📰 India joins search for Indonesian submarine
Deep Submergence Rescue Vessel to assist Indonesia in operations off Bali.
•The Indian Navy on Thursday dispatched its Deep Submergence Rescue Vessel (DSRV) from Visakhapatnam to support the Indonesian Navy in search and rescue efforts for its submarine KRI Nanggala that went missing on Wednesday with 53 personnel onboard.
•“Spoke to the Defence Minister of Indonesia, General Prabowo Subianto over the phone and shared my pain over the news of missing submarine Nanggala and its crew members. India is extending its full support to the ongoing Indonesian rescue efforts,” Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Twitter. “I have already directed the Indian Navy to move its DSRV to Indonesia. I have also tasked the Indian Air Force to see the feasibility of induction of the DSRV intervention system by air,” he added.
•On April 21, an alert was received by Indian Navy through International Submarine Escape and Rescue Liaison Office (ISMERLO), regarding the missing Indonesian submarine, the Navy said in a statement. The submarine was reportedly exercising in a location 25 miles north of Bali, it stated.
•The DSRV departed by sea and has to cover a distance of approximately 2,500 nautical miles, a Navy official said.
•Air Chief Marhal Hadi Tjahjanto, Commander of Indonesian armed forces had said KRI Nanggala 402 was participating in a torpedo firing exercise when it went missing. The Indonesian Defence Ministry said the submarine lost contact after being granted clearance to dive.
•Indonesian Navy launched a massive search and rescue effort for the missing submarine and also requested assistance from countries in the region which had submarine rescue capability. The 53 personnel onboard includes 49 crew members, three gunners and its commander. The German-built submarine was in service with the Indonesian Navy since 1981 and completed a two-year refit in South Korea in 2012.
•India is amongst the few countries in the world capable of undertaking Search and Rescue of a disabled submarine through a DSRV, the Navy said.
•“Indian Navy’s DSRV system can locate a submarine upto 1,000m depth utilising its state of the art Side Scan Sonar (SSS) and Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV),” it stated, adding that after the submarine is successfully located, another sub module of DSRV — the Submarine Rescue Vehicle (SRV) — links with the submarine to rescue the trapped personnel. The SRV can also be used to provide emergency supplies to the submarine.
•Under the framework of comprehensive strategic partnership between India and Indonesia, Indian and Indonesian navies have been exercising regularly and deepened cooperation in recent years.
Australian assistance
•Singapore Navy has already pressed its rescue vessel while Australia too has offered assistance.
•“RSN’s MV Swift Rescue — our submarine rescue vessel — was dispatched expeditiously yesterday afternoon, as fast as she could get ready, after our Navy Chief received a request for assistance from his Indonesian counterpart. A medical team was also added to the regular crew in the event that hyperbaric care would be needed,” said Singapore Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen on Twitter.
•The site for search operations, near Bali, is more than 1,500 km away and waters are deep, which is why MV Swift Rescue sailed off as soon as she could, Mr. Ng said in a Facebook post.
Indian DSRV
•Indian Navy deployed the DSRVs, a critical capability for submarine rescue, in December 2018 and has since deployed two DSRVs at Mumbai and Visakhapatnam on the west and east coast respectively to provide redundancy, high operational availability and early response to deal with a submarine contingency. The Indian DSRV, supplied by James Fisher Defence, U.K., is the latest in terms of technology and capabilities, one official said.
U.S. President tells world leaders that there is ‘an extraordinary engine’ of job creation in the climate response
•U.S. President Joe Biden announced that the U.S. would cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 50%-52% by 2030 relative to 2005 levels, in a clean break with the Trump administration policies on climate action.
•Mr. Biden also announced that the U.S. would double, by 2024, its annual financing commitments to developing countries, including a tripling of its adaptation finance by 2024.
•The President made the new target announcements at a ‘Leaders Summit on Climate’, which he is hosting on Thursday and Friday — a summit to which 40 heads of state and government are invited — including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Xi Jinping of China and President Vladimir Putin of Russia.
