📰 ‘Nobody has an exclusionary right of temple entry’
•“In a public place of worship, a woman can enter, where a man can go. What applies to a man, applies to a woman,” Chief Justice Misra observed on Wednesday in the Sabarimala temple entry case.
•He was leading a Constitution Bench hearing the question whether the fundamental right of women to pray at the place of their choice can be discriminated against solely based “on a biological factor (menstruation) exclusive to the female gender.”
•The Kerala government pointed out to the Bench that the State supported entry of women into the Sabarimala temple. In 2016, the State had opposed it in the Supreme Court.
•Senior advocate Indira Jaising, for the petitioners, argued that “religion is a relationship between you and your creator.”
•“There is nothing in health, morality or public order that prevents a woman from entering and offering worship in a temple opened for the public… The prohibition in Sabarimala is discrimination not just on gender but sex. Menstruating women are viewed as polluted,” Ms. Jaising submitted.
•Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said women and their physiological phenomena are creations of God. If not God, of nature.
•“A woman is a creation of God, if you don’t believe in God, then of nature. Why should this (menstruation) be a reason for exclusion for employment or worship or anything,” he said.
•He quoted Article 25 (1) which mandates freedom of conscience and right to practise religion. “All persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practise and propagate religion…”
•“This means your right as a woman to pray is not even dependent on a legislation. It is your constitutional right. Nobody has an exclusionary right of entry to a temple,” Justice Chandrachud observed.
•Chief Justice Misra pointed out that there were many temples which allowed visitors only up to a certain point, but there are none which ban entry to the temple in total.
•Justice Rohinton Nariman, also on the Bench, observed that the Constitution upheld the ideals of liberty of thought, expression, belief and faith, be it for man or woman.
•Ms. Jaising submitted that Rule 3 (b) of the Kerala Hindu Places of Public Worship (Authorisation of Entry) Rules, 1965 allows a “religious denomination” to ban entry of women between the age of 10 to 50. She said the discrimination was a violation of the rights to equality and gender justice.
📰 LS clears detention policy
•A Bill to amend the Right to Education (RTE) Act to abolish the ‘no detention policy’ in schools was passed in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
•Replying to the debate in the Lok Sabha on The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (second amendment) Bill, 2017, Union Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar said that it would be at the discretion of the States whether to continue with no detention or not.
‘States will decide’
•The States, he said, would decide at what level and who would conduct the examination, the Minister said. “It is a broken education system. We have to rebuild it,” he added.
•Under the current provisions of the RTE Act, no student can be detained till class 8 and all students are promoted to the next grade.
•The Minister said that in some of the States such as Sikkim, Kerala and Telangana, the students, who were studying in private schools, had come back to government schools.
•“Teacher training, quality and accountability are most important,” Mr. Javadekar said.
📰 Getting the language count right
Recent Census data appear to inadequately reflect India’s linguistic composition, and are inconsistent with global ideas
•The story, “Death of Jagmohan, the Elephant”, by Bengali writer Mahasweta Devi, is about the death of an elephant. For a reader, the story may appear to be about a rather “big death”, but what the writer wanted to say was that there are also many “small deaths”. They include the deaths of Dalits and tribals who are trapped by hunger and humiliation. Anonymity surrounds them and our lack of compassion gives them finality.
•The death of a tree or a forest sacrificed at the altar of development is mourned but not spoken about. Similarly, the death of a language is literally shrouded in silence. Because of its nature, a language is not visible and fails to move anyone except its very last speaker who nurtures an unrequited hope of a response. When a language disappears it goes forever, taking with it knowledge gathered over centuries. With it goes a unique world view. This too is a form of violence. Large parts of culture get exterminated through slight shifts in policy instruments than through armed conflicts. Just as nature’s creations do not require a tsunami to destroy them, the destruction of culture can be caused by something as small as a bureaucrat’s benign decision. Even a well-intentioned language census can do much damage.
