One of the most useful youth organisations created immediately after Independence was the National Cadet Corps, the genesis of which was to create a force of young minds at the national level to train young boys and girls to be better citizens and future leaders of our vast country in all walks of life, including the defence forces. This was rightly realised by our leaders through a committee under Pandit H N Kunzru in 1946, and subsequently, after a series of meetings at various levels, it came into existence on 16th July 1948 under the NCC Act XXXI of 1948 under the Ministry of Defence with the following aims:

•  To develop character, comradeship, ideals of service and capacity for leadership in the youth of the country.
•  To stimulate interest in the defence of the country by providing service training to youth.
•  To build up a reserve to enable the Armed Forces to expand rapidly in a national emergency.

The National Cadet Corps was given an inter-service image in 1950 when the Air Wing was added, followed by the Naval Wing in 1952. While elementary military training was given to school students (cadets of the Junior Division), college students (cadets of the Senior Division) were trained as potential officers of the three wings — Army, Navy and Air Force. Following the Chinese Aggression, to meet the requirement of the nation, National Cadet Corps training was made compulsory in 1963. However, on the resistance of students against compulsory National Cadet Corps training and also on the suggestions of some Vice-Chancellors, entry into the NCC was again made voluntary in 1968.

Till 1968, NCC’s Senior Division was being taken very seriously, and good regular officers were given the charge to look after the management at the Directorate, Group and Unit levels. The resources, stores, logistics, furniture and office accommodation in respect of Group Headquarters and Units were being taken care of in a very proper and planned manner.

The whole NCC under the first DG onwards was being planned and expanded in a very careful and controlled manner, under the command and control of regular and efficient officers, keeping in mind the needs and financial resources of the country. After this, the NCC expanded in a very haphazard manner, mindlessly from 23,000 in 1950 to about 14 lakh cadets at present, with the aim to expand this to about 17 lakh in the next three years. This expansion of Units, Groups and the Directorates in different states was never properly planned, without looking at the resources. There were no proper buildings to house these NCC establishments during the period of this mindless expansion, till about 1988.

There were very few regular officers to look after these various Units. Many retired and re-employed officers were given the charge of Units and Groups. These officers had no interest in the upkeep of these NCC offices and in imparting serious training to cadets. The NCC cadets were not being given the right picture about officers’ lifestyles, officer-like qualities and turnout. The quality of training was far below the desired standard. Most of the service-related issues were either neglected or presented in a very shabby manner. Probably no Unit or Group was fully equipped to give proper training in the right spirit, either because of the lack of the right kind of staff or lack of resources.

Other than in some big cities, there was no semblance of training equipment and resources at the local levels in rural areas. The officers posted in these rural areas were least interested in the development of NCC. They were just passing their time without proper teaching of service matters and of military training schedules, particularly in rural belts. In addition to service subjects, very little attention was being paid to some of the important aspects like parade training and turnout. These were being neglected everywhere.

The impression was given that parade training was a waste of time and served no purpose other than physical fitness, which is covered under sports. Parade training is one of the most important aspects of the training that helps in developing focus and concentration among the youth but unfortunately has not been paid due attention. It was generally seen that anyone taking parade training seriously had the best focus in their day-to-day schedule as compared to others. It has been seen, though not properly documented, that those who take parade training seriously performed much better in all activities as compared to those who neglected it. In the big cities, the Units were reasonably well-equipped but in rural areas things are in an utter state of neglect. The entire NCC logistics in many states are in a state of absolute neglect. Looking at the benefits, these are sheer minimal compared to the amount being spent. The audit carried out every year into these offices is also a matter of questionable sanctity. Too many senior officers are holding charge of NCC activities who are not able to pay proper attention towards management and planning, which can be better looked after by officers at the Group Commander level. On the general front, the refreshment provided is highly inadequate and should be improved in quality and quantity. On the brighter side, there are some excellent and useful activities provided to cadets which are impossible to get otherwise, like the Republic Day Camp, Advance Leadership Camp (most useful for personality development), Hiking, Trekking, Rock Climbing Training Camp, Yachting Regatta and other such activities specialised in the Naval and Air Wings.

One of the best programmes established is the Youth Exchange Programme, where cadets visit foreign countries, thereby helping in international understanding. Cadets are being sent abroad regularly. The selected candidates also get opportunities to have overseas deployment, but unfortunately, the opportunities for all these above-mentioned programmes are given only to a handful of cadets from our country and need to be expanded further to be available to a larger section.

A large section remains all through without these benefits. A large number might not have even heard about these activities because of the poor training uniformly being provided all over.

Though on paper there is an opportunity for cadets to become commissioned officers after clearing the ‘C’ Certificate exam, the number remains dismissively low. This should also be expanded further to benefit a larger number of cadets. Finally, when we look at the list of DG NCC, in the initial phase some had a tenure at the 2-star rank level for close to 15 years, which is not understandable. Were there no other suitable young officers at that stage, or were these officers not considered fit for further promotion or for any other suitable assignment that they were stuck in the NCC for so long? As a consequence, these long tenures made these officers uninterested in proper planning and development of NCC as compared to an officer who would be much more enthusiastic towards this if given a shorter tenure. The cadet’s handbook has some excellent suggestions, but no one at any level ever monitors it. If we need to revamp this institution of NCC in the proper direction, we need to have excellent officers to encourage students through their personal examples. After considerable efforts at universities and academic levels, approval could be obtained for giving up to four credits towards their graduation degree under NEP-2020, so that we are able to get eventually not only wonderful defence officers but also excellent citizens for our nation, which is equally important for our nation’s all-round development.

It can be said that NCC is the finest organisation for youth for overall personality development if proper training is imparted, but there is a huge gap between the planned schedule and the actual work being done, and therefore its performance can be rated as far below the level of satisfaction.

The writer is Former Vice-Chancellor of Pondicherry University