'Social aspects keeping girls away from NCC'

Lucknow, Aug 30 (UNI) Several social aspects were keeping girls away from joining the National Cadet Corps (NCC), a senior officer said today.

Deputy director general (Uttar Pradesh directorate) Brig A K Pathak said here that while the organisation was trying to achieve its target of inducting more girls into its folds, several social aspects were keeping them away.

''The NCC has been striving to achieve a minimum of 33 per cent girls' enrollment...at present the girls account for 20 per cent of the total NCC cadets,'' he said.

But at the same time the DDG maintained that four years ago, the percentage of girls in the organisation was as low as 12 per cent.

''We are also open to enroll girls in mixed battalions (boy and girls together). For this, the minimum quorum is 52 girls per institution in senior division and 50 girls in junior division...if the number is less, then we will find it difficult to appoint a woman instructor from the institution,'' he said. The official claimed that to meet the quorum, even two educational institutions can join hands to get the desired number of candidates.

In UP, while there are 71 boys' battalions, girls' battalions stand at a mere 15.

Out of the 70 districts of the state, NCC does not have its presence in Gautam Buddha Nagar (Noida), Sant Kabir Nagar, Jyotiba Phule Nagar, Shravasti and Sant Ravi Das Nagar. ''These districts are proposed to be covered by raising five new battalions,'' he said.

The NCC directorate general has put up a proposal to increase the cadet strength by 2 lakh at the national level. If the propopsal is approved by the Ministry of Defence, UP's share will increase by 12,000 cadets. After the creation of Uttrakhand, UP's share is around 1.2 lakh cadets.

UNI