28-year-old Balbanka Tiwari who used to work at a snack factory to earn his livelihood surmounted odds to become one of the 325 cadets who passed out as newly commissioned army officers in the passing out parade from India’s premier Military Academy.

An overjoyed Tiwari was celebrating two reasons— the joy of donning an officer’s uniform and another was to meet his daughter for the first time.

A resident of Sundarpur Barja village in Bihar’s Bhojpur district, Tiwari used to work at a snack factory earning ₹50 a day in Odisha. Recalling his journey, Tiwari said that he had ‘struggled a lot’ to see this day.

Meet Lt. Balbanka Tiwari, From Earning 50 Rs As A Factory Worker To Indian Army Officer https://t.co/0QnuKHFzhH

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‘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 of the two siblings (the other being daughter), I had no choice but to work after passing class X,’ said the officer, reported Hindustan Times.

He had to take up such jobs to support his family. Tiwari said that he started working at the factory for a meagre amount while juggling his classes in the school and working as a tuition teacher after completing high school studies.

‘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/day till class 12 which I passed from Odisha,’ he explained.

Describing what prompted him to join the army, Tiwari said that watching his uncle as a sepoy in the army motivated him to serve the nation as well as earn a dignified living.

‘I appeared in the test and passed in the second attempt and joined as a sepoy. My posting was at the army’s EME centre in Bhopal in 2012,’ he said.

While serving in Bhopal, he came to know about the Army Cadet College (ACC) for getting promoted to the rank of an officer from a sepoy. ‘I cracked the test and joined ACC in IMA in January 2017. From there, I finally commissioned as an army officer today,’ he said.

‘He has struggled a lot in his life to see this day. I am now very happy to see him fulfilling his dream. I am sure he will make us and the country proud by serving as an army officer,’ said his wife, Ruchi.

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