Director General of the National Cadet Corps, Lt. Gen. Vinod Vashisht on Tuesday said, cadets from the NCC “would rise to the call of the Nation” if their services are required.
Interacting with the media, during his visit here at Shillong in India's northeast, Lt. Gen. Vashisht said, the objective of the NCC is to mould the youngsters, so that they can be better citizens of the country, however, if need be they can be called in to assist the Nation.
“NCC cadets can rise for any mandate of the Nation. Not just in a war-like situation, but for any situation. The cadets are disciplined and they can take orders,” the NCC Director General said.
He was reacting to queries about the NCC cadets’ role in the event of any full-fledged conflict with China. One of the aims of the NCC is to create a human resource of organized, trained and motivated youth... and be always available for the service of the Nation.
The NCC was raised through an Act of the Parliament, 1948. After the 1962 war with China, NCC training was made compulsory in schools and colleges in 1963, but in 1968 it was again made voluntary. NCC is for students of schools and colleges and there are over 13 lakh active NCC cadets in the country.
Lt. Gen. Vashisht also informed that Youth Exchange Programmes of the NCC with foreign Nations have now been confined to 11 countries. All these exchange programmes are with regional countries and other countries where “India’s National interests lie.”
For example, he said, there is an exchange programme with Russia and one with Kazakhstan. Other exchange programmes are with neighbouring countries such as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and others.
“The exchange programme with Canada is no longer available. We don’t have a youth exchange programme with China. Perhaps in the future we would have one,” he stated.
Lt. Gen. Vashisht said that efforts are on to broaden the reach of the NCC in the remote corners of the northeastern region. Out of the 108 districts of the region, six still do not have any NCC activity.
In this regard, a unit of the NCC has been opened recently at a remote area bordering Tibet. “We are trying to open more such NCC units in the northeast so that the youths of the region can take benefit,” he informed.
He further informed that the air wing of the NCC in the region would be getting micro-light aircrafts and other new aircrafts for their training. Moreover, the naval units in Sibsagar, Assam would also be getting the necessary assistance for their trainings.
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