•Over the last many decades, successive governments have carried out a decadal census. The 1931 Census was a landmark as it held up a mirror to the country about the composition of caste and community. War disrupted the exercise in 1941, while it was a rather busy year for the new Indian republic at the time of the 1951 Census It was during the 1961 census that languages in the country were enumerated in full. India learnt that a a total of 1,652 mother tongues were being spoken. Using ill-founded logic, this figure was pegged at only 109, in the 1971 Census. The logic was that a language deserving respectability should not have less than 10,000 speakers. This had no scientific basis nor was it a fair decision but it has stuck and the practice continues to be followed.
Hits and misses
•The language enumeration takes place in the first year of every decade. The findings are made public about seven years later as the processing of language data is far more time consuming than handling economic or scientific data. Early this month, the Census of India made public the language data based on the 2011 Census, which took into account 120 crore speakers of a very large number of languages. The Language division of the Census office deserves praise but the data presented leaves behind a trail of questions.
•During the census, citizens submitted 19,569 names of mother tongues — technically called “raw returns”. Based on previous linguistic and sociological information, the authorities decided that of these, 18,200 did not match “logically” with known information. A total of 1,369 names — technically called “labels” — were picked as “being names of languages”. The “raw returns” left out represent nearly 60 lakh citizens. And because of the classification regime, their linguistic citizenship has been dropped.
•In addition to the 1,369 “mother tongue” names shortlisted, there were 1,474 other mother tongue names. These were placed under the generic label “Others”. As far as the Census is concerned, these linguistic “Others” are not seen to be of any concern. But the fact is that they have languages of their own. The classification system has not been able to identify what or which languages these are and so they have been silenced by having an innocuous label slapped on them.
•The 1,369 have been grouped further under a total of 121 “group labels”, which have been presented as “Languages”. Of these, 22 are languages included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, called “Scheduled Languages”. The remainder, 99, are “Non-scheduled Languages”. An analysis shows that most of the groupings are forced. For instance, under the heading “Hindi”, there are nearly 50 other languages. Bhojpuri (spoken by more than 5 crore people, and with its own cinema, theatre, literature, vocabulary and style) comes under “Hindi”. Under Hindi too is the nearly 3 crore population from Rajasthan with its own independent languages. The Powari/Pawri of tribals in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh too has been added. Even the Kumauni of Uttarakhand has been yoked to Hindi. While the report shows 52,83,47,193 individuals speaking Hindi as their mother tongue, this is not so. There is a similar and inflated figure for Sanskrit by counting the returns against the question about a person’s “second language”.
English use
•As against this, the use of English is not seen through the perspective of a second language. Counting for this is restricted to the “mother tongue” category — in effect bringing down the figure substantially. Given the widespread use of English in education, law, administration, media and health care, a significant number of Indians use English as a utility language. To some extent it is the language of integration in our multilingual country. Therefore, isn’t the Census required to capture this reality? It can, given the data on the language of second preference, but it does not for reasons that need no spelling out. So the Census informs us that a total of 2,59,678 Indians speak English as their “mother tongue” — numerically accurate and semantically disastrous.
•The language Census may not attract as much attention as news about fuel prices. But in the community of nations, the Indian census is bound to be discussed. A body such as UNESCO will look at it with interest. From the 1940s, when its General Council decided to establish a Translation Bureau to years later, in 2008, when its Executive Board debated “Multilingualism in the Context of Education for All”, UNESCO has progressively developed its vision and deepened its understanding of global linguistic diversity.
Focus points
•From time to time, UNESCO tries to highlight the key role that language plays in widening access to education, protecting livelihoods and preserving culture and knowledge traditions. In 1999/2000, it proclaimed and observed February 21 as International Mother Language Day, while in 2001 the ‘Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity’ accepted the principle of “Safeguarding the linguistic heritage of humanity and giving support to expression, creation and dissemination in the greatest possible number of languages.” In pursuit of these, UNESCO has launched a linguistic diversity network and supported research. It has also brought out an Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger, which highlights the central place of language in the world’s heritage. Is our language census consistent with these ideas and principles?
•One expects that the Census in India should adequately reflect the linguistic composition of the country. It is not good practice when data helps neither educators nor policy makers or the speakers of languages themselves. The Census, a massive exercise that consumes so much time and energy, needs to see how it can help in a greater inclusion of the marginal communities, how our intangible heritage can be preserved, and how India’s linguistic diversity can become an integral part of our national pride.
