Rajnath Singh approves NCC expansion in 173 border, coastal districts

Strength boosted to 1.5 million with 100,000 more cadets, one-third of them women

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday approved a major expansion of the National Cadet Corps (NCC) in 173 border and coastal districts of the country.

In its most substantial expansion in recent years, the size of the NCC will be boosted from the current 1.4 million cadets to about 1.5 million cadets. One-third of the additional cadets will be women.

In October, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) had announced that the strength of the NCC would rise to 1.5 million by 2023. However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi fast-tracked that expansion in his Independence Day address on Saturday.

“More than 1,000