Two all-female NCC contingents to participate in R-Day Parade

One all-female NCC contingent comprising 148 cadets along with a band of 45 female cadets will participate in the Republic Day Parade this year, an official said.
Addressing the annual news conference, Lt Gen Aniruddha Chakravarty, who is the Director General of the National Cadet Corps, said 2,069 cadets, including 695 girls have participated in the NCC camp this year.
"Of this, one all-male contingent and all-female contingent with a strength of 148 each will participate in the Republic Day Parade. Plus, one all-male band of 90 cadets and all-female band of 45 cadets will also participate in the Republic Day Parade," Chakravarty said.

With an aim of increasing the strength of women in the force to 33 per cent, the NCC has also planned an initiative to send its female cadets to conquer Mt Everest peak this year while a group of 91 international cadets from seven countries will also visit India as a part of the Youth Exchange Programme.
The government is already in the process of raising new NCC units in the coastal areas in the west along with in areas affected by left-wing extremism and insurgency besides those bordering Pakistan and China in a five-phase programme.
"Two phases are over and nearly 40,000 cadets were enrolled in NCC in these two phases. In the third phase, we plan to add 40,000 cadets. The plan is to enroll 2 lakh cadets under the programme and increase the strength from existing 13 lakh cadets.

We also intend to increase the strength of women cadets into the force to 33 per cent under the programme," Lt Col Pratik Saxena said.

Elaborating on the training NCC camps, Chakravarty said
the training helps in inculcating leadership qualities in life ahead and has been attended by several eminent personalities in the past, who have now scaled heights in different fields.
"The Prime Minister (Narendra Modi), Raksha Mantri (Manohar Parrikar), the Raksha Rajya Mantri (Rao Inderjit Singh), industrialist Adi Godrej, medico Dr Madhu Trehan, film personalities Vinod Khanna and Jaya Bachchan, and many chief of service staffs have been NCC cadets.

The aim of the Republic Day camp is to provide the cadets an exposure to the rich and cultural traditions of our nation and the important events that take place in the national capital during the run to the Republic Day Parade. The camp portrays a refection of Mini India, Chakarvarty said.
The cadets will also hold parade for the Vice President, Prime Minister, Defence Minister, Minister of State for Defence, Delhi Chief Minister, all three service chiefs and interact with the President over the month.
Speaking on the female cadets participating in the Mt Everest trekking, some 15 cadets will be trained at the Army Mountaineering Institute at the Siachen Base Camp in May-June this year before mission.

"Under the Youth Exchange Programme, 91 cadets from Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Kazakhstan and Russia will visit India.