By PTI
CHANDIGARH: Punjab authorities’s Mai Bhago Armed Forces Preparatory Institute has emerged as a speck of daylight for lots of ladies who would in any other case be pressured to dwell an peculiar life in humbling circumstances.
More and extra of such women, who come from peculiar and rural backgrounds, are searching for refuge on this one-of-a-kind institute to organize to fulfil their dream of donning the olive inexperienced.
The seven-year-old institute in Mohali, which is unfold over almost 9 acres of land, throws stiff competitors yearly choosing solely 25 women out of almost 1,200 to 1,400 who seem for the doorway examination for its three-year preparatory course.
The institute, which is solely for ladies, prepares them for a profession within the armed forces.
It is about up on the traces of Maharaja Ranjit Singh Armed Forces Preparatory Institute for boys, additionally in Mohali.
The institute is called after Mata Bhag Kaur (Mai Bhago), a “Saint warrior” who valiantly led 40 Sikh warriors in opposition to the Mughals within the well-known Battle of Muktsar on December 29, 1705.
Last month, two alumni of the Mai Bhago institute have been commissioned as officers within the Indian Air Force.
“The first batch of the institute passed in 2018. The focus of this institute is essentially to provide a platform and opportunity to compete at the national level and become commissioned officers in the defence forces,” the director of the institute, Major General J S Sandhu (retd) advised PTI.
Only women who’re Punjab residents can enrol on the institute.
“As far as this institute is concerned, every year we hold a selection-based test in which about 1,200 to 1,400 girls take part, out of which 25 are shortlisted,” he mentioned.
Training on the institute is freed from price, he mentioned.
“Girls are selected through a multi-layered selection process. The first is a written test, followed by an interview and certain psychometric tests, and a medical. Medical is done essentially to ensure that the girls selected now should also be fit for their selection in armed forces as per their parameters,” he mentioned.
Most women who be a part of the institute come from rural and semi-urban backgrounds, he mentioned.
“The armed forces, essentially, have been the domain or the preserve of men so to say. But this is changing and there have been a lot of initiatives taken by both Centre and state levels. But the change for it to be lasting has always to take place gradually. So, the challenges for the girls to get into the armed forces is very very high in terms of vacancies,” Sandhu mentioned, including that for each 25-30 boys there may be only one lady who finds admission in an institute.
He says the institute serves an important function in that over a interval of three years, it trains, grooms, and develops their persona and makes them assured sufficient to crack the written examination, together with the extremely aggressive Services Selection Board.
Two of our women obtained commissioned into the Air Force final month — one as a transport pilot and the opposite as a navigator, Sandhu mentioned.
Sandhu mentioned that over a yr in the past, the Indian authorities opened the National Defence Academy to ladies — with solely 19 of total 400 vacancies.
Talking about an alumna of the institute who obtained into it, he mentioned, “She is the daughter of a policeman — to be selected among 19 girls pan India, you can imagine the struggle and challenge.”
Sandhu says the Mohali institute has proposed the Punjab authorities to provide permission to pick women and practice them for the NDA.
The Mohali institute has additionally entered into an MoU with MCM DAV College for Women in Sector 36, in keeping with which, women enrolled there can concurrently practice on the institute.
The institute follows a coaching programme with bodily health drills and entrance exams preparation, Sandhu mentioned.
According to him, to this point, 23 women from the institute have gotten into the academies and a few of them have develop into officers, whereas many others have handed written exams, the medical, the SSB, and have been advisable for fee.
Many women enrolled on the institute aspire to enter fight roles.
One such lady is Mansi from Nakodar in Jalandhar district, who is part of the senior batch on the institute and comes from a non-Army background.
“I have always been part of sports and games in my school apart from doing well in studies,” she mentioned.
“It is my childhood passion to join the Army one day.”
Akanksha from Dhariwal in Gurdaspur district, additionally a part of the senior batch, mentioned her father wished to affix the armed forces, however for some cause, he could not.
“My motivation to join the armed forces came from him. I want to serve the nation if I get the opportunity to be part of the armed forces,” she says.
Anika, from Hoshiarpur, a daughter of an ex-Army serviceman, mentioned, no different occupation is as empowering because the armed forces.
“I know there is no limit to my capabilities and when I wake up early in the morning, I wake up with that motivation that the goal of olive green is not that far, it is just one more step before I will be in the (defence) academy,” she mentioned.
Charanpreet Kaur who’s a daughter of a driver and comes from a small village close to Kurali says donning a uniform has fascinated her since childhood.
“I want to become an Air Force officer and I hope I will make it,” she says.
