Dehradun: As many as 382 young officers joined the Indian Army following the impressive Passing Out Parade at the Indian Military Academy (IMA), Dehradun on Saturday.
This time, a total of 459 Gentlemen Cadets were part of the parade which is the culmination of their pre-commissioning training. Of which, 382 young officers were commissioned into the Indian Army while 77 military officers belonged to the nine friendly countries of Afghanistan, Bhutan, Maldives, Fiji, Mauritius, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Lesotho and Tajikistan.
Lieutenant General Cherish Mathson, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, South Western Command, took the salute as the reviewing officer of the parade.
Sir Alwyn Ezra Trophy, given for coming first in weapons training, was awarded to the Dogra company while the Keren company stood first in the physical training to bag the inter-company physical training cup. Cadet Manoj Dogra was awarded the parachute regiment medal for being the best cadet in physical toughness and endurance.
The maximum Gentlemen Cadets were from Uttar Pradesh (72), followed by Bihar (46) and Haryana (40). Punjab and Uttarakhand had 33 cadets each. Maharashtra with 28 cadets, Rajasthan (22) and Himachal Pradesh (21) were the other major contributors followed by Delhi with 12 and Madhya Pradesh 11.
Karnataka (8) Jammu and Kashmir (5), West Bengal (5), Orissa (5), Telangana (4), Andhra Pradesh (4), Jharkhand (4), Gujarat (4), Chhattisgarh (3), Kerala (3), Tamil Nadu (2), Assam (2), Manipur (2), Goa (1) and Nagaland (1) where the other states from where the cadets came. Nepal had seven Gentlemen Cadets.
Passing out cadets from friendly nations are: Afghanistan- 45, Bhutan- 15, Fiji- 1, Lesotho- 1, Maldives- 1, Mauritius- 2, Papua New Guinea- 2, Tajikistan- 9 and Tonga- 1.
With this, IMA now holds the record for giving 61,536 officers, news agency ANI reported.
