Date:13/05/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/05/13/stories/2007051307820400.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

NCC going all out to woo the youth

Staff Reporter

It plans to raise cadet strength from 13 lakh to 15 lakh

ATTENTION: Lt. Gen. Prakash S. Chaudhary, NCC Director-General, inspecting the guard of honour at Christ College in Bangalore on Saturday. — Photo: K. Murali Kumar

BANGALORE: The cadet strength of the National Cadet Corps (NCC) will be increased in order to reach out to a wider cross-section of youth, especially those in the north-eastern States, Lieutenant General Prakash S. Chaudhary, Director-General of NCC, told presspersons here on Saturday.

The NCC's strength will be raised from 13 lakh to 15 lakh, clearing the way for the 5,716 schools and colleges in the country that are waiting to start the NCC programme.

Steady growth

Despite problems related to infrastructure and manpower, the NCC was growing at a steady rate, Lt. Gen. Chaudhary said. The organisation was not facing any financial crunch and was carrying out its activities fairly well.

It was broadening its infrastructure in the north-eastern States and State Governments were supporting it by granting their share of expenditure.

Among the State Governments, Karnataka was the best as it was providing various incentives to the cadets. The State's cadet strength of around 93,000 was one of the highest in country.

The NCC was revamping its Services Selection Board coaching system to help cadets progress to the defence services, he said.

Proposal

There was also a proposal to increase the number of vacancies for NCC `C' certificate holders in the Indian Military Academy, Dehra Dun, and the Officers Training Academy in Chennai. The NCC is considering curtailing the tenure of its senior division/senior wing cadets from three to two years. It has trained 125 officers in career counselling to help the cadets and is working on ways to increase computer literacy among cadets in rural and semi-rural areas.

Air Commodore S. Srivastava, Deputy Director-General, NCC Directorate (Karnataka and Goa), said the NCC would shortly begin flying training in Mangalore, which had been suspended for 20 years.

Construction of hangar

The State Government had sanctioned Rs. 1.7 crore for the construction of a hangar and an administrative building.

Besides, the Government had sanctioned funds for the construction of a hangar and an administrative building at Jakkur airfield in Bangalore too.

The Government was yet to approve its proposal to move NCC establishments from hired to permanent locations, he said.