📰 Rocky summit: when Trump met Putin
Donald Trump did enough, and more, to mess up his meeting with Vladimir Putin
•A summit between the leaders of the world’s strongest nuclear powers, which fought the Cold War for decades, is an opportunity to discuss areas of shared interest, find ways to dial down mutual tensions and work together to address global issues. But well before Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin sat down for their first formal summit meeting, in Helsinki, there were concerns that it would be overshadowed by allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The uproar in Washington over Mr. Trump’s remarks on the Russian meddling scandal — with even accusations of treason — and his subsequent U-turn suggest that such concerns were valid. Mr. Trump could have certainly managed the summit better by addressing genuine concerns in the U.S. over allegations of Russia’s election meddling. Days earlier, the U.S. Justice Department indicted 12 Russian intelligence officials for hacking and leaking emails of top Democrats. It therefore seemed surreal when the President accepted the Russian version over that of his own intelligence agencies and the Justice Department. Away from the controversy, the closed-door meeting between the leaders can be evaluated only on the progress made on a number of contentious issues before both.
•The new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) is set to expire in 2021 and Russia has shown interest in extending it. For a consensus, high-level talks between the U.S. and Russia are needed. From the crisis in Ukraine to the civil war in Syria, Russia-U.S. cooperation is vital to finding lasting solutions. The Iran nuclear deal, for which Mr. Putin and Barack Obama worked together despite differences, is in a shambles. Most of these issues, including the threat posed by nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles, were discussed at the summit. But it’s not clear whether the talks will lead to any significant change in policies. Since the Ukraine crisis, the West has tried different methods, including sanctions and pressure tactics, to isolate Russia and change its behaviour. But those methods have proved largely unsuccessful as Russia is now a far more ambitious foreign policy power with an enhanced presence in Eastern Europe and West Asia — even if its sanctions-hit economy is struggling. Instead of continuing a policy that has failed and ratcheted up global tensions, the Western alliance should junk its Cold War mentality and engage with Russia; Russia, in turn, will have to shed its rogue attitude and be more open and stable in its dealings. The stakes are high and the bitterness of the past should not hinder U.S.-Russia relations. That should have been the message from Helsinki.
📰 Restoring faith in EVMs
Bringing a few procedural changes in the voting and counting process will help
•On July 17, several Opposition parties decided to discuss the issue of malfunctioning electronic voting machines (EVMs) in the current Monsoon Session of Parliament and place a joint demand to the Election Commission (EC) to use ballot papers in the upcoming Assembly elections and the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Incidentally, in a recent interview, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) O.P. Rawat ruled out the option of reverting to ballot papers. EVMs are being made a “scapegoat” because they “cannot speak”, he said. While writing off the concerns about EVMs in such a sweeping manner is contentious, Mr. Rawat is partially right. One of the main reasons the functioning of EVMs is being questioned is, ironically, the EC itself.
Questioning the EC’s propriety
•The Narendra Modi government has been accused of undermining various constitutional institutions including the EC. In contrast to the time when T.N. Seshan as CEC firmly established the EC as an independent authority by rigorously bringing in revolutionary reforms, the body has lost some sheen in the last few years. Former Gujarat Chief Secretary Achal Kumar Jyoti was appointed the CEC in July 2017, months before the crucial Gujarat elections. In a peculiar decision, the EC chose not to announce dates for the Gujarat elections but announced dates for the Himachal Pradesh elections which were to be held at the same time. This conveniently allowed the Prime Minister to announce some new sops and schemes for Gujarat which he would not have been able to do if the dates had been announced. The inept management of elections by the ECI, as seen in the December 2017 R.K. Nagar by-election in Chennai in which there was distribution of cash and in the seizure of fake electoral ID cards in the R.R. Nagar constituency in Bengaluru, has brought into question the Commission’s propriety. It has also cast a shadow on the integrity of EVMs.
•The intermittent reports of malfunctioning EVMs have intensified the gloom. For instance, data obtained under the RTI revealed that votes cast for an Independent candidate went to the BJP candidate in the February 2017 polls to the Buldhana zilla parishad in Maharashtra.
