NEW DELHI : Over 7,800 schools and colleges are waiting to be enrolled with the National Cadet Corps which has planned to expand its footprint in coastal and border areas and push its authorised strength to 15 lakh by 2018 in a phased manner.
“We have a five-phase expansion plan of which two phases have already been implemented And the third phase is under implementation now. Every year we would be adding 40,000 cadets and 12-13 units. This should meet the aspirations of the youths wishing to join the Corps,” NCC’s Director General, Lt Gen Aniruddha Chakravarty said.
Tracing its origin as ‘University Corps’ during the British era, NCC’s current strength is over 13 lakh with composition of girls being 28 per cent.
Headquartered in the national capital, NCC engages in grooming the youth of the country into disciplined and patriotic citizens with a “sense of adventure”.
The Corps is open to school and college students on a voluntary basis, and the Director General said at present there is a huge waiting list of institutes wishing to incorporate NCC on their campuses.
“7,859 institutes are in the waiting list, i.E., schools and colleges at present….Our authorised strength currently is 13.8 lakh and, by the end of the fifth phase, we will have 15 lakh cadets by 2018 roughly,” Gen Chakravarty told PTI in an interview.
“Since each year 40,000 cadets are added, and 12-13 units and one group headquarter is also being added, we believe this will help meet the aspirations and also address the long waiting list that we have,” he said.
Gen Chakravarty said in the five-phase expansion plan the focus would be on taking the NCC’s footprints to far-flung areas of the country and to increase the strength of girl cadets to 33 per cent.
“As part of our expansion plans, we intend to bring in new regions on our map, including coastal areas, border areas, Left Wing Extremism-affected areas and tribal areas. These are the priorities of the government and we are focused on this,” he said.
“The plan also envisages pushing the strength of girl cadets from current 28 per cent to 33 per cent…In fact, there are exclusive girl battalions being thought out in expansion plan,” he added.
The NCC’s current avatar came into existence in 1948 and is considered a successor to the University Officer Training Corps (UOTC) which was created in 1941 during World War II.
“In 1948, we had 12 directorates which covered various states and union territories and at present we have 17 directorates,” Gen Chakravarty said.
A senior defence official talking about the Corps’s history said the NCC has its origins in the ‘University Corps’ which was created under the Indian Defence Act 1917 with the objective of making up for the shortage of officers in Army.
With the passage of the Indian Territorial Act in 1920, the ‘University Corps’ was replaced by the University Training Corps (UTC). The UTC cadets had no commitment for war services and the scheme was voluntary.”
“During Second World War, the UTC took the form of University Officers Training Corps (UOTC) and eventually after Independence it became rechristened as the National Cadet Corps,” the official said.
“The NCC thus under various avatars has been attracting youth for several decades and being a cadet gives them a window to the life in Armed Forces,” he added.
2,069 cadets, including 695 girls, drawn from several states and Union Territories across the country are currently participating in the Republic Day NCC Camp in Delhi Cantonment which was formally launched by Vice President Hamid Ansari on January 6.
Ansari, himself an ex-cadet, on the occasion encouraged more youth to join the NCC, saying it facilitates growth of young boys and girls into “robust, resilient and responsible adults”, besides building their character.
One all-male contingent and one all-female contingent with a strength of 148 each will participate in the Republic Day Parade. Besides, one all-male band of 90 cadets and all-female band of 45 cadets will also take part in it.
Elaborating on the activities undertaken by its cadets, the Director General said, our aim eventually is to build healthy and wise leaders for tomorrow.
“The aim the government has given us is to develop character, comradeship, leadership, discipline, secular outlook, a spirit of adventure and ideals of selfless service among the youth. So the whole programme of NCC is based on this premise,” he said.
The Corps, which had earlier sent an expedition to Mt Everest, has now planned to send an all-female team to conquer the highest mountain peak this year.
Among the activities undertaken by the cadets are scuba diving, mountaineering, camping. NCC’s sea cadets also train in seamanship and sailing, while the air cadets receive training in flying and aeromodelling, besides glider courses.
“Yoga has been recently introduced as one of the activities and, on the International Yoga Day last year, NCC set a world record in the Limca Book as over 9.5 lakh cadets simultaneously performed yoga at 1,767 venues across the country,” Gen Chakravarty said.
Besides Ansari and legendary Subhash Chandra Bose, actress-turned-politician Jaya Bachchan, Union minister Sushma Swaraj and all the three services chiefs have been NCC cadets. (AGENCIES)
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