Proposal accepted by defence minister Rajnath Singh to expand NCC in 173 borders and coastal district. It was on May 5 2020, defence review meet defence minister Rajnath Singh stated that the government is determined to extend NCC in the borders and the coastal areas. This video conference meet was held by 17 NCC Directorates located all over the country. This expansion was later announced by PM Modi on 15th August in his independence Day speech.
NCC and its significance : National cadet corps(NCC) was established on 16th April 1948. NCC is a tri service organisation comprising the Army, Navy and Air wing. It aims at propagating national unity and integrity in youth and group them into disciplined and patriotic citizens. It enrolls cadets at higher school and college level and also award certificates of completion of various phases of training.
The proposal to expand the NCC in 173 border and coastal district has been approved by defence minister Rajnath Singh. In this expansion around 1 lakh new cadets will be trained of which attempts are being made to include one third girl cadets. In coastal areas navy will train the cadet, army will train the cadet in border areas and airforce will train that cadet in the air base areas. With this initiative border and coastal areas will get trained manpower to fight with disaster. A total of 83 NCC unit will be also upgraded for imparting training to the cadets. Over 1,000 schools and colleges have been identified in border and coastal district where NCC will be implemented. NCC plays a significant role in assisting civil administration by performing various tasks. In the coastal regions where youth are already familiar with sea, the training will increase the interest in the careers in navy, coast guard and merchant shipping avenues.
Restructuring of NCC was one of the key recommendation of the committee of expert (CoE) headed by LT. general DB shekatkar(Retd) and constituted by the then defence minister Manohar parrikar back in mid 2016. With the changing education systems, modernization of NCC views to make NCC activities compatible with the semester system of schools and universities to impart the feeling of national unity and patriotism in our youth.
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