CHANDIGARH: Punjab authorities’s Mai Bhago Armed Forces Preparatory Institute has emerged as a speck of daylight for lots of ladies who would in any other case be pressured to dwell an peculiar life in humbling circumstances.
More and extra of such women, who come from peculiar and rural backgrounds, are searching for refuge on this one-of-a-kind institute to organize to fulfil their dream of donning the olive inexperienced.
The seven-year-old institute in Mohali, which is unfold over almost 9 acres of land, throws stiff competitors yearly choosing solely 25 women out of almost 1,200 to 1,400 who seem for the doorway examination for its three-year preparatory course.
The institute, which is solely for ladies, prepares them for a profession within the armed forces.
It is about up on the traces of Maharaja Ranjit Singh Armed Forces Preparatory Institute for boys, additionally in Mohali.
The institute is called after Mata Bhag Kaur (Mai Bhago), a “Saint warrior” who valiantly led 40 Sikh warriors in opposition to the Mughals within the well-known Battle of Muktsar on December 29, 1705.
Last month, two alumni of the Mai Bhago institute have been commissioned as officers within the Indian Air Force.
“The first batch of the institute passed in 2018. The focus of this institute is essentially to provide a platform and opportunity to compete at the national level and become commissioned officers in the defence forces,” the director of the institute, Major General J S Sandhu (retd) advised PTI.
Only women who’re Punjab residents can enrol on the institute.
“As far as this institute is concerned, every year we hold a selection-based test in which about 1,200 to 1,400 girls take part, out of which 25 are shortlisted,” he mentioned.
Training on the institute is freed from price, he mentioned.
“Girls are selected through a multi-layered selection process. The first is a written test, followed by an interview and certain psychometric tests, and a medical. Medical is done essentially to ensure that the girls selected now should also be fit for their selection in armed forces as per their parameters,” he mentioned.
Most women who be a part of the institute come from rural and semi-urban backgrounds, he mentioned.
“The armed forces, essentially, have been the domain or the preserve of men so to say. But this is changing and there have been a lot of initiatives taken by both Centre and state levels. But the change for it to be lasting has always to take place gradually. So, the challenges for the girls to get into the armed forces is very very high in terms of vacancies,” Sandhu mentioned, including that for each 25-30 boys there may be only one lady who finds admission in an institute.
He says the institute serves an important function in that over a interval of three years, it trains, grooms, and develops their persona and makes them assured sufficient to crack the written examination, together with the extremely aggressive Services Selection Board.
Two of our women obtained commissioned into the Air Force final month — one as a transport pilot and the opposite as a navigator, Sandhu mentioned.
Sandhu mentioned that over a yr in the past, the Indian authorities opened the National Defence Academy to ladies — with solely 19 of total 400 vacancies.
Talking about an alumna of the institute who obtained into it, he mentioned, “She is the daughter of a policeman — to be selected among 19 girls pan India, you can imagine the struggle and challenge.”
Sandhu says the Mohali institute has proposed the Punjab authorities to provide permission to pick women and practice them for the NDA.
The Mohali institute has additionally entered into an MoU with MCM DAV College for Women in Sector 36, in keeping with which, women enrolled there can concurrently practice on the institute.
The institute follows a coaching programme with bodily health drills and entrance exams preparation, Sandhu mentioned.
According to him, to this point, 23 women from the institute have gotten into the academies and a few of them have develop into officers, whereas many others have handed written exams, the medical, the SSB, and have been advisable for fee.
Many women enrolled on the institute aspire to enter fight roles.
One such lady is Mansi from Nakodar in Jalandhar district, who is part of the senior batch on the institute and comes from a non-Army background.
“I have always been part of sports and games in my school apart from doing well in studies,” she mentioned.
“It is my childhood passion to join the Army one day.”
Akanksha from Dhariwal in Gurdaspur district, additionally a part of the senior batch, mentioned her father wished to affix the armed forces, however for some cause, he could not.
“My motivation to join the armed forces came from him. I want to serve the nation if I get the opportunity to be part of the armed forces,” she says.
Anika, from Hoshiarpur, a daughter of an ex-Army serviceman, mentioned, no different occupation is as empowering because the armed forces.
“I know there is no limit to my capabilities and when I wake up early in the morning, I wake up with that motivation that the goal of olive green is not that far, it is just one more step before I will be in the (defence) academy,” she mentioned.
Charanpreet Kaur who’s a daughter of a driver and comes from a small village close to Kurali says donning a uniform has fascinated her since childhood.
“I want to become an Air Force officer and I hope I will make it,” she says.
