Armed Forces Preparatory Institute training young guns to join armed forces

[Smita]

“We are men of the land of five rivers…” goes the SAS Nagar-based Armed Forces Preparatory Institute (AFPI) song. A Punjab government venture named after Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the institute has won accolades for having brought back Punjabi boys for permanent commission into the armed forces through the National Defence Academy (NDA). From seven students from the first batch of 48 students, who made it to the NDA in 2013, to over 20 cadets every year since then, the institute has become one of the most sought-after preparatory schools for the NDA in the state. “The number of those who appeared in the first entrance test in 2011 was about 400. Last year, we had 2,500 applicants,” says institute director Major General BS Grewal (retd).

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