The Narendra Modi government on Tuesday denied a recent report in a leading newspaper that claimed there was a plan to impart military training to 10 lakh youth.
The Modi government criticised the report as “sensationalising the whole matter by twisting facts”.
"Attention is drawn to the report in a leading newspaper of 17th July 2018, claiming Government Military Training Plan to mobilise disciplined 10 lakh force of youth. This is an unfortunate and deliberate attempt to create a wrong impression as if Government is working for military training of 10 lakh youth annually," said the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.
"The fact is that, a meeting was held in PMO to revamp the National Cadet Corps (NCC) and National Service Scheme (NSS). Ministry of Youth Affairs, Ministry of Human Resource Development and NCC, through the Ministry of Defence, participated in the discussion," the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports' press note said.
The Modi government claimed 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 government programmes such as Swachh Bharat Mission.
Currently, there are 13.5 lakh cadets in NCC in the age group of 12 to 26 years, with a pan-India presence in about 703 out of 716 districts. It was noted that there are a large number of educational institutions in the country including 8,600 on a waiting list in which NCC is yet to be extended. There is also an existing shortage in the NCC manpower across the categories ranging from 5 per cent to 36 per cent.
The NCC has an annual budget allocation of about Rs. 2,200 crore, with the Central government's share approximately Rs. 1,600 crore. The NCC, with this meagre allocation, is not able to expand and cover all the districts of the country and cater to the needs of wait-listed educational institutions.
It has been decided to set up a committee under the chairmanship of Anil Swarup, former secretary (School Education), with suitable representations from various ministries to suggest measures to strengthen NCC and NSS.
The committee is expected to touch on issues like expansion and strengthening training infrastructure, rationalising resources and reducing manpower deficiency affecting NCC and NSS.
The committee will also submit measures for building synergies between these two institutions—NCC and NSS—and further strengthen them for empowering youth.