•In a democracy, there is perhaps nothing more important than the credibility of the electoral process. Many Opposition parties have asked for a return to the ballot paper. As one of the earliest proponents of the EVM and as someone who has worked as a counting agent in the chaotic ballot paper era, I am stunned at the misplaced sense of confidence that political parties are showing in ballot papers.
•There are several problems that political parties and counting agents face while dealing with ballot papers. When the election is seen to be swinging in favour of one party, the agents of the perceived winning party create havoc. EVMs have brought a certain structure that did not exist during the ballot paper days when a large number of invalid votes would often be higher than the margin of victory. Interestingly, even in the ballot paper era, there were often bizarre theories. One of them was the ‘Russian ink’ theory when Indira Gandhi was Prime Minister. Opposition parties then ridiculously alleged that “special ink” was being imported by the government to stamp ballot papers that would favour the Congress.
Some suggestions
•Rather than throwing the baby out with the bathwater, a couple of procedural changes will bring in credibility to the voting process. The EC has already operationalised the voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) with an attached printer that will provide a paper trail for those who have cast their votes. At present, after casting the vote in EVMs, the printed paper is directly dropped in the box (the voter only has seven seconds to see this). Instead, the paper should be given to the voter who should then drop it in the ballot box. This was the procedure before the introduction of EVMs. In the current system, to ask for a counting of ballots from the VVPAT, one has to move the courts. Instead, the ECI should introduce a new procedure wherein the manual counting of the printed ballots has to be done before announcing the result if the difference between the winner and the loser is less than, say, 10%, and the loser demands a recount. In a democracy, elections should not only be fair but should be seen to be fair. By shoring up its image and bringing in some more transparent reforms, the EC can restore faith in elections.
📰 The Wuhan breakthrough
The ‘two plus one’ formula, synergised by India and China, can become the template for the rise of South Asia
•Nepal’s Marxist leaders have come of age. In dealing with a rising India and China, Nepal, led by Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli, has hit the sweet spot: antagonise neither New Delhi nor Beijing, and seek benefits from both. A mature analysis of India’s and China’s interests, rather than resentment, especially towards India on account of the 2015 economic blockade, is guiding policymakers in Kathmandu.
•The Nepalese have quickly grasped that playing the India versus China card to further their cause is history. The Wuhan summit in April between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping has been a game changer. Lines of “strategic communications” have opened up between Indian and Chinese establishments. The arterial flow of information exchange has meant that India and China can be joint custodians rather than rivals in managing their neighbourhood of shared interests.
•If there were any doubts about the profound post-April shift in China-India ties, the Nepalese were possibly the first to know. Chinese leaders proposed during their talks with Mr. Oli, who had visited the Middle Kingdom in late June, a ‘two plus one’ dialogue mechanism. China and India will comprise the ‘two’, while the ‘plus one’ would be Nepal. The new arrangement would prop up an integrated approach towards trilateral development. While the ‘two’ would be the constants, the ‘plus one’ would be the variable. Instead of being a Nepal-specific formulation, Beijing and New Delhi could engage with any third country in the region, and arguably even beyond, wherever unruly competition between the two is to be avoided.
•Nepali leaders have taken President Xi’s message of a fledgling post-Wuhan special relationship with India in their stride. Nepal “understands the spirit of Wuhan,” Shakti Bahadur Basnet, a Minister in Mr. Oli’s cabinet, told The Hinduduring a recent visit to Beijing. Others who accompanied Mr. Basnet, in off-the-record conversations, attributed the pronounced shift in Chinese policy to the “Trump factor” and alluded to the U.S.’s stepped-up campaign, especially on the technological front, to undermine China’s “rise”.
•The ball is now in India’s court to respond to China’s two-plus one formulation. Nepal offers the perfect opening to test whether Beijing and New Delhi can dock their collective rise and uplift their neighbours based on their genuine consent. By grasping the two plus one opening, India will have the opportunity to join and shape the conversation of co-developing Nepal in a trust-building partnership with China. If the Nepal pilot project works, the ‘two plus one’ formula can become the template for the peaceful rise of South Asia, synergised by India and China as the twin engines of regional growth.