•The emissions targets — part of the Paris Agreement on climate — are non-binding and the details of how they will be achieved are not available. However, in announcing the targets, the Biden administration is hoping to encourage other countries to increase their commitments. It is also seeking to bring America back into a leadership role on climate action after Mr. Trump had withdrawn the country from the Paris Agreement.
•Mr. Biden’s financing announcements are part of a $100 billion a year commitment from developed countries to developing countries for the period 2020-25, “an investment that is going to pay significant dividends for all of us”, Mr. Biden said.
•The withdrawal of the U.S. from the Paris Agreement means it has not yet met its financing commitments either. The Obama administration had promised $3 billion to the Green Climate Fund (to help developing countries), only $1 billion has been paid.
Jobs and growth
•In selling climate action to the American public, which until recently was governed by an administration sceptical of the climate crisis, President Biden and his administration have linked climate action and clean technology to jobs and economic growth. On Thursday, Mr. Biden extended this message to other countries.
•“And meeting this moment is about more than preserving our planet. It’s also about providing a better future for all of us. That’s why, when people talk about climate, I think jobs. Within our climate response lies an extraordinary engine of job creation and economic opportunity ready to be fired up,” he said.
•“By maintaining those investments and putting these people to work, the United States sets out on the road to cut greenhouse gases in half — in half — by the end of this decade,” Mr. Biden said.
•“The signs are unmistakable. The science is undeniable,” he said.
•The first guests to speak at the summit were UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Mr. Xi, Mr. Modi, Prime Minister Boris Johnson of the U.K. and Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga of Japan.
📰 Centre cracks down on curbs to oxygen movement
The centre prohibited supply of oxygen for industrial purposes, except those exempted by the Government.
•Centre invoked the Disaster Management Act on Thursday making the district magistrates and senior superintendent of police personally liable to ensure unhindered inter-State movement of vehicles carrying medical oxygen and not restrict the supply to a particular State where the oxygen plant is located.
•The order comes hours after Delhi’s deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia alleged that the governments of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh were blocking the supply of oxygen to Delhi. Delhi procures medical oxygen from neighbouring districts in these States.
•The Union Home Secretary is the Chairman of the National Executive Committee under the DM Act, 2005. The 2005 legislation was invoked for the first time in March 2020 to curtail the COVID-19 pandemic after it came into being in wake of the Tsunami disaster.
•The order said, “No restriction shall be imposed on the movement of medical oxygen between the States and transport authorities shall be instructed to accordingly allow free inter-State movement of oxygen carrying vehicles; No restrictions shall be imposed on oxygen manufacturers and suppliers to limit the oxygen supplies only to the hospitals of the State/ UT in which they are located.”
•The order added that there shall be free movement of oxygen carrying vehicles into the cities, without any restriction of timings, while also enabling inter-city supply without any restriction and “no authority shall attach the oxygen carrying vehicles passing through the district or areas for making supplies specific to any particular district(s) or area.”
•It asked the States and Union Territories that they strictly abide by the supply plan of medical oxygen prepared by Empowered Group-II and as revised from time-to-time.
•“The District Magistrates/ Deputy Commissioners and Senior Superintendents of Police/ Superintendents of Police/ Deputy Commissioners of Police will be personally liable for implementation of the above directions,” the order said. The DM Act has a provision of imprisonment for one year if the offence of the government is proved. Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code also prescribes one-month imprisonment to such officers.
•The order added that the availability of adequate and uninterrupted supply of medical oxygen is an important prerequisite for managing moderate and severe cases of COVID 19 and with the increasing cases, the medical oxygen supply will need to keep pace with the requirements of the States and UTs.
•“...Medical oxygen is an essential public health commodity and any impediment in the supplies of medical oxygen in the country may critically impact the management of patients suffering from COVID-19 disease in other parts of the country...And whereas, Empowered Group-II (EG-I), is mandated for coordinating medical logistics, including medical oxygen. EG-II has reviewed the supply of oxygen for industrial use in order to divert the same to meet the rising demand for medical oxygen in the country and save precious lives,” it said.
