NCC to acquire 188 Superdiona aircraft for training cadets

Mumbai, Aug 4 (UNI) National Cadet Corps (NCC) is set to acquire 188 Superdiona aircraft to train cadets across the country. Out of which 10 aircraft are earmarked for Maharashtra.

This was stated by NCC Director General Lieutenant General Mohan C Bhandari, who is on a visit here today.

Addressing mediapersons, Lt Gen Bhandari said the country has taken an irreversible plunge towards the all-round development.

Thus, NCC should be a source to tap the potential of youth in making them resourceful.

Appreciating the State Directorate of NCC, he said Maharashtra has the best infrastructure and logistical support for cadets in the country and as a result the state has retained the Prime Minister's banner for 'Best Directorate' for two consecutive years.

Appreciating the cadets for their able and dynamic perfomance at various levels, he said that about 11 cadets had represented India in various Youth Exchange Programmes (YEP) in countries like Singapore, Russia, Muscat, Abu Dhabi, Vietnam, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

With the paradigm shift in the country's economic policy, even NCC was undergoing a shift to direct and enable youth to make India a shining, vibrant and developed state by 2020, asserted Lt Gen Bhandari.

While recalling the call given by Supreme Commander of the armed forces President A P J Kalam on need to make NCC a compulsory part of the exisiting curriculum, he said out of the 13 lakh strong NCC force, the total percentage of eligible students, who are part of the Corps, is less than four per cent.

He said NCC plans to boost its female presence in the force from its present 18 per cent to 33 per cent in the next five years and later to 50 per cent.

On budgetry allocations, he said the Union government has allocated an additional Rs 402 crore for the force, which would be reallocated accordingly to the need of respective directorates.

On the recent memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed with the United Nations (UN) in fighting HIV/AIDS scourge, he explained the force had received 0.2 millon dollars for the same and a campaign in association with UN, National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) to implement NACP III is in progress.

Similarly, United Nations Organisation for Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has shown an inclination to reach an understanding for a joint camapign against drug-related HIV/AIDS cases, he maintianed.

NCC in Maharashtra now comprises seven groups and 60 units/sub units covering 510 colleges and 784 schools. The present strength of cadets in the state is 93,251, out of which 70,801 are junior and senior male cadets, while 22,450 were junior and senior female cadets.

UNI GVS SSS VKG ARB RN1826