📰 Explaining the Fugitive Economic Offenders Ordinance
Who is a fugitive economic offender?
•Under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Ordinance, promulgated by the President in April, a fugitive economic offender is any individual against whom a warrant for arrest in relation to a scheduled offence has been issued by any court in India and who has either left India to avoid criminal prosecution, or who, being abroad, refuses to return to India to face criminal prosecution.
•The list of offences that can qualify an individual to be designated an economic offender, enumerated in the schedule to the Ordinance, includes offences under several Acts such as the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881; the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934; the Central Excise Act, 1944; the Customs Act, 1962; the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988; the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002; and the Indian Penal Code.
What is the latest development with Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi?
•A special Prevention of Money Laundering Act court on June 30 took cognisance of an application by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under the Ordinance and issued summons to Vijay Mallya and others before it on August 27, 2018. The ED on July 11 also moved a special court in Mumbai seeking ‘fugitive economic offender’ status for Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi.
What happens if a person is designated a fugitive economic offender?
•If the special court is satisfied that an individual is a fugitive economic offender, it can direct the Central government to confiscate the proceeds of the crime in India or abroad, whether or not such property is owned by the fugitive economic offender, and any other property or benami property in India or abroad that is owned by the fugitive economic offender. While the confiscation of property within India should not be a problem for the Centre, confiscating properties abroad will require the cooperation of the respective country. The fugitive economic offender will also be disqualified from accessing the Indian judicial system for any civil cases.
On whom does the burden of proof lie?
•In keeping with the principle of ‘innocent until proven guilty’, the burden of proof for establishing that an individual is a fugitive economic offender or that certain property is part of the proceeds of a crime is on the Director appointed to file an application seeking fugitive economic offender status.
📰 Mattis, Pompeo to travel to India in September for 2+2
Talks postponed as Pompeo travelled to North Korea
•The first 2+2 dialogue between Defence and Foreign Ministers of India and the U.S. will take place in September first week in New Delhi. An official announcement on this will be likely in the next few days, The Hindu has learnt.
•The dialogue was scheduled for July 6 in Washington, but was postponed due to changes in Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s schedule. Mr. Pompeo was in Pyongyang for denuclearisation talks with the North Korean regime on July 6. Defense Secretary James Mattis had offered to host Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on the same day, but India did not warm up to the idea of a truncated meeting.
Unexpected delay
•Mr. Pompeo and Mr. Mattis will now travel to New Delhi in the first week of September. Meanwhile, both countries are trying to turn the extra time provided by the unexpected postponement of the dialogue into advantage. Negotiations are under way on the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA). Two U.S delegations are in India this week — one on Iran sanctions and the other on U.S.-India Defense Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI).
•A communications agreement is key to the forward movement of the pending proposal for India to buy armed drones from American company General Atomics. India has reservations about the standard text of the COMCASA agreement that the U.S enter into with allies. While the U.S. would prefer the standard agreement, it is open to an India-specific agreement as well. Both sides have exchanged drafts of the agreement, and negotiators are hopeful of its conclusion in time for the dialogue.
Private sector concerns
•Meanwhile, private sector defence companies are concerned that they might not be getting an opportunity to meet Ellen Lord, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment who arrived in India on Wednesday.
•Ms. Lord’s visit is to boost DTTI and similar visits in the past usually included a round table with private defence companies. “The private sector is expected to a play a key role in DTTI and their participation in the dialogue would be helpful,” said Benjamin Schwartz, Head of the U.S.-India Business Council’s Defense and Aerospace programme.
📰 ISRO ropes in 3 partners
They will help assemble 27 spacecraft in three years
•The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has roped in three partners to help it assemble 27 satellites at a quick pace over the next three years.
Three-year contracts
•On Wednesday in Bengaluru, its nodal satellites division URSC (U.R. Rao Satellite Centre) signed separate three-year contracts with Alpha Design Technologies P Ltd and its six consortium members; with defence public enterprise Bharat Electronics Ltd; and with Tata Advanced Systems Ltd, Hyderabad.
