Indicating the growing importance of the National Cadet Corps (NCC), its Director General (DG) Lt General Gurbirpal Singh on Friday said that the participation of girl cadets in the NCC has more than doubled in the last one decade.
As NCC cadets from all over the country gathered in the national capital for the annual Republic Day camp, the DG gave an overview of the activities undertaken by the cadets across the country, including in the Puneet Sagar Abhiyan under which more than 200 tonnes of plastic waste has been collected from different water bodies.
"The participation of girl cadets in the NCC is increasing every year," he said adding the ratio of women in the NCC was around 13 per cent in 2010, which has gone up to around 35 per cent this year.
He said some states have a higher ratio of women cadets like Delhi, Kerala, and north eastern states with some states having almost 50 per cent girl cadets.
Talking about the future plans of the NCC, Singh said training is being revamped and use of simulators for training is being increased. At present the NCC is using 98 firing simulators, 71 rowing simulators, and 62 flying simulators.
Republic Day camp in the national capital this year is being attended by 2,155 cadets from across the country, including 710 girls. It includes 114 cadets from Jammu and Kashmir and 120 cadets from the North-Eastern Region.
The camp will be formally inaugurated by Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Saturday. The NCC is the youth wing of the Indian Armed Forces. It is open to school and college students on a voluntary basis as a tri-services organisation.