In a bid to address issues such as "manpower deficiency" in the NCC and NSS, the government has decided to form a committee under former education secretary Anil Swarup, seeking suggestions to revamp and strengthen the two youth institutions.
In a statement issued today, the Ministry of Youth Affairs stated that the committee will also have "suitable representations" from NCC (National Cadet Corps) and the Ministry of Human Resource and Development.
"The Committee will deal with issues like expansion, strengthening training infrastructure, rationalising resources, reducing manpower deficiency affecting NCC and NSS (National Service Scheme)," the statement read.
The Committee will also submit recommendations for building "synergy" between these two institutions.
"At present, there are 13.5 lakh cadets in NCC in the age group of 12 to 26 years with pan India presence in about 703 out of 716 districts," the ministry stated.
"There is also an existing shortage in the NCC manpower across the categories ranging from 5 per cent to 36 per cent," it added.
The NCC has an annual budget of about Rs 2200 crore with the central government's share being about Rs 1600 crore, according to the ministry data.
"NCC, with this meagre resources, is not able to expand itself and to cover all the districts of the country and cater to the needs of wait-listed educational institutions," it said.
The ministry said a recent meeting at the Prime Minister's Office stressed on the need to strengthen the two bodies.
"Ministry of Youth Affairs, Ministry of Human Resource Development and NCC through the Ministry of Defence participated in the discussion. The discussion was mainly focused on taking measures for strengthening NCC and NSS and how youth could be empowered through these institutions.
"NSS has been playing a very active role in the service of the nation, particularly in the Government's Programme such as Swachh Bharat Mission," it said.
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