First ever NCC girls Everest expedition flagged off

The first ever all girls National Cadet Corps (NCC) Mount Everest expedition was flagged off by Union Minister of State (MoS) for Defence Rao Inderjeet Singh in New Delhi.
The aim of mountaineering expeditions in NCC is to strengthen the character and instill qualities of courage, discipline, comradeship and leadership in the cadets.
The team consisting of ten girl cadets is led by Colonel Gaurav Karki, along with fifteen service personnel. They will reach Nepal on 31st March 2016 and likely to summit the peak between 15 and 25th May, 2016.
These 10 girls were selected from 100 girl cadets who were nominated to undergo the Customised Mountaineering Course at Himalayan Mountaineering Institute (HMI), Darjeeling.
They were selected based on their performance in the first pre-Everest Expedition to Mt Deo-Tibba (19688 Feet) near Manali in Himachal Pradesh and second pre-Everest Expedition to Mt Trishul (23360 Feet).
Mountaineering Expedition was introduced in NCC in 1970 as an adventure activity. Since then, every year NCC conducts two mountaineering expeditions one each for boy and girl cadets. So far NCC has launched more than 70 expeditions to various peaks.

Month: Current Affairs - March, 2016