Odisha, being a major coastal State, it has decided to scale up the National Cadet Corps (NCC) in a big way in coastal zones, thanks to a Central plan for expansion of NCC.
With Defence Minister Rajnath Singh approving a proposal of NCC for a major expansion scheme; move is on to enlist young boys and girls in coastal districts.Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar is in touch with the State Government in this regard.The State Government has been requested to advise the district Collectors to identify the educational institutions, where the scheme can be implemented.
The Ministry of Defence has also written to the district Collectors to implement the Central programme, officials say.The coastal districts will get priority as both border and coastal States have been included in the list.While there are 55,679 Cadets out of which 11, 485 are girls from 847 institutions in the State, the expansion of NCC will increase the cadet strength.
The proposals of the scheme were announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day address on August 15.A total of one lakh cadets from 173 border and coastal districts will be inducted in the NCC. One-third of the Cadets would be girls.More than 1,000 schools and colleges have been identified in border and coastal districts where NCC will be introduced.As part of the expansion plan, a total of 83 NCC units will be upgraded (Army 53, Navy 20, Air Force 10), to impart NCC training to the cadets in the border and coastal areas.Army will provide training and administrative support to the NCC units located in the border areas, Navy shall provide support to NCC units in the coastal areas and similarly, the Air Force will provide support to the NCC units located close to the Air Force stations. This will not only provide exposure to the youth of the border and coastal areas to military training and disciplined way of life but will also motivate them to join the armed forces.
The NCC expansion plan will be implemented in partnership with the States.The NCC Directorate in Odisha is located at Bhubaneswr and headed by DDG who is a Commodore rank Officer from Indian Navy.The Directorate has three groups and 28 Battalions. It has cadets from Army, Navy and Air Force consisting of both Junior and Senior boys and girls.