•It said the EG-II has recommended the prohibition of the supply of oxygen for industrial purposes by manufacturers and suppliers from April 22 till further orders, with the exception of nine specified industries.
•“EG-II in consultation with States/UTs and oxygen manufactures etc., prepares supply plan, which is required to be followed by all States/UTs and all the agencies concerned,” it said,
•The oxygen supply plan was circulated by Health Ministry to all the States on April 21.
📰 Judges pro tem: On appointment of ad hoc judges in High Courts
Roping in retired HC judges to clear backlog should not be at cost of regular appointments
•The Supreme Court’s decision to invoke a “dormant provision” in the Constitution to clear the way for appointment of retired judges as ad hoc judges to clear the mounting arrears in the various High Courts is an indictment of the extraordinary delay in filling up judicial vacancies. Whether the fault lies with the Collegium system or the Centre’s tardiness, there is little doubt that the unacceptable delay in the appointment process in recent times has caused huge vacancies in the High Courts. Therefore, it is definitely not unwelcome that the Court has chosen to activate Article 224A of the Constitution, which provides for appointment of ad hoc judges in the High Courts based on their consent. A Bench headed by CJI S.A. Bobde has made it clear that “the challenge of mounting arrears and existing vacancies requires recourse to Article 224A”. The numbers both in respect of pendency of cases and vacancies in the High Courts are quite concerning — a backlog of over 57 lakh cases, and a vacancy level of 40%. Five High Courts account for 54% of these cases. Interestingly, official data suggest that there need not be a correlation between the number of vacancies and the large backlog. The Madras High Court has 5.8 lakh cases against a relatively low level of vacancy at 7%. As many as 44% of the posts in the Calcutta High Court are vacant, but the cases in arrears stand at 2.7 lakh.
•As the provision has been utilised only sparingly in the past, and for the limited purpose of disposing of particular kinds of cases, the endeavour to appoint ad hoc judges will have to come with some guidelines. The Court has made a beginning by directing that the trigger point for such an appointment will be when the vacancies go beyond 20% of the sanctioned strength, or when more than 10% of the backlog of pending cases are over five years old; when cases in a particular category are pending for over five years, or when the rate of disposal is slower than the rate of institution of fresh cases. The Bench has ruled that the current Memorandum of Procedure be also followed for appointing ad hoc judges, a process initiated by the Chief Justice of a High Court, with a suggested tenure of two to three years. The Court has clarified that this is a “transitory methodology” and does not constrain the regular appointment process. The government, which did not oppose the proposal, but wanted the vacancies to be filled up first, would do well to expedite the regular appointment process from its end, and give up its propensity to hold back some recommendations selectively. As for the judiciary, it should ensure that only retired judges with experience and expertise are offered the temporary positions, and there is no hint of favouritism.
📰 Green and raw: On ‘tribunalisation’ of justice
Centre should clarify how far experience can be treated as expertise for tribunal posts
•The establishment of tribunals as adjudicatory bodies in specific fields is based on the idea that specialisation and expertise are required to decide complex cases of a technical nature. The ‘tribunalisation’ of justice is driven by the recognition that it would be cost-effective, accessible and give scope for utilising expertise in the respective fields. Central to this scheme is the principle that the ‘experts’ appointed to these tribunals should bring in special knowledge and experience. These criteria came under focus recently when the appointment of former IAS officer, Girija Vaidyanathan, as Expert Member in the Southern Bench of the NGT, was challenged in the Madras High Court. Even though the court initially granted an interim stay on her appointment, it ruled that she was not ineligible, going by the criteria in the NGT Act. She was found to have fulfilled the eligibility requirements by virtue of her administrative experience of nearly five years in “dealing with environmental matters”. The Act spells out two kinds of criteria — one based on qualifications and practical experience, and another on administrative experience in the field — and a candidate has to fulfil only one of them. For the first, a masters’ or a doctorate in science, engineering or technology, with 15 years’ experience in the relevant field, including five in environment and forests in a national level institution, is needed. The fields include pollution control, hazardous substance management and forest conservation.
