CBSE results will be declared on time, promises Javadekar
‘There is no need to worry about court order, justice will be done to all’
• Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar on Thursday said the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) results for Class X and XII would be declared on time.
• “The CBSE will soon announce the date. There is no need to worry about the court order. Justice will be done for all,” Mr. Javadekar told journalists.
Grace marks
• The Minister’s assurance came amid confusion after the Delhi High Court directed the CBSE not to implement this year its decision on scrapping the grace marks policy. The court issued the order while hearing a public interest litigation petition which sought that the policy be not scrapped this year as it would otherwise impact the prospects of Class 12 students who have already applied for institutions abroad.
• The CBSE issued the notification, abolishing the practice, after the examinations were over last month.
• However, on Tuesday, the Delhi High Court directed the Board to evaluate the Class X and XII examinees this year as per the grace marks policy.
• While it was not clear if the order would be challenged in the Supreme Court, it is learnt that the Board, to which more than 18,500 schools are affiliated, is consulting the Ministry to determine the further course of action.
Practice abolished
• Under the moderation policy, students were given grace marks as per the difficulty level of questions. However, last month, the CBSE and 32 other boards decided to abolish the practice. Some of the State boards have already declared Class XII marks.
• Although the High Court appreciated the move as it attempted to bring in uniformity in the evaluation system, it said the decision should have been taken prospectively. The next date of hearing of the PIL is scheduled for July 20.
Goa Marathi Film Festival from June 16
•Panaji: The 10th edition of the Goa Marathi Film Festival (GMFF) will showcase fashion designer Vikram Phadnis’s directorial debut, Hrudayantar, which explores the marital crisis of a couple. The festival, which will be organised from June 16 to 18, will also see the poster release of Priyanka Chopra’s Kay Re Rascala.
•“The festival, which prides itself on introducing quality Marathi films that are critically acclaimed and commercially successful, will have star-studded movie premiers, tributes to industry stalwarts, interactive and educational workshops, theatrical performances, and exhibitions,” said filmmaker Dnyanesh Moghe of Vinsan World, the organiser. The organiser recently held the Sweden Marathi Film Festival in Stockholm in association with the Sweden India Film Association.
•This year’s GMFF will screen national award winning films such as Dashakriya, Kaasav, and Ventilator, along with Dr. Rakhmabai, Cycle, Take Care Good Night, Sachin-A Billion Dreams, F.U., Sanchaar, Bhow, Nadi Vahate, Pimpal, Chi va Chi Sau Ka, Condition Apply, and short films such as Aba Aiktay Na, Saavat, Chaukat, and Bubblehead, said Sanjay Shetye, festival director.
SC refuses urgent hearing on NEET petition
‘Madras HC granted interim stay on publication of results’
•The Supreme Court on Thursday declined an urgent hearing on a petition for a fresh holding of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) examination this year.
•A Vacation Bench of Justices L. Nageswara Rao and Navin Sinha refused an immediate hearing for a repeat of NEET as exam papers were leaked in States like Bihar, Rajasthan and West Bengal.
•The Bench said that there was no urgency to hear the plea as the Madras High Court had already granted an interim stay on the publication of the results.
English, Tamil papers
•The Madras High Court had granted interim stay on the publication of the NEET results based on allegations that the question papers were not uniform.
•The petitioners had contended that there was difference between the English and Tamil papers.
Response sought
•The High Court had also directed the Medical Council of India, the Director of Central Board of Secondary Education and the Union Health Ministry to respond on the allegations by June 7.
•Over 11 lakh MBBS and BDS aspirants had appeared for NEET at more than 1,900 centres across the country.
Sushma thanks Pakistan for Uzma’s return
External Affairs Minister praises Foreign and Home ministries apart from judiciary for aiding victim’s return
•In a rare instance of mutual understanding, India on Thursday thanked Pakistan’s diplomats and judiciary after an Indian national returned home. Welcoming the woman from Delhi, Uzma, who had accused a Pakistani man of marrying her forcefully, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said India would like to thank Pakistan irrespective of the current status of bilateral political relation.
