Date:18/02/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/02/18/stories/2005021806240500.htm

Andhra Pradesh

Quota mooted for NCC cadets in police

By Our Staff reporter

SANGAREDDY, FEB. 17. The Deputy Director-General of the National Cadet Corps (NCC) Andhra Pradesh Directorate, Air Commodore James Sebastian, has said that he has requested the State Government to provide 10 per cent reservation for NCC cadets in the police force.

Speaking to reporters here on Wednesday on the sidelines of the 10th annual training camp, the DDG said that the Director-General of Police and the Chief Minister, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, had responded positively to his suggestion when he met them recently in Hyderabad.

He said that Andhra Pradesh, which had one-tenth of the 13-lakh strong NCC family, had the largest contingent. He said that soon the number of cadets in the State would reach 1,40,000 compared to only 70,000 cadets in 1994. However, he ruled out the possibility of enrolling more students into NCC, as it would require more army personnel for training.

"There were times when parents of young girls were afraid of giving their photographs for enrolment," the DDG said. Now the 30 per cent reservation norm for girls was being strictly implemented and the quota was full.

While ruling out increasing the 10 per cent quota for NCC cadets in armed forces, he pointed out that many boys from State failed to qualify in the recruitment tests due to lack of knowledge in English and Hindi. Keeping this in mind, the NCC has introduced language training as part of the annual training camps.

Veterinary wings

In addition to the veterinary NCC wing at the ANGRAU, Rajendranagar, the AP NCC Directorate would soon establish two more units at Tirupati and Gannavaram. Air Commodore James Sebastian told reporters that girls from the State had won laurels in horse riding among all other veterinary units in the country. The Nizamabad Group Commander, V.K. Khanna, was also present.