Patiala lad surpasses others in India’s premier defence course; emerged as NDA topper
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in News/ June 1,2023
‘Afrid’ means intelligence and ‘Afroz’ means one that brightens. True to his name, 21 year old Afrid Afroz has emerged as the topper of the 144th batch of cadets who passed out of the National Defence Academy (NDA), Khadakwasla, Pune.
Afrid Afroz, born and brought up in royal city Patiala, is son of a former Punjabi University professor Mohd. Habib. He remained Professor in Islamic & Religious Studies and Head, Department of Religious Studies, Punjabi University, Patiala. Professor Habib, now works at Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad.
BCC Afrid Afroz won the President’s Gold Medal for standing first in the overall order of merit. ACC Anshu Kumarwon the President’s Silver Medal for standing second in the overall order of merit and BCA Praveen Singh won the President’s Bronze Medal for standing third in the overall order of merit. Romeo Squadron bagged the prestigious ‘Chiefs of Staff Banner’, for being the Champion Squadron which was presented during the parade.
Afroz’s father, Professor Dr Mohammad Habib, his mother Zubaida and family members attended the passing out parade at Khetrapal Ground of the National Defence Academy (NDA), Khadakwasla, Pune. Afroz’z family beamed with pride in the crowd as they saw their youngest son being decorated with the top honours at the ceremony.
Prof Habib said that it was all his son’s hard work and passion to serve the country which led to his success. “I have no words to describe how proud I felt when my son was awarded the President’s Gold Medal during the passing out parade.”
Prof Habib said his two elder brothers and sister are engineers and working in MNCs. Afroz uncle and cousin are also serving Indian Army. But Afroz chooses to serve Indian Air Force.
Prof Habib while recalling Afroz’ childhood at Punjabi University campus as a normal child, but he always wanted to take challenges by stride. He did his initial schooling (class 1 to 6) from St Mary’s School, at a nearby small town, Sanaur in Patiala. After that he moved to Army Public School, Patiala in Class 7. At APS he started showing interest in serving the country in the defence forces. At APS Patiala, he came to know about the premier institute, Rashtriya Indian Military College (RIMC), Dehradun. So, he started preparing for RIMC’s entrance test and successfully cracked it. He got admission in RIMC in class 8th.
“RIMC is widely known as a preparatory school for NDA. After studying at RIMC till Class 12, he went on to crack the prestigious NDA entrance exam. As he is always fascinated with airplanes and fighter jets, he chooses to be an air force cadet. Patiala lad surpasses others in India’s premier defence course; emerged as topper. Afroz will now be moving to the Indian Air Force Academy, Hyderabad for further training.” said Prof Habib
The Passing out Parade (POP) for cadets of the National Defence Academy, 144th course, was conducted at Pune’s Khadakwasla on Tuesday, May 30,2023. The parade was reviewed by General Anil Chauhan PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, SM, VSM Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) . A total of 1175 cadets participated in the parade of which 356 cadets were from the passing out course.
