On a rare occasion parliamentarians ducked their party lines and urged the government to bring about sweeping changes in the structure and content of the training being imparted in the National Cadet Corps (NCC) and Sainik Schools. The request was made with a vision to bring the cadets in sync with the contemporary world. Members of the consultative committee attached to the Ministry of Defence expressed in a discussion in June 2011, that there is the need to bring in large number of youth into the framework provided by the NCC and Sainik Schools, so that they can imbibe sound values for future.
Defence Minister AK Antony opened the discussion by saying, “NCC remains in the forefront of social and community development programmes throughout the country. NCC cadets provided timely assistance during the Jnaneshwari Express tragedy, cleaned the Mumbai shores during the oil spill and planted one million tree saplings as part of the campaign ‘My earth my duty’.”
