Plans to increase the number of women cadets by one-third u00a0through a series of initiatives in the next few years

THE state National Cadet Corps (NCC) is striving for numerical gender equality within its ranks.

Currenlty, the percentage of girl cadets in the Maharashtra NCC stands at 24 and a series of measures are being initiated to up this number to 33 in the next few years.


Brigadier P C Roy, Deputy Director General, Maharashtra NCC, speaks to female cadets during a function at the NCC head office

Explaining the reason behind the low number of girl cadets, Brigadier P C Roy, deputy director general, Maharashtra NCC, said, "We have a paucity of female instructors and women staff in the NCC currently.
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We are working towards getting some permanent women staff to escort the girl cadets. Seventy six per cent of our cadets are men and only 24 per cent are women. We want to increase the number of women cadets to 33 per cent."

A decline in the number of students joining the NCC has also compelled the government to scout schools and colleges for new recruits.
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According to Brigadier Roy, they have 1,10,000 registered NCC cadets in the state, of which 20,000 are from Mumbai.

One hundred and forty five more schools and colleges in the state have also applied for permission to initiate the NCC programme in their institution, which is in the pipeline.

Urmila Sarkar (name changed), a former NCC cadet, said, "I feel that girls are becoming more beauty conscious and students are keener to join professional courses.

They think NCC training will not help them in their careers, which is absolutely wrong."

Brigadier Roy and his 110-member strong NCC contingent from the state, consisting of 40 girls, won the prestigious Prime Minister's Banner at the Republic Day camp in New Delhi.
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The contingent also won several individual and team medals and trophies at the camp.

This is the second consecutive time that the contingent has won the Banner for the best contingent at the camp. Also it has won 14 times in the last 20 years.

The achievement assumes significance considering 1950 cadets from 17 NCC directorates in the country had participated in the camp.
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Governor K Sankaranarayanan will host a special reception for the contingent at Raj Bhavan today.

24%
The girl cadets in the Maharashtra NCC

Origin
NCC has its genesis in the University Corps and came into existence on July 16, 1948, under the Ministry of Defence. NCC training helps in developing one's character, said a senior NCC officer. "It helps develop qualities like courage, discipline, leadership, a spirit of adventure and sportsmanship," he said.