As the country is waging a war against the coronavirus pandemic, the Government has roped in the well-trained 15 lakh strong National Cadet Corps (NCC) and ex-servicemen to augment resources. Veterans are already helping local authorities in some States in collecting data from villages and assisting the police in maintaining order, and their involvement will only increase in the coming days given their pan-India presence.
Highlighting these points here on Thursday, Defence Ministry officials said the NCC has offered a helping hand to civilian authorities in the country’s fight against COVID-19 by extending the services of cadets under ‘Exercise NCC Yogdaan’. It has issued guidelines for temporary employment of its cadets to augment relief efforts and functioning of various agencies involved in battling the pandemic.
The tasks envisaged for NCC cadets include, manning of helpline and call centres, distribution of relief materials, community assistance, data management and queue & traffic management. According to the guidelines, cadets should not be employed in handling of law and order situation or for active military duties or at hot spots.
Only Senior Division volunteer cadets above 18 years of age will be employed. They should be employed in small cohesive groups of eight to 20 under the supervision of Permanent Instructor Staff or/and an Associate NCC Officer, officials said.
Moreover, for employment of volunteer cadets, state governments have to send the requisition through State NCC Directorates. Details will be coordinated at Directorate/Group Headquarters/Unit level with state government/local civil authority. Before the cadets are deployed for the duty, ground conditions and laid down requirements are to be ensured.
The NCC, which operates under defence ministry, is the largest uniformed youth organisation of the country and has been engaged in conducting various social service and community development activities. The NCC cadets have been contributing to the national cause during natural calamities like floods and cyclone since its inception.
As regards mobilizing ex-servicemen, they said Rajya Sainik Boards, Zila Sainik Boards are playing a dynamic role in identifying and mobilising maximum veterans to assist the state and district administration in performing public outreach activities such as contact tracing, community surveillance, management of quarantine facilities or any such tasks assigned to them.
Citing some instances, they said in Punjab, an organisation called ‘Guardians of Governance’, comprising 4,200 ex-servicemen are assisting in data collection from all the villages. The Chhattisgarh Government has employed some retired soldiers to assist the police.