President Murmu to review IMA passing out parade in June

Dehradun: President Droupadi Murmu is likely to be the reviewing officer (RO) at Indian Military Academy (IMA)’s upcoming passing out parade (PoP) in Dehradun on June 13 — an event that will mark a historic first for the premier Army training institution with the commissioning of its first-ever batch of female officer cadets (OC).The batch consists of eight officer cadets who were inducted into IMA in July last year.An officer from the Army headquarters in Delhi, while confirming the development, said the President will be witnessing the historic moment as the RO of the PoP, if there is no change in plan before the event.“Also, the eight female OCs will be completing their training along with other OCs batch in the next few days. The final number of the OCs, including the female ones, will be decided a day or two before the PoP,” said the officer on condition of anonymity.The commissioning of the female OCs will represent a landmark moment in the history of an institution that has trained generations of male Army officers since its establishment in 1932.Before President Murmu, the other presidents who have attended the PoPs as RO include APJ Abdul Kalam in 2006, Pratibha Patil in 2011 and Ram Nath Kovind in 2021.In the previous PoP held last Dec, 491 OCs successfully passed out and were commissioned as officers into the Indian Army. The grand ceremony, which featured a combined total of 525 officer cadets, also included 34 cadets from friendly foreign countries who completed their training.