•“Today I would like to express our appreciation of Pakistan irrespective of the current state of bilateral ties. If Uzma is here today, that is because the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan has helped us a lot. Pakistan’s Home Ministry has also helped us a lot,” said Ms Swaraj, emphasising that the Indian High Commission received humanitarian support from Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
•The Minister, who tracked the case since Ms. Uzma came to the Indian mission in Islamabad in early May and sought help, said the diplomats of the mission acted swiftly in assisting her.
•Ms. Uzma had alleged that her husband Tahir Ali, from the Buner region in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, had assaulted her.
Relationship turns sour
•The Hindu had earlier reported that Ms. Uzma had told officials at the Indian High Commission that she had crossed into Pakistan on May 1 and was drugged by her friend Tahir Ali who then married her forcibly and assaulted her.
•The two had become friends while working in Malaysia. Ms Uzma somehow managed to reach the Indian mission on 9 May and complained that she had been forced into marrying Tahir and wanted to return to India. Subsequently, assisted by the Pakistani officials, the Indian High Commission fought the case against the accused husband.
•Ms Uzma returned to Delhi via the Wagah border on Thursday after the Islamabad High Court issued a favourable verdict allowing her to return.
Pak. judicial support
•Acknowledging the Pakistani judicial support, Ms Swaraj said, “Political relations are another thing but Justice (Mohsin Akhtar ) Kayani gave the verdict on humanitarian grounds. Her husband argued that the case was about the prestige of Pakistan but (Justice Kayani) said how is this case related to prestige of India or Pakistan? Barrister Shah Nawaz Noon argued the case almost like a father.”
•During the hearing, Mr. Ali, had reportedly expressed his desire to meet Ms Uzma in private for reconciliation, but Justice Kayani did not allow it as Ms Uzma was unwilling.
•The Minister also singled out the role of the Indian High Commission and Deputy High Commissioner J. P. Singh, for special praise. “It is a good thing that you approached the Indian High Commission in your moment of crisis,” Ms Swaraj told Ms Uzma.
Net migration falls in Britain
Number of EU citizens leaving U.K. rises, while arrival of foreign students falls
•Net migration into Britain fell to 248,000 in 2016, led by a significant rise in the number of EU citizens leaving the U.K. and a fall in the international students arriving. While the fall will be welcomed by some, including the Conservative party, which in its manifesto maintains a commitment to lowering net migration to the tens of thousands, it will raise concerns among others about potential skill shortages in the U.K.
Brexit impact
•Figures published by the Officer for National Statistics (ONS) on Thursday showed a statistically significant fall in net migration by 84,000 compared to 2015, driven by the number of EU citizens leaving Britain more than tripling. Some 43,000 citizens of so-called EU-8 nations, including Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, left Britain during the year, while fewer numbers came to the country.
•The figures are considered significant, highlighting the impact that last June’s referendum on leaving the EU is having on citizens of other European countries residing in Britain.
•There was also a significant decrease in long-term immigration to study, which fell by 32,000 from 2015 to 136,000. The ONS noted that this was also driven by a decrease in students from Asia, whose numbers fell to 64,000 from 80,000 in 2015 (it does not break it down by country until later this year). However, separate data from the Home Office (which includes data on students on visas for less than a year) showed a slight increase in the number of visas issued to Indian students, whose numbers rose by 6% year-on-year to 11,642. Home Office data also showed that from outside the EU, the highest number of long-term visas were granted to Indian and Chinese nationals.
Emotive issue
•The issue of immigration has emerged as a particularly emotive issue in Britain’s election campaigning. While the Conservatives have pledged to control and reduce immigration because high levels made it “difficult to build a cohesive society”, the Labour Party has promised “fair rules and reasonable management of migration”. The far-right UKIP party, which released its manifesto on Thursday, said it would target reducing net migration to zero. Among the major parties, it has fallen to the Liberal Democrats to commit to “making the positive case for immigration”.
•Industry leaders and think tanks have expressed their concerns about immigration control in the U.K., particularly once it exits the European Union.
