As India battles COVID-19, NCC offers services of cadets to join the fight

The NCC has offered the services of it cadets from across the country to join India's fight against coronavirus, the defence ministry said on Thursday.

At least 1,965 cases of COVID-19 have been reported till date in the country and 50 people have died due to it.

"The National Cadet Corps (NCC) has offered a helping hand to civilian authorities in the country's fight against COVID-19 by extending the services of cadets under 'Exercise NCC Yogdan'," the defence ministry said in a statement.

So far nearly 47,000 senior NCC cadets have volunteered pan-India, a senior official said.

Employment of volunteer NCC cadets will be based on requisition from state government and district administration, the statement said.

"The NCC has issued guidelines for temporary employment of its cadets to augment relief efforts and functioning of various agencies involved in battling the pandemic," it added.

The tasks envisaged for the cadets include, manning of helpline or call centres; distribution of relief materials, medicines, food and other essential commodities; community assistance; data management and queue and traffic management, the statement said.

According to the guidelines, cadets should not be employed in handling of law and order situation or for active military duties or at hotspots of the disease, it said.

Only senior division volunteer cadets above 18 years of age will be employed. They should be employed in small cohesive groups of eight to 20 under the supervision of a permanent instructor staff and/or an associate NCC officer, the ministry said.

The NCC, which operates under the Ministry of Defence, is the largest uniformed youth organisation of the country and has been engaged in conducting various social service and community development activities.

NCC cadets have been contributing to the national cause during natural calamities like floods, cyclone, etc since its inception.