Centre to consider setting up NDA branch in Kodagu

Defence Minister Manohar Parikkar has promised to consider the request to set up a branch of the National Defence Academy (NDA) in Kodagu. Speaking at a function organised at Madikeri near here in connection with the finals of the Kodava annual hockey festival, he said that the region had produced many army personnel such as Field Marshal K.M. Cariappa and General K.S. Thimayya. He was responding to a request made by this year’s Kodava Hockey Festival president Shanteyanda Ravi Kushalappa. Mr. Parikkar said that it was a matter of pride that the region had many hockey players too.