Compulsory NCC training not possible: Minister

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, SEPT. 21. The Minister for Home, Mr. Devender Goud, has ruled out the possibility of making NCC training compulsory for all college students but promised that the Government is taking steps increase the intake of NCC cadets.

Replying to a volley of supplementaries to a question tabled by Mr. D. Uma Maheswara Rao (TDP) in the Assembly, he said the sanctioned intake of NCC in Government and private colleges was one lakh cadets.

The Central Government was likely to sanction an additional intake of 10,000 cadets as against the State's request to accommodate another 40,000 cadets, the Minister said.

Mr. Goud explained that the expenditure on the training of NCC candidates was shared by the Centre and the State Government and it was not possible to increase the cadet strength without the former's approval.

Cutting across party lines, several members demanded that the NCC be made compulsory in all colleges including private residential colleges, which were now being run purely as commercial ventures. They said the private establishments should be asked to bear the expenditure on NCC activity.

Mr. Kanna Lakshminarayana (Cong.) wanted exemption from the written test for police recruitments for cadets.

The Minister explained that NCC cadets enjoyed a 2.5 per cent reservation in professional colleges and 0.25 per cent reservation in Government jobs. Giving break-up of the NCC strength, he said 83,300 cadets belonged to the army wing, (60 units), 9,200 to the air force wing (8 units) and 7,500 to the navy wing (8 units).

Teacher recruitment: Teachers recruitment hogged the attention of the House through two questions.

The Minister for School Education, Mr. Kadiam Srihari, informed the House that the period of apprenticeship for teachers was reduced from four years to two years. About 32,000 posts were being filled this year.

The Minister said a proposal for relaxing the norms of educational qualifications for the disabled in the District Selection Committee-2001 recruitment on a par with that of ST candidates was under examination.

Currently, the visually impaired, hearing impaired and orthopedically impaired enjoyed one per cent reservation each in teacher posts.

Mr. Srihari said out of the 1,443 posts thus reserved for the disabled in the DCS 2000, 1,100 posts were filled. The backlog had been included in this year's quota, taking the total to 993 posts which were being filled now.

Felling of trees denied: The Minister for Higher Education, Mr. K. Ramachander Rao, denied the allegation levelled by the Congress member, Mr. D. Nagender, that about 200 huge trees were uprooted on the Osmania University campus on instructions by the Vice-Chancellor to create a playground for the physical education college.

The Minister informed the House in response to a question that only some bushes were cleared in the rocky area where no trees existed.

The Congress member, disputing the Minister's version, challenged him to agree to a joint inspection of the area to verify about the felling of the trees. He said the Forest and Environment Departments objected to the proposal to fell the trees but the Vice-Chancellor overruled the objections and the trees were removed.

Sanctuaries : Twelve wild life sanctuaries have been identified for development of infrastructure to facilitate eco-tourism, the Minister for Tourism, Mr. E. Peddi Reddy, told Mr. Anam Vivekananda Reddy ( Cong.) during question time. Three zoo parks were taken up by the Forest department to attract tourists.

Answering another question, the Minister for Forests, Mr. Ch. Ayyana Patrudu, said the lake at Uppalapadu village in Pedakakni mandal of Guntur district had been identified as having potential to develop as a bird sanctuary as about 40 species of birds are attracted to the waterspread during the migratory phase. In all, the department had identified six bird sanctuaries and 25 wildlife sanctuaries for development.

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