Newsroom24x7 Staff

Indian Army is the finest Army in the world commanding the finest soldiers that walk this Earth.

– Pranab Mukherjee, President of India

Chennai: President of India Pranab Mukherjee today said that the 21st Century is witnessing chaos and strife of a very virulent nature encompassing asymmetric warfare involving both state and non-state actors.

These challenges, the President noted, demand a capable and responsive Armed Forces to ensure stability and peace, so vital for our Country on its path of peace and prosperity for all its citizens.

The President was speaking on the occasion of the passing out parade of the summer term at Officers Training Academy here. He said: “Our security challenges go much beyond conventional borders and conventional threats in the international arena including; a sizeable diaspora to protect in unstable regions in the world, energy security issues and protection of maritime sea lanes. Time and again our Country has fallen back on our Armed Forces in internal crisis situations, both man made & natural.”

The cadets were being commissioned as Officers into the finest Army in the world commanding the finest soldiers that walk this Earth, Mukherjee said adding: “I see before me a microcosm of what India is with representation from every part of our great Country constituting this impressive Parade, today.”

India is an unique country of 1.3 billion people, three major Ethnic groups, 122 languages, 1600 dialects and disparate religions, the President pointed out adding our strength lies in the unique capacity to blend apparent contradictions into positive affirmations. Quoting Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, he said it is a Country held together “by strong but invisible threads…. About her there is the elusive quality of a legend of long ago: some enchantment seems to have held her mind. She is a myth and an idea, a dream and a vision, and yet very real and present and pervasive”

Officer Cadets from friendly countries of Afghanistan, Bhutan, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Lesotho also passed out from the OTA today.