About National Service Scheme (NSS)

The National Service Scheme (NSS) is a Central Sector Scheme of Government of India, Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports. It provides opportunity to the student youth of 11th & 12th Class of schools at +2 Board level and student youth of Technical Institution, Graduate & Post Graduate at colleges and University level of India to take part in various Government led community service activities & programmes. The primary objective of developing the personality and character of the student youth through voluntary community service. ‘Education through Service’ is the purpose of the NSS. NSS was launched in 1969 in 37 Universities involving about 40,000 volunteers which has now spread over 657 Universities and 51 +2 Councils/Directorates, covering 20,669 Colleges/ Technical Institutions and 11,988 Senior Secondary School. Since inception , over 7.4 crore students have benefitted from NSS.

The NSS Badge Proud to Serve the Nation:

All the youth volunteers who opt to serve the nation through the NSS led community service wear the NSS badge with pride and a sense of responsibility towards helping needy. The Konark wheel in the NSS badge having 8 bars signifies the 24 hours of a the day, reminding the wearer to be ready for the service of the nation round the clock i.e. for 24 hours. Red colour in the badge signifies energy and spirit displayed by the NSS volunteers. The Blue colour signifies the cosmos of which the NSS is a tiny part, ready to contribute its share for the welfare of the mankind.

Motto:

The motto of National Service Scheme is NOT ME BUT YOU

Benefits of Being a NSS Volunteer:

A NSS volunteer who takes part in the community service programme would either be a college level or a senior secondary level student. Being an active member, these student volunteers would have the exposure and experience to be the following:

• An accomplished social leader
• An efficient administrator
• A person who understands human nature

Major Activities:

National Integration Camp (NIC):

The National Integration Camp (NIC) is organized every year and the duration of each camp is of 7 days with day-night boarding & lodging. These camps are held in different parts of the country. Each camp involves 200 NSS volunteers to undertake the scheduled activities.

Objectives of the National Integration Camp

Make the NSS volunteers aware of the following:

• Rich cultural diversity of India
• History of our diversified culture
• National pride through knowledge about India
• To integrate the nation through social service

Adventure Program:

The camps are held every year which are attended by approximately 1500 NSS volunteers with at least 50% of the volunteers being girl students. These camps are conducted in Himalayan Region in the North and Arunachal Pradesh in North East region. The adventure activities undertaken in these camps includes trekking of mountains, water rafting, Para-sailing and basic skiing.

Objectives of Adventure Program

• Promote various adventure activities among NSS volunteers
• Infuse the sense of love towards the various regions of India
• Enhance leadership qualities, fraternity, team spirit and risk taking capacity.
• Improvement of physical and mental strength
• Exposure to new vocational possibilities

NSS Republic Day Parade Camp:

The first Republic Day Camp of NSS Volunteers was held in 1988. The camp takes place in Delhi between 1st and 31st January every year with 200 NSS selected volunteers who are good in discipline, March-past and cultural activities. A Contingent of selected NSS volunteers participates in the Republic Day Parade at Rajpath, New Delhi on 26th of January every year in accordance with the guidelines and requisition of the Ministry of Defence.

Objectives of NSS Republic Day Parade Camp

• Enable the volunteers to interact with fellow members hailing from various parts of India.
• Experience the tradition, custom, culture, language of all states of India.
• Provide a chance to develop overall personality of the student volunteers.
• Constitute the bond of patriotism, national integration, brotherhood and communal harmony.

National Youth Festivals

National Youth Festivals are organized every year from 12th to 16th January by the Government of India, Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports in collaboration with the State Governments in different parts of the country. Eminent guests, speakers and youth icons are invited to address and interact with about 1500 participating NSS volunteers during the National Youth Festivals.

Objectives of National Youth Festivals

• Make the volunteers aware of the various festivals celebrated in the country
• Remind the volunteers of the cultural importance of festivals celebrated in our country
• Provide a chance to the NSS volunteers to interact with the resource person/speaker/youth icons

National Service Scheme Award

The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India had instituted the National Service Scheme Awards to recognize the voluntary service rendered by NSS volunteers, Programme Officers, N.S.S. units and the university/senior secondary council. These awards were instituted in the year 1993-1994. Since then, these awards are given away every year at various Levels. The details of these awards are as follows: -

Sr.No.	Category	No. of Awards	Value of each award
01	University/+2 Council First Award	01	Rs. 5,00,000/-
02	Upcoming University Second Award	01	Rs. 3,00,000/-
03	Programme Officer	10	Rs. 1,50,000/-
04	NSS Unit	10	Rs. 2,00,000/-
05	NSS Volunteer	30	Rs. 1,00,000/-

Objectives of National Service Scheme Award

• To recognize outstanding contribution by NSS student volunteers, NSS Programme Officers and the Programme Coordinators in community service
• To encourage young NSS student volunteers to develop their personality through community service.
• To encourage the Programme Officers and the Programme Coordinators of NSS for catering the needs of National Service Scheme through the NSS volunteers.
• To motivate NSS Volunteers for continuing their selfless service towards community work.