•In April, Jaguar Land Rover’s CEO Ralf Speth highlighted the importance of access to a skilled international workforce in an interview with the BBC. Think tank Our Global Future published a report earlier this month noting the importance of immigration to the U.K. economy, estimating that an annual net migration figure “well in excess of 200,000” will be needed in the long term to avoid “catastrophic consequences for the economy”.
Wooing the Indian vote
With all parties targeting them, it remains unclear if voters of Indian origin will continue a Tory-ward shift
•Britain’s snap general election, for June 8, is particularly interesting on a number of counts: being the first poll since the referendum on Brexit, and one called with less than two months’ notice. It is also likely to be an important test of Britain’s South Asian and Indian community in particular, and how loyal they will remain to the Labour party. Britain’s Indian community has traditionally voted Labour, with only a slight shift happening overt the decades, spurred by loosening community ties (younger people are now less likely to be bound by the loyalties that their older family members may adhere to) as well as efforts by the Conservatives and other political parties to reach out to them. Parties across the political spectrum have also sought to diversify their candidates: in the forthcoming election, the Conservatives have 13 candidates of Indian origin, and Labour is fielding 14.
Labour’s vote bank
•Though some have suggested a significant shift to the Conservatives at the last election, researchers have warned that this should not be overestimated, even within Britain’s Hindu community, within which the biggest shift happened. “I don’t think there has been a sharp move, even within the Hindu community; there has been no revolution or fundamental realignment, which would leave us to expect that there is not going to be a sudden big change in how Indians in the U.K. vote,” says Nicole Martin, a senior policy research officer at Essex University who conducted research in the run-up to the 2015 general election, that put Indian support for Labour at 65%, against 27% for the Conservatives and 3% for the Liberal Democrats. (For the Pakistani community the figures were 80%, 8% and 5%, respectively, and for the Bangladeshi community they were 82%, 10% and 1%, respectively).
•Like most ethnic minority groups Indians voted strongly in favour of remaining within the European Union (EU) — 59% of those of Indian origin voted to remain, against 48% of the population as a whole. But during the election campaign it’s unclear to what extent parties’ positions on this issue will impact the decision of voters at the ballot box.
•While the Conservatives have focused on their re-election as the best chance for Brexit negotiations, Labour has pledged to rewrite Britain’s approach to Brexit, to include guaranteeing the rights of those EU nationals already in the country, and to protect working rights and environmental standards. The Liberal Democrats, by contrast, have positioned themselves as the party that would work to ensure Britain avoided a “hard Brexit” and retained access to the single market.
•Potentially of more interest and significance to the Indian community will be the inclusion of India-relevant issues in the parties’ election manifestos, to the greatest extent to date.
•The Labour party has pledged a further review into Britain’s involvement in Operation Blue Star at the Golden Temple in Amritsar in June 1984.
•This has been welcomed by Sikh community groups, including the Sikh Federation, which last year said it had uncovered a document that referred to the possible involvement of a Special Air Services unit of the British Army. However, despite Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s strong past support for the introduction of legislation to outlaw caste discrimination, the manifesto does not include mention of this issue.
•The Liberal Democrats have pledged to outlaw caste discrimination, in a move that has been warmly welcomed by Dalit organisations and others who have been championing the introduction of legislation against caste discrimination. However, parties’ positioning on the issue could also be used by those within the Indian community who have vocally campaigned against the introduction of legislation. In 2015, the National Council of Hindu Temples urged voters to support the Conservatives because at the time they opposed the introduction of legislation, warning that for Indian communities to vote for the Labour party would be like “turkeys voting for Christmas”. (The government is currently running a consultation on the issue but critics argue that it is biased against the introduction of legislation, and is being used to brush the issue under the carpet.)
•Ms. Martin also pointed to the emphasis placed on issues of race and equality more widely across the manifestos, noting the Conservatives’ pledge to tackle issues such as the racial disparity across public services, enforce equality laws to ensure that services weren’t denied on the basis of ethnicity, religion or gender, and also require the biggest companies to publish information on the pay gap for people of different ethnic groups.
