After a decade, Uttar Pradesh was ranked third out of the 17 competing Directorates on the basis of the competitions held round-the-year. According to Cadet Under Officer Anoop Kumar Singh, the state’s Best Cadet in Air wing who has also been ranked the second-best in the country, “Motivation and consistent practice for the past five months proved to be a success.” Admitting he did not do well in the written examination, Singh says he focused more on physical activities like drill test and communications skills. “My strategy was to study my opponent’s weak areas and working towards scoring in that.”

Singh won a silver medal in the Best Cadet in Air wing category. A student of first semester in Masters in Computer Applications (MCA) in Lucknow University, Singh used to study in spare time he could get from the practice to prepare for his Semester exams in December.

Similar efforts were made by the 108 cadets who practised for the past five months that helped the UP NCC Contingent to come first in the Republic Day competitions. Also, they have won five trophies in Junior Cadet Drill, Senior Cadet Drill, Social Service, National Integration Awareness and Best Gliding Squadron. “However, to top the Republic Day camp activities, we practised consistently. On the day of the drill, one of the girls fell sick. Despite that, she managed to perform the drill. Last year, we were on the eighth position in order of merit on the basis of round-the-year activities. But we managed to come third this year after Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra,” said Contingent Commander Lieutenant Colonel DS Bisht.