A Carmelite of Mary Immaculate priest was on February 26 conferred the honorary title of Colonel Commandant by the federal Ministry of Defense.
Father Abraham Mani Vettiankal, who serve as the vice chancellor of the Christ University in Bengaluru is the first Indian Catholic priest to get the honour for his outstanding contributions to the promotion of National Cadet Corps and National Service Scheme in the Christ University in the past decade.
The official piping was performed by Lt General Gurbirpal Singh, the director general of NCC at a ceremony conducted at the Parachute Regiment Training Center, Bengaluru, the capital of the southern India state of Karnataka.
Awarding this honor, Singh said the recognition was conferred to Father Abraham in recognition of being the first university in the country to introduce NCC as a credit course and for promoting its students to join the Indian Defense Service.
“The Christ University has promoted NCC as a priority program resulting its members joining the armed and paramilitary forces in significant numbers as well as for providing infrastructure and facilities for NCC training at the University Campus,” said the director general.