27 spacecraft by 2021
•Each partner will work with the URSC to produce three small to medium satellites each year, or a total of 27 spacecraft by July 2021, it is learnt. About 50 members from each partner will separately work with URSC engineers to complete the project.
•The Alpha-plus consortium includes small and medium-sized companies such as Newtech, Aidin, Aniara Communications, DCX, Vinyas and Exseed Space, according to Alpha CMD Col. H.S.Shankar. All but the last member were already involved in building two 1,400-kg navigation satellites IRNSS-1H and 1I for ISRO last year. A URSC official signed the agreements with the three entities in the presence of URSC Director M. Annadurai.
📰 The tough road to academic excellence
Though not unusual in the Indian context, ‘greenfield’ experiments in higher education face significant challenges
•The winners of the “excellence contest” of the Institutions of Eminence(IoE) have been announced by the Ministry of Human Resource Development. While 10 institutions were supposed to have been chosen, apparently only six were affordable — a telling reality, especially since only three will receive any government funds. And none of the winners is actually a public university — a multidisciplinary institution at the heart of any academic system. The three public institutions chosen (the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and two Indian Institutes of Technology, at Mumbai and Delhi) are all technologically-oriented institutions. The three in the private sector are the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) at Pilani, Rajasthan, the Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Karnataka, and the “greenfield” Jio Institute, at Karjhat in Maharashtra — Mukesh Ambani’s as yet unspecified “world-class” university.
•While the public institutions will receive ₹1,000 crore ($150 million) over five years, the private ones get none at all but will be provided significant freedom from government regulations and institutional autonomy. While ₹1,000 crore is “serious money”, it is by no means transformative. The increased funding will help the institutions with innovations or perhaps the ability to raise academic salaries to better compete internationally but will not permit fundamental changes. If the IoE institutions focus mainly on making the changes that will help them improve in the global rankings, they will be missing a huge opportunity for key reforms — and they are unlikely to achieve the result of a high ranking anyway.
The greenfield context
•“Greenfield” experiments are always risky but in fact almost all of India’s top academic institutions are the result of such initiatives. The first few Indian Institutes of Technology were established in the 1950s, with the help of foreign partners, in order to quickly build top schools without having to deal with the entrenched bureaucracy of the traditional universities. Both BITS Pilani (1964) and Manipal (1953), private start-ups, were greenfield efforts at the time.
•So, the Jio initiative is not unusual in the Indian context. But it faces significant challenges which includes clarity on the basic organising principle. How does it plan to differentiate itself from other universities in India and abroad, and at the same time match up to the best academic practices elsewhere? While the Reliance empire is the largest private business in India, the cost of creating a competitive world-class university is daunting especially when starting from scratch. For example, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) Saudi Arabia, established in 2009, spent $1.5 billion on its facilities and has an endowment of $10 billion for a current enrolment of 900 master’s and doctoral students.
World-class concept
•While each world class university is unique there are three essential ingredients: talent, resources, and favourable governance. These will of course be necessary for all the IoEs. But let us focus on the specific needs of Jio Institute since, in our view, it faces the greatest challenges. We have mentioned resources already (a daunting challenge), especially since no public funds will be made available to Jio or the other private institutions. Let us focus on talent (faculty and students) and governance.
•Faculty are at the heart of any university, affecting every aspect of realising and implementing the university mission. In the case of rankings ambition, research output is a key metric. So, attracting top research-oriented academic talent will not only require financial resources to pay faculty at global compensation rates but also providing an attractive quality of life for their families on and off campus. Would Karjat be able to provide an ecosystem of soft and hard infrastructure critical for attracting the best international talent?
Factor of student choice
•Student demand for quality education in India remains strong, and the Reliance brands and an innovative curriculum would make it relatively easy to attract top students. However, the real challenge would be in attracting international students. International student decision-making process is complex, with many global choices available to the best students. For example, an “institute” does not command as strong a recognition among international students and faculty as a “university.” Can the Reliance, Ambani or Jio brand impress the global market and influence student choice towards India and the institute?
