Only 49 colleges have opted to make NCC as elective subject: DG

Shillong, July 25 (PTI): Director General of the National Cadet Corps (NCC) Lt Gen Vinod Vashisht today said only 49 colleges in the country have opted to make NCC as their elective subjects. The NCC chief has also urged state governments in the North-east region to adopt and have NCC as an elective subject in educational institutions. He said the cadet strength of the NCC North-east region directorate will see an increase of 30 per cent from the current strength of 89,000 by the end of 2020. The NCC is also pushing its presence in the border districts in Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Manipur.
The University Grants Commission (UGC) had issued a notification directing all universities about offering it as a subject in 2016 although NCC as an elective subject was first proposed in 2013 by the Human Resources Development (HRD) ministry. From the NCC point of view, offering NCC as an elective subject is seen as opportunity to woo students into its fold without them losing too many hours to attend to NCC classes.
In its official syllabus, the NCC will have a common service subject and specific subjects for the Army, Navy and Air Force for teaching and will be taken as a regular subject rather than an extra-curriculum by the educational institutions. An NCC officer, who wished not to be named, said the state government is taking time to initiate this seeking legal opinion and other experts opinions on the matter.
At present there are about 13.8 lakh cadets in the country and about 89,000 of them are enrolled in the entire North East region alone. With regards to the Youth Exchange Programme (YEP) the NCC used to have previously with Canada and other western countries, Lt Gen Vashish said the NCC is conducting YEP programmes with 11 countries including its neighbour countries and from those in Central Asia and Russia. “Our national interests do not lie in Canada but in the Regional neighbourhood. We are having YEP programme with 11 countries now but in proximity to Central Asia, South East Asia and Russia,” he said He said countries like Kazakhstan, Kyrgzstan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Singapore and Vietnam are some of the countries the NCC are having the YEP with.
“The current cadet strength is 89,000. By 2020 we will raise another 30 per cent and that will exceed one lakh,” Lt Gen Vashisht told reporters here. He is on a two-day visit to the state. Of the 108 districts in the region, he said, “We have six or seven districts which are not covered right now and some are not receiving adequate attention,” urging his officers and staffs to reach out to these districts and the concerned state governments to try and get them covered adequately under the NCC programmes.
Lt Gen Vashist during his visit has also specifically sought the progress made with each state government in the region on the status of having NCC presence in border areas. NCC NER Addl DG Maj Gen Raju Chauhan briefed in detail on the latest status of each state especially in states where there are districts not covered by the NCC. The Naval units will also get new equipments and the naval training in Sibsagar and Guwahati will commence training and be given equal impetus as any other units in the country, he said. The NCC Air squadrons are in Dimapur, Tezpur, Imphal, Jorhat and Guwahati.