The class distinction
•However, what may disturb many South Asian voters is the party’s tough line on immigration: alongside doubling the amount that firms must pay to hire non-EU workers, the Conservatives have committed to raising the earning threshold for those who wish to bring in spouses from outside the EU, already a major issue for many within the Indian community who have argued the high threshold has left families divided. Labour by contrast has pledged to treat family differently to economic migration and will remove the threshold altogether. Still, some within the Indian community have been critical of Labour under Mr. Corbyn. Manoj Ladwa, a former campaign adviser to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who once headed an organisation for Indians supporting the Labour party, has spoken publicly of his reservations about its new leadership, describing Mr. Corbyn as “out of sync” with British Indians.
•However, Mr. Corbyn has inspired others such as members of the Indian Workers Association (IWA), which will be urging its members to vote for the Labour party for the first time. “Finally, Labour has policies that we can relate to as Indian workers, where they have been talking about taking control of industries, giving control back to workers, looking after ordinary working people,” says Harsev Bains of the IWA.
•If the polls are to be believed, the Conservatives are on for a comfortable victory. A recent poll for The Guardian showed that the Conservatives’ lead had fallen from 20 to 14 percentage points, which would still put them ahead of their performance in 2015. The big question is whether this shift will be matched within the Indian community.
•“This election will be a test of the Conservatives,” says Ms. Martin. “They are reaching out to some within the Indian community with some policies but others will hit minority groups. If they fail to make inroads in this election, I think we can stop asking the question about if they are going to make a big breakthrough any time soon.”
⏳ Bail or jail: on bail law reforms
The Law Commission’s report on bail law reforms deserves urgent attention
•That bail is the norm and jail the exception is a principle that is limited in its application to the affluent, the powerful and the influential. The Law Commission, in its 268th Report, highlights this problem once again by remarking that it has become the norm for the rich and powerful to get bail with ease, while others languish in prison. While making recommendations to make it easier for all those awaiting trial to obtain bail, the Commission, headed by former Supreme Court judge B.S. Chauhan, grimly observes that “the existing system of bail in India is inadequate and inefficient to accomplish its purpose.” One of the first duties of those administering criminal justice must be that bail practices are “fair and evidence-based”. “Decisions about custody or release should not be influenced to the detriment of the person accused of an offence by factors such as gender, race, ethnicity, financial conditions or social status,” the report says. The main reason that 67% of the current prison population is made up of undertrials is the great inconsistency in the grant of bail. Even when given bail, most are unable to meet the onerous financial conditions to avail it. The Supreme Court had noticed this in the past, and bemoaned the fact that poverty appears to be the main reason for the incarceration of many prisoners, as they are unable to afford bail bonds or provide sureties. The Commission’s report recommending a set of significant changes to the law on bail deserves urgent attention.
•The Commission seeks to improve on a provision introduced in 2005 to grant relief to thousands of prisoners languishing without trial and to decongest India’s overcrowded prisons. Section 436A of the Code of Criminal Procedure stipulates that a prisoner shall be released on bail on personal bond if he or she has undergone detention of half the maximum period of imprisonment specified for that offence. The Law Commission recommends that those detained for an offence that would attract up to seven years’ imprisonment be released on completing one-third of that period, and those charged with offences attracting a longer jail term, after they complete half of that period. For those who had spent the whole period as undertrials, the period undergone may be considered for remission. In general terms, the Commission cautions the police against needless arrests and magistrates against mechanical remand orders. It gives an illustrative list of conditions that could be imposed in lieu of sureties or financial bonds. It advocates the need to impose the “least restrictive conditions”. However, as the report warns, bail law reform is not the panacea for all problems of the criminal justice system. Be it overcrowded prisons or unjust incarceration of the poor, the solution lies in expediting the trial process. For, in our justice system, delay remains the primary source of injustice.
⏳ The bleak new academic scenario
Liberalisation has eroded the institutional capacity to train young people who might pursue liberal values
•The other day, a student asked me what exactly the word ‘liberal’ mean. She wanted to know whether ‘liberalisation’ promotes ‘liberal’ values. She had noticed that institutions of higher education, which are supposed to promote liberal values, were finding it difficult to resist ideological and commercial pressures triggered by the process of economic liberalisation. So, was economic liberalism different from political liberalism? And what do people mean when they refer to neo-liberal policies? The questions she was asking could hardly be addressed without invoking the political economy that has emerged over the last three decades.