•A positive element of the IoE programme is the high degree of autonomy and freedom from government policy and regulatory constraints. However, Jio (and the others chosen for IoE) need to have creative ideas for the organisation and governance of the institution. For example, to what degree would the decision-making process be collaborative with faculty involvement as compared to a top-down mandate? Traditional corporate management styles do not align with the governance expectations of a creative university.
•Building world-class universities is a resource-intensive and highly creative endeavour which will be a test of patience and persistence. Indian higher education is in dire need of exemplars of excellence. We await the specific ideas and programmes necessary to realise these ambitions from Jio, and the others.
📰 A fishy matter: on the formaldehyde contamination of fish
Concerns over formaldehyde contamination of fish need to be addressed — scientifically
•Reports of traces of the chemical formaldehyde in fish in several States highlight both the uncertainties of science, and the importance of clear risk-communication. In June, the Kerala government found formaldehyde-laced fish being transported into the State. Soon after, The Hindu carried out a joint investigation with the Tamil Nadu Dr. J. Jayalalithaa Fisheries University to look for formaldehyde in Chennai. The study revealed around 5-20 ppm of the chemical in freshwater and marine fish in two of the city’s markets. Next, Goa reported similar findings. But its Food and Drugs Administration later said the levels in Goan samples were on a par with “naturally occurring” formaldehyde in marine fish. This triggered suspicions among residents, who accused the government of playing down the health risk. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India has banned formaldehyde in fresh fish, while the International Agency for Research on Cancer labelled the chemical a carcinogen in 2004. The evidence the IARC relied on mainly consists of studies on workers in industries such as printing, textiles and embalming. Such workers inhale formaldehyde fumes, and the studies show high rates of nasopharyngeal and other cancers among them. But there is little evidence that formaldehyde causes cancer when ingested orally. A 1990 study by U.S. researchers estimated that humans consume 11 mg of the chemical through dietary sources every day.
•So, why is formaldehyde in fish a problem? For one thing, fresh fish should not have preservatives, and the presence of formaldehyde points to unscrupulous vendors trying to pass off stale catch as recent. Two, the lack of evidence linking ingested formaldehyde with cancer doesn’t necessarily make the chemical safe. At high doses, it causes gastric irritation. Plus, the lack of data could merely mean that not enough people are consuming formaldehyde regularly enough for its carcinogenic effects to show — the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. There is a third complication. When certain marine fish are improperly frozen during transit, formaldehyde forms in them naturally. But this formaldehyde binds to the tissue, unlike added formaldehyde, which remains free. And so, measuring free formaldehyde versus bound formaldehyde can be one way of distinguishing a contaminant from a naturally occurring chemical. In this context, the Goan government must clarify its claim. Did the Goan FDA measure free formaldehyde or bound formaldehyde? If it measured the sum of both, on what basis did it conclude that the chemical came from natural sources? Some formaldehyde consumption may be unavoidable for fish- lovers, and it may not be a health risk either. But the line between safe and unsafe consumption should be drawn by experts, in a transparent manner. The Goan claim doesn’t meet this criterion. This is why, instead of allaying the fears of consumers, it is stoking them.
📰 Cabinet relaxes NELP, pre-NELP pact rules
Eases levy terms, NE blocks get time
•The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the policy framework to streamline production sharing contracts signed in the pre-New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) and NELP periods.
•Key decisions under the framework include increasing the exploration period granted for blocks in the northeast, and easing the sharing of royalties with the developers of the blocks.
•“Based on recommendations in ‘Hydrocarbon Vision 2030 for North East’, government has extended timelines for exploration and appraisal period in operational blocks of north eastern region of India considering geographical, environmental and logistical challenges,” the government said in a release.
‘Pricing freedom’
•“The exploration period has been increased by two years and appraisal period by one year.” The Centre has also allowed marketing, including pricing freedom for natural gas to be produced from discoveries which are yet to commence production as on July 1, 2018.
•“The government has created an enabling framework for sharing of statutory levies including royalty and cess in proportion to the participating interest of the contractor in Pre-NELP Exploration Blocks, and the same has been made cost recoverable with prospective effect.”
