Bhutan was bestowed with silver medal for being the best Foreign Gentleman Cadet (FGC) of the POC.
The Chief of Army staff banner was handed over to the Imphal company for standing first among 16 companies of the academy in the spring term-2016.
After the POP, the newly-commissioned officers headed to the sprawling Somnath stadium for the peeping ceremony. In this ceremony, the proud parents of these officers put the epaulets on their shoulders. The young officers took oath to serve the nation till their last breath. After the peeping ceremony celebrations, the young officers congratulated one another. They jumped, performed energetic push-ups and hugged one another, celebrating their new status as officers of the Indian Army.