•When liberalisation of the economy started to receive common consent in the mid-1980s, few people thought of examining what it would mean for education. Then, in 1991 came the dramatic announcement of a new economic policy, accompanied by a package of steps to be taken for ‘structural adjustment’ of the Indian economy. The purpose of ‘adjustment’ was to facilitate India’s integration into the global economy. Even then, education didn’t receive specific attention. Some critics of the new economic policy expressed anxiety about the consequences of state withdrawal from its prime role and responsibility in sectors like education and health. The national policy on education drafted in 1986 had mostly adhered to the established state-centric view. A major review in the early 1990s vaguely resonated the new discourse of liberalisation, but offered little evidence of change in the basic perspective. The Programme of Action, announced in 1992, stopped short of admitting that the state’s role in education was about to change. Nobody could imagine at that point that over the following decades, the state’s role in education would change so much that the Constitution would begin to sound like rhetoric.
School education
•In order to examine what happened, we must make a distinction between school and higher education. When Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao spoke about liberalisation as the central theme of the new economic policy, he also referred to the ‘structural adjustment programme’. Under this programme, the World Bank offered a ‘safety net’ for primary education. It meant additional resources and policy guidance to enable the system to expand its capacity for enrolling children. The District Primary Education Programme (DPEP), which later mutated into Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), symbolised the ‘safety net’ approach. It was designed to cushion the harsh effects that ‘structural adjustment’ under liberalisation was expected to cause in welfare sectors like children’s education and health. The DPEP and SSA efficiently served this role, creating an ethos in which children’s education seemed to have become a major priority of the state. The success of these programmes emboldened the government to push the Right to Education (RTE) law through Parliament. Governments of many States registered their anxiety over their capacity to fund the implementation of RTE after the Central assistance provided under SSA runs dry.
•How valid that anxiety was is now amply clear. All across northern India, the DPEP and SSA have left a radically expanded system that no one wishes to own. The contractual teachers appointed on a massive scale to fulfil the ambitious goals of DPEP and SSA are crying aloud for dignity and stability. Post-RTE, many State governments have drawn on the services of mega-NGOs and private companies to look after schools. As one might guess, it is children of the poor who attend these schools. Under the policy of liberalisation, the state has outsourced these children to non-state players. Those belonging to the better-off sections of society have moved to private schools.
Higher education
•In higher education, the new economic policy designed on the principles of liberalisation offered no safety net. From the beginning, the assumption was that higher education ought to generate its own resources. An accompanying idea was that higher education should respond to market demands in terms of knowledge and skills. Over the last three decades, these two guiding ideas have dented the established system of higher education in all parts of the country. Both Central and State universities have been starved of financial resources. Cutting down on permanent staff, both teaching and non-teaching, has emerged as the best strategy to cope with financial crunch. A complex set of outcomes, specific to different universities, makes any general analysis difficult. In some, self-financed courses, mostly vocational in nature, have provided a means of income. In others, such courses have been resisted by teacher unions. However, these unions have gradually lost their power and say because they are broken from within.
•A shrinking elite of senior, permanent teachers is struggling to represent a vast underclass of frustrated and vulnerable ad hoc teachers. The old idea that an academic career should attract the best among the young holds no meaning now. Research fellowships have been used as a cushion to absorb the growing army of unemployed, highly qualified young men and women. They have no organised voice, and each one of them is individually too vulnerable to protest against continuous exploitation.
•This is the bleak new academic scenario. In India, the term ‘liberal’ essentially meant a voice representing courage and wider awareness. Training of such a voice was the main job of colleges and universities. This function grew under severe constraints in colonial times. The constraints were both social and cultural, but as electoral democracy advanced, political constraints gained ground. Politicians of every ideological persuasion resented the role of colleges and universities in maintaining the supply of critical voices. These institutions have now been forced to compromise their role in training the young to speak out. The compromise has taken over three decades to occur. It is hardly surprising that no political party shed a tear. So, if we now return to the question my young student had asked: ‘Does liberalisation promote liberal values?’ The answer is, ‘It hasn’t.’ Rather, it has eroded our society’s institutional capacity to train young people who might pursue liberal values by exercising an independent voice.