•On the other hand, the administrative experience criterion is shorn of detail, and merely stipulates 15 years’ experience, of which five should have been in “dealing with environmental matters” in either the Centre or the State or any reputed institution. Even though Ms. Vaidyanathan’s stint as Secretary, Environment and Forests, Tamil Nadu, and Chairperson of the State Pollution Control Board together amounted to only 28 months, the court accepted the contention that her tenure as Health Secretary should also be considered. The court also observed wryly that it is an entirely different matter whether administrative experience in the second criterion should be regarded as equivalent to “the real expertise” indicated in the clause on qualifications. The court rightly declined to interfere with the appointment, as the equivalence found in the rules falls under the domain of Parliament. At a time when the need, relevance and composition of tribunals are under judicial scrutiny, and the Centre itself has abolished some of them, it would be salutary if the government spelt out with clarity, as the court has suggested, the extent to which a bureaucrat’s involvement in environmental matters could be regarded as equivalent to expertise. It should also show greater urgency in implementing earlier Supreme Court directions to constitute a National Tribunals Commission to supervise the appointment and functioning of tribunals.
📰 Making education accessible
There are two possible solutions involving AIR and DD, and Internet service providers
•Access and affordability continue to plague teachers and students alike one year after the COVID-19 outbreak. Teachers, administrators and policymakers are all working, but the results are not encouraging. People at both ends of the classroom seem to be going through a mere exercise with precious little to show for their efforts. How much of learning is happening is anyone’s guess. Exams have lost their credibility. The cost to health with continuous exposure to screens and the dent on financial resources are significant for both teachers and students. Online learning seems to be a case of working mindlessly, rather than working smart.
•With physical classes out of the reckoning, access to education is now almost exclusively online. Internet penetration in India is 50% and that reveals one reason for the less-than-efficient achievement in the online education sector. Every single teacher-educator and student, even in the metros, has experienced poor connectivity. In the rural areas online access remains an aspiration. What happens to that child in the village government school, eager to learn but with no proper access to the Internet? Even if there is a selfless teacher who is willing to use his/her mobile hotspot, how much can he/she spend? The government has a solution right in its backyard.
Two influential agencies
•The Government of India owns the airwaves. Prasar Bharati is India’s broadcasting corporation handling both radio and television in India. All India Radio (AIR) is blessed with 470 broadcasting centres which cover 92% of the country’s geographical area and 99.19% of our population. Doordarshan (DD) handles television, online and mobile broadcasting across our country and the world with 34 satellite channels, 17 well-equipped studios in State capitals and 49 studio centres in other cities. With such resources, AIR and DD can be used to broadcast lessons, given that education is one of the three functions of the two agencies under the Prasar Bharati Act. These two agencies can be reinvented to cater to the needs of the education sector.
•Educational broadcasts for classes 10, 11 and 12, to begin with, can be done over AIR and DD in the ratio 4:1 (four hours of radio and one hour of TV). Those courses which need demonstration and where seen/observed physical activity is important can be broadcast on TV. This calls for some training and some effort, but it can be done.
•There are two benefits from this: one, we will be able to reduce for our teachers and students the strain of having to stare at their screens endlessly; and two, with AIR and DD being free, the heavy drain on financial resources will be drastically reduced.
•Policymakers should make it a point to involve teachers in their planning. Training can be provided by a set of master trainers over a month for teachers who will turn into scriptwriters and programmers. These teachers can also be taught to create appropriate tools for evaluation over radio and TV. The Central and State educational boards should be roped in, to support, monitor and provide feedback to improve the system.
•If regular radio is not enough, we also have digital radio spawning FM stations leased out to private players for a fee and several FM stations that are run by NGOs, universities and such agencies. My suggestion is this: let the AIR devote four hours (per class) to educational broadcasting and let DD undertake educational broadcasting for an hour (per class). With these two public broadcasting services combined in the ratio of 4:1 (per each class), we will be able to serve the entire student population of our country.
Free hours of Internet
•Another suggestion that the government could consider is to ask Internet Service Providers to provide many hours of free Internet usage to teachers and students. This will not be easy but the government should call the shots and take a decision that is in the interest of the people.
