Government has decided to increase the authorised strength of NCC by two lakh cadets to overall 15 lakh in phases but ruled out making it compulsory for every student, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said in Lok Sabha on Friday.

He said promotion of NCC activities in educational institutions is a continuous process and strength of NCC cadets will be increased by two lakh to 15 lakh in phases.

Parrikar, however, made it clear that it was not feasible to make NCC compulsory in view of capacity constraints as arrangement would have to be made for 10 crore or 12 crore students.

The Minister said during Question Hour that 10 to 12 percent of the recruit in armed forces come from NCC and efforts are being made to increase the number of enrollment in NCC as well as recruitment of NCC cadets in armed forces.

Parrikar said 26 percent of the NCC strength comprises girl cadets and steps are being taken to promote NCC in educational institutions which include personality development programmes.

Replying a supplementary, the Minister said plans are afoot to make NCC limited compulsory in schools along the border areas subject to availability of infrastructure.