⏳ Maduro’s excesses
Venezuela needs an immediate end to its one-man rule
• Even by the standards of Latin America’s relatively volatile politics, there seem to be few parallels in recent memory to the brutally authoritarian rule of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who has plunged a prosperous nation into complete paralysis. But Mr. Maduro seems in no mood to mend his ways, even after the controversial move in March to nullify the popularly elected Parliament drew strong rebuke from regional allies as well as the international community. Of course, few believed then that such condemnation of the Supreme Court’s aborted dissolution of the nation’s highest democratic institution would result in a rethink on Mr. Maduro’s overall approach. In a coldly calculated move, the government in April disqualified Henrique Capriles, seen to be a key contender for the 2018 presidential election, from holding public office for 15 years. The move was reminiscent of the bar on another opposition politician by former President Hugo Chávez. The current regime, unfazed by the groundswell of resistance against its dictatorial rule, has persisted in deploying the security forces to unleash violence and terrorise protesters. Any number of broken families have been witness to the horrors of routine abduction of young activists and murder of opposition leaders in the last few years. Instances are legion of Mr. Maduro’s contempt for the rule of law and the will of the people since the victory of the Opposition-dominated National Assembly in the December 2015 general elections.
• In fact, a month after those polls, an economic emergency was declared, concentrating powers in the President’s office. Mr. Maduro’s policy of a ruthless clampdown touched a low when a signature campaign to exercise the citizens’ constitutionally enshrined right to recall the President was crushed. He then packed the judiciary with party loyalists, culminating in the unsavoury episode of an attempt to dismiss the legislature. A 700% rate of inflation and chronic shortages of food and medicines spotlight ruinous economic governance. But corrective measures to counteract the effects of the collapse in oil prices have been long overdue. It is ironical that the nation with the world’s largest oil reserves finds itself in deepening civil unrest, with its people struggling to get essential commodities. Amid all this turmoil, Mr. Maduro seems determined to brazen it out. Signs of further intransigence emerged when Caracas recently threatened to pull out of the Organisation of American States. The OAS, which monitors democratic and human rights standards among member-states, has been unequivocal in its criticism of Mr. Maduro’s autocratic style. Such defiance risks further global isolation and chaos at home. Venezuela needs an immediate end to its one-man rule. Only then will the nation see a semblance of normality return to the lives of its citizens.
⏳Can Pakistan seek a re-hearing?
Islamabad has to satisfy the ICJ that a ‘change in the situation’ has occurred to necessitate a revocation
•News reports have emerged that Pakistan may seek a “re-hearing” of the Kulbhushan Jadhav case in which the International Court Justice (ICJ), as a provisional measure, has ordered a stay on his execution.
•Pakistan may apply to the ICJ under Article 76 of the Rules of Court of 1978 for a revocation or modification of the court’s order.
•This can be done any time before the final judgment is given. However, and most importantly, it has to satisfy the ICJ that a “change in the situation” has occurred that necessitates such a revocation or modification.
Not routine
•The ICJ does not order provisional measures as a matter of routine, but only in extreme cases. The order of provisional measures is resorted to only when the ICJ judges, in their sole discretion, conclude that not doing so would cause grave prejudice and irreparable harm to the rights of the country which has approached it.
Article 76
•In short, the “change in the situation” should be of such magnitude that it would overcome the situation of “irreparable prejudice and urgency” that compelled the ICJ to order provisional measures under Article 41. This makes Article 76 quite a rare remedy.
•In the Jadhav case, the ICJ justified its provisional measure — staying his execution — by observing that “the mere fact that Mr. Jadhav is under such a sentence (death penalty) and might therefore be executed is sufficient to demonstrate the existence of such a risk”.
•His execution by Pakistan would cause “irreparable prejudice” to India’s case on merits in the ICJ, the court observed.
