Data for nearly 9 lakh cadets has been collected by the NCC and it hopes to complete the process in a fortnight.
The National Cadet Corps (NCC), the largest voluntary uniformed youth organisation in the world, is collecting personal data, including the mobile number and email IDs of its nearly 13 lakh cadets to be given to the Prime Minister’s Office for an interaction of the cadets with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Data for nearly 9 lakh cadets has been collected by the NCC and it hopes to complete the process in a fortnight. No date for interaction of all the cadets with the PM has been fixed so far — it will depend on his availability and convenience.
As per a letter dated February 23 by DG NCC Lt Gen B S Sahrawat, all state directorates were directed to share a roll of all NCC cadets with their “Name, Mobile No, Email-ID and Remarks coln (column)”. The letter specifies that “in case the cadet does not have the mobile, then the No of father/mother could be put with * (an asterisk) and relationship specified in Remarks coln. Email-ID, if not held, should be created with the help of NCC staff/ ANOs”.
The letter says that the PM has “desired a direct interaction with maximum cadets of NCC”. Collection of data will facilitate this, the letter says, “…by downloading ‘Narendra Modi App’ in the cell phones of the cadets.”
Sources said this comes after DG NCC met the PM on Republic Day. Modi, who has been an NCC cadet, is said to have asked if there was a way he could interact with all cadets across the country.
Sources said it was suggested that the mobile numbers of cadets be shared with the PMO which will be able to organise such an interaction with them through the Narendra Modi App. The NCC, sources said, added email on its own as many cadets may not have mobile phones or smartphones which can run the app.
Sources said among the key points flagged at the PM-DG meeting was a suggestion to create a database of all former NCC cadets. The PM is also said to have asked the DG NCC to review NCC’s role as per current needs and requirements.
NCC was formed by an Act of Parliament in 1948, on the recommendations of the Cadet Corps Committee headed by P N Kunzru. The organization, which started with 20,000 cadets, now has nearly 13 lakh cadets on its rolls. More than 30% of the cadets in NCC are girls.
The Government has already approved plans to increase it to 15 lakh in five phases by 2020 with a focus on expansion in coastal and left-wing extremism affected areas.
After the 1962 China War, NCC was made mandatory, when its strength rose to 1.73 crore cadets in 1963. In 1968, it was again made a voluntary organization, bringing the number to current levels.