New Delhi, November 27
United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Chairperson Sonia Gandhi said today that there was a need to make the National Cadet Corps (NCC) more attractive for the youth.
Delivering the NCC Day Lecture on its 57th raising day the UPA Chairperson said although the corps had a strong base of about 13 lakh students but that only accounted for four per cent of the total student population in the country. “We need to think of making the NCC more appealing to the youth of today,” she said.
While inviting ideas from the cadets on this count, she said giving the NCC a new direction and supporting its work agenda was very much a priority of the government.
This, she said, was part of the government’s efforts to modernise the armed forces and enhance the quality of life of our jawans and serving officers.
She, however, expressed concern over the small percentage of girls in the corps and hoped the examples of cadets Tsering Ladol and Ashwini Pawar, who scaled the Mount Everest earlier this year, would motivate them to join the NCC.
Assuring that the government would ensure that the energies of the cadets were harnessed constructively, Mrs Gandhi, who is also the Congress President, said, “Our responsibility is to create proper environment and provide the resources needed so as to enable you to flower and begin to make a difference to people’s lives.”
Pointing to the role played by NCC cadets from Jammu and Kashmir in the aftermath of communal riots in Gujarat, she said it was the responsibility of the cadets to ensure that society remained united and harmonious. This she added could be achieved by practising human values such as respect, fairness, a sense of responsibility, tolerance, compassion and helpfulness towards others. “I also urge you not to be overawed by the challenges we face. It is easy to think that our country is full of problems everywhere and that things do not always work the way we would like them to,” she said.
Mrs Gandhi was again critical of the media for giving less importance to positive stories.
She said, “Some sections of the media tend to give less importance to achievements and positive stories. Earlier in the month she had chided the media for thriving on negative reporting. “Good news in media is rarely news. In fact, it probably means bad business for media,” she had said.
Quoting Jawaharlal Nehru, Mrs Gandhi said grow strong in mind and body and have the inner urge to do big things.
“Success does not come suddenly or without setbacks. So you have these great opportunities in India. Prepare yourself for them, grow strong in mind and body,” she said quoting Nehru.
