Former India cricket captain MS Dhoni, industrialist Anand Mahindra and Olympic medal winner and Member of Parliament Colonel (retired)Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore are part of a committee to suggest way to improve the functioning of the National Cadet Corps(NCC), which has more than 12 lakh cadets.
The Defence Ministry has constituted a High Level Expert Committee, under the chairmanship of former Member of Parliament Baijayant Panda, for a comprehensive review of the NCC to make it more relevant in changed times, officials said here on Thursday.
The Committee also includes Rajya Sabha member Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, Principal Economic Advisor in the Finance Ministry Sanjeev Sanyal and Jamia Millia Islamia Vice Chancellor Najma Akhtar, former SNDT Women’s University vice-chancellor Vasudha Kamat, Maj Gen (retd) Alok Raj, National Organising Secretary, Bhartiya Shikshan Mandal, Mukul Kanitkar, Managing Director, SIS India Ltd, Rituraj Sinha and CEO of Databook Anand Shah.
Incidentally, Dhoni is an honorary Colonel in the Territorial Army and successfully completed parachute jumping course some years back.
The terms of reference of the Committee broadly provide for suggesting measures which can empower the NCC cadets to contribute more effectively towards nation building and national developmental efforts in various sectors and propose measures for gainful engagement of its alumni for betterment of the organisation as a whole.
The panel will study and recommend best practices of similar international youth organisations for inclusion in the NCC curriculum.
The NCC is the largest uniformed organisation which aims at developing character, discipline, a secular outlook and ideals of selfless service amongst young citizens. It also aims to create a pool of organised, trained and motivated youth with leadership qualities in all walks of life.
Dhoni’s inclusion in the high-level panel came days after he was appointed mentor for India’s T20 cricket world cup team.