The passing out parade of the Indian Military Academy (IMA) this year saw an extraordinary story of resilience and hard work. Among the 326 cadets who passed out from India’s premier Military Academy was 28-year-old Lt Balbanka Tiwari, who once worked as an employee at a snack factory, earning Rs 50 per day.
Tiwari, who hails from Sundarpur Barja village of Bihar’s Bhojpur district, worked in a snack shop while pursuing his school education and as a tuition teacher after completing high school to support his family.
“My family’s financial condition was not so good. My father is a farmer and we used to live in a joint family. The only son out of the two siblings (the other being daughter), I had no choice but to work after passing class X,” Tiwari told the Hindustan Times.
“To find work after passing matric, I went to Rourkela in Odisha in 2008. There, I first worked at an iron fittings factory for a few months, then at a snack factory earning Rs 50 per day till class 12, which I passed from Odisha,” he added.
From Solider to Officer
In a few years, he joined a local college for graduation and later, based on an uncle’s suggestion, joined the army as a sepoy. He was posted in the Indian Army’s Corps of Electronics and Mechanical Engineers in 2012.
It was while serving as a sepoy that he learnt about the Army Cadet College (ACC), which allows sepoys to become commissioned officers. He cleared the examination for ACC in 2017 and was commissioned as an officer in 2020.
Son of a Tea Garden Manager Becomes an Officer
Along with Lt Tiwary, 29-year-old Nilotpal Chakraborty from Silchar, Assam, too, became an officer in the army. Son of a retired tea garden manager, Chakraborty, too, became an officer from being a sepoy after getting admission in the ACC. After being recruited as a sepoy, he served at the EME centre in Bhopal.
“I am very happy to see this day as my father’s dream is fulfilled, he always wanted to see me as an army officer,” said Chakraborty.
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