In his I-Day speech, PM spoke about the expansion of the National Cadet Corps (NCC) in coastal and border districts of India.

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Q.The Shekatkar Committee recommendations sometimes seen in the news are related to:

a) Modernization of Railways b) Modernization of Defence c) Road Infrastructure d) Cashless Payments

About NCC

• The NCC, which was formed in 1948, has its roots to British era uniformed youth entities like University Corps or University Officer Training Corps.
• It enrols cadets at the high school and college level and also awards certificates on completion of various phases.
• Headed by a Director-General of three-star military rank, the NCC falls under the purview of MoD and is led by serving officers from the Armed forces at various hierarchical positions.
• The NCC currently has 17 regional directorates which govern the NCC in units in various states or groups of states and union territories.
• Each school and college units have Associate NCC Officers and cadets are also assigned various leadership roles in the form of cadet appointments.
• NCC has a dual funding model where both the centre and states or union territories provide budgetary support.

Training the cadets

• The NCC cadets receive basic military training at various levels and also have academic curriculum basics related to Armed forces and their functioning.
• Various training camps, adventure activities and military training camps are an important aspect of NCC training.
• NCC cadets have played an important role over the years in relief efforts during various emergency situations.
• During the ongoing pandemic, over 60,000 NCC cadets have been deployed for voluntary relief work in coordination with district and state authorities across the country.

PM’s announcement

• Expansion of NCC in the border and coastal area has been under consideration of the Ministry of Defence for quite some time.
• PM took this I-Day to announce that from the 173 coastal and border districts, one lakh cadets, a third of them girls, will be trained.
• Currently, the NCC has the strength of around 14 lakh cadets from Army, Navy and Air Force wings.
• Border and coastal areas will get trained manpower to fight with disasters. Youth will acquire the required skills for careers in armed forces.

Significance of expansion

• In the coastal regions, where youth are already familiar with the sea, the training will increase interest in careers in Navy, Coast Guard and also Merchant shipping avenues.
• In the border area, the trained cadets can play an important role in various contingencies and also in supporting roles to the Armed forces in various roles.

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