With the COVID-19 pandemic casting its shadow on several public events and festivities, the National Defence Academy (NDA) in Pune will scale down its traditional passing out parade of cadets on Saturday.
In a statement released on Thursday, the academy said that in view of the nationwide lockdown, parents of cadets will not be able to attend the parade.
Stating that COVID-19 has disrupted life all over, the academy said training institutions, too, have been forced to modify their traditional training curriculum.
“As a training institution, NDA has quickly adapted to the new normal and [has been] able to complete the spring term. But there are still a lot of end of term activities which form part of passing out of a cadet from the academy after three years of rigorous training. As the new normal takes precedence over all activities, the end of term events are suitably modified as per government and higher headquarters guidelines,” it said.
“All matters pertaining to the parade are being looked after under the guidance of Commandant by Deputy Commandant and Chief Instructor and his staff. The civilian faculty at NDA has also been briefed about the same,” the release said.
The passing out parade is held each year on May 30 amid dazzling military pageantry, with cadets putting up a display of martial power.
Last year, at the parade of the 136th course, 291 cadets passed through the hallowed portals of the prestigious Khetrapal Parade Ground. This included 218 cadets from the Army, 34 from the Navy and 39 from the Air Force. There were also 15 cadets from seven friendly foreign countries, including Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Maldives, Papua New Guinea, Tajikistan and Vietnam.