•Added to this, the court said there was “considerable uncertainty” as Pakistan had given “no assurance that Mr. Jadhav will not be executed before the court has rendered its final decision. In those circumstances, the court is satisfied that there is urgency in the present case”.
•Besides, Pakistan will have to keep in mind the “binding effect” of provisional measures over any party to whom they are addressed.
Past instances
•Past instances of countries approaching the ICJ for revocation or modification of its provisional measures orders are not encouraging for Pakistan. In July 2013, the ICJ, in the case concerning Certain Activities carried out by Nicaragua in the Border Area (Costa Rica v. Nicaragua), refused relief on the ground by simply concluding that “circumstances presented by the countries were not such as to require the exercise of power to modify” its earlier order of provisional measures.
⏳ In-flight Wi-Fi Net access soon
Centre needs to amend the Telegraph Act, 1885, to allow on-board Web surfing
•On-board Wi-Fi may soon become a reality as the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has sent a revised proposal that will enable in-flight access to voice, data and video services.
•“The DoT has sent a revised proposal for the consideration of the Committee of Secretaries (home, communication and civil aviation ministries) after re-examining its earlier proposal related to interception by security agencies when required,” Civil Aviation Secretary R.N. Choubey said. “The proposal will be taken up at the next meeting of the Secretaries.”
Monitoring data
•Civil Aviation Ministry sources said the Home Ministry had raised concerns about security agencies being able to monitor data and voice transmission in the initial proposal floated by DoT under the Communication Ministry. However, the revised proposal has addressed the issue of flight data monitoring, the official, who did not wish to be identified, said.
•The Centre will need to amend the Telegraph Act, 1885, as well as the related Indian Telegraphy Rules to provide on-board Wi-Fi services. At present, both domestic and international passengers are unable to use in-flight Internet services over Indian airspace. Even international airlines that offer such a facility to its passengers have to discontinue the service while the aircraft is flying over the Indian airspace.
•“In-Flight Connectivity (IFC) promises to substantially improve safety of airlines as it enables flight tracking in respect of aircraft in near real time reporting latitude, longitude, altitude, true heading and ground speed; streaming of flight data recorder of the aircraft in real-time; and facilitating real time intervention for safety and security based on flight data monitoring,” industry body Assocham had said in a letter addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year.
•A large number of countries, including Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal, permit the use of Internet on flights, it added.
•Domestic carriers, such as Jet Airways and Vistara, offer pre-loaded in-flight entertainment content to passengers on some flights. Air India also plans to give passengers access to on-board movies, games and music on laptops or smartphones by connecting to on-board Wi-Fi service. Live Internet streaming is not possible on flights under the present law.
⏳Sensex scales new high on global rally
Short covering ahead of expiry of derivative contracts also act as a catalyst
•Benchmark equity indices touched new highs on the back of a global rally after it emerged that the Federal Reserve would increase interest rates only after the U.S. economy showed strong signs of a recovery.
•The 30-share Sensex gained 448.39 points, or 1.48%, to close at 30,750.03 on Thursday. The surge was across sectors as a total of 1,862 stocks gained on the BSE, as against only 827 declines. Most sectoral indices also ended with gains.
•The broader Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed at 9,509.75, up 1.59% or 149.20. Short covering ahead of the expiry of the derivative contracts also acted as a catalyst for the rally. Among the leading Asian indices, Nikkei, Hang Seng and Kospi posted advances on Thursday. “Sentiment was upbeat from the beginning, taking cues from the Fed meeting minutes, wherein indications were mixed on rate hike in June,” said Jayant Manglik, president, Retail Distribution, Religare Securities. “It further gained momentum in the latter half, partially due to a strong surge in select index majors and short covering in derivatives space.” The top gainers included L&T, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, SBI, Wipro, Maruti Suzuki India and TCS.
•Incidentally, banking stocks have been in the limelight ever since the Centre and the Reserve Bank of India have been focussing on addressing the bad debt issue in the sector. The market is getting support from renewed buying by foreign investors as well with the current month’s flows pegged at ₹8,218 crore, after April saw tepid flows at ₹2,394 crore.
