📰 Sansad TV launched; Modi calls it new voice of Parliament
Combined channel will bring in synergy and economies of scale, says Venkaiah Naidu
•Sansad TV, a news channel combining the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha TV, was launched on Wednesday at a function presided over by Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Speaker Om Birla.
•Calling the Sansad TV new voice of Parliament, the Prime Minister said this adds another important chapter to the parliamentary system. He said Parliament is not only about politics but it is about policy too. Actually, it is more about policy, he said.
•Describing India as the mother of democracy, Mr. Modi also said democracy is not only a constitutional structure for the people of India, but spirit as well.
•Mr. Naidu stressed on meaningful debates echoing people’s aspirations in Parliament and legislatures. Loud disruptive noise should not drown the voice of citizens, he said. He said debates should amplify concerns, clarify doubts and deepen shared understanding. “Debates in the legislatures throw up solutions to problems but disruptions only dissipate collective energies and delay the task of building a ‘new India’,” Mr. Naidu said.
•He said a single channel for Parliament has become a reality after careful consideration of the recommendations of a committee set up in November 2019.
•Much thought and preparation have gone into the merger of the Lok Sabha Television (LSTV) and the Rajya Sabha Television (RSTV) channels, Mr. Naidu said.
•The LSTV, which was the brainchild of former Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, has been functioning for 15 years and the RSTV for 10 years providing live coverage of the proceedings.
•The new combined channel is expected to bring in synergy and economies of scale, he said.
•It is significant that Sansad TV’s launch coincided with the International Day of Democracy, he noted.
•When Parliament is in session, both channels will continue to operate as before bringing in the live telecast. But when it is in recess, only Sansad TV will be telecast.
•Sansad TV CEO Ravi Capoor said at least 60 new programmes hosted by the likes of NITI Ayog CEO Amitabh Kant, economists Bibek Debroy, Amitav Sanyal, endocrinologist Dr Ambrish Mithal and former Rajya Sabha MP Karan Singh among others have been planned.
Trend mainly due to violations of COVID-19 norms
•There was a 28% increase in the registration of cases in 2020 compared to 2019, primarily owing to the violations of COVID-19 norms across the country. An almost 21-fold jump was recorded in cases of disobedience to the order duly promulgated by public servant and over four times in cases involving violations of other State local laws, according to a National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report.
•Crimes against Scheduled Castes, with a total of 50,291 cases, showed an increase of 9.4%. Simple hurt with 32.9% (16,543) formed the largest chunk, followed by cases under SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act with 8.5% (4,273) and cases under criminal intimidation with 7.5% (3,788), the report said.
•In all, 8,272 cases were instituted for offences against Scheduled Tribes: an increase of 9.3% over 2019. Simple hurt (2,247) accounted for 27.2%, followed by rape with 13.7% (1,137) and assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty with 10.7% (885).
•The cases of sedition declined from 93 in 2019 to 73 last year, with Manipur reporting 15 cases, Assam 12, Karnataka eight, Uttar Pradesh seven, Haryana six, Delhi five and Kashmir two cases.
•A total of 66,01,285 cognisable crimes, comprising more than 42,54 lakh Indian Penal Code (IPC) offences and over 23.46 lakh Special & Local Laws (SLL) crimes, were registered in 2020, said the report. Effectively, there was a decrease in registration of traditional crime by about two lakh cases.
•“It shows an increase of 14,45,127 (28.0%) in registration of cases over 2019 (51,56,158 cases). Crime rate registered per lakh population has increased from 385.5 in 2019 to 487.8 in 2020. During 2020, registration of cases under IPC has increased by 31.9% whereas SLL crimes have increased by 21.6% over 2019,” said the report.
•A major increase was seen in the cases registered under disobedience to the order duly promulgated by public servant, under Section 188 of the IPC, from 29,469 in 2019 to 6,12,179 cases last year; and under ‘other IPC crimes’ from 2,52,268 to 10,62,399 cases. Under the SLL category, more cases were registered under “Other State Local Acts,” leading to a steep rise from 89,553 to 4,14,589 cases.
•During 2020, more than 55.84 lakh cases were under investigation and over 34.47 lakh of them were disposed of. In nearly 26.12 lakh cases, charge sheets were filed, resulting in a charge-sheeting rate of 75.8%, an increase by 12.50% compared to 2019.
•As the country remained under complete lockdown from March 25 to May 31 last year during the first wave of COVID-19, cases of crime against women, children and senior citizens, theft, burglary, robbery and dacoity declined.
•A total of 10,47,216 cases of offences affecting the human body were registered, which accounted for 24.6% of the total IPC crimes last year. “Hurt” as an offence accounted for maximum cases (55.3%), followed by causing death by negligence (12.1%) and assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty (8.2%).
•Cases of murder showed a marginal increase of 1% to 29,193. Various kinds of disputes were found to be the motive in the majority of murder cases, followed by “personal vendetta or enmity” and “gain”. The “kidnapping and abduction” cases declined by 19.3%. While 14,869 were male, 73,721 were female victims. As per the data, 56,591 were minor (8,715 male and 47,876 female) and 31,999 (6,154 male and 25,845 female) adults.
•A total of 91,458 kidnapped or abducted persons (22,872 male and 68,867 female) were found alive and recovered, while 281 persons were found dead.
•Of the 71,107 cases of offences against public tranquillity, which saw a 12.40% increase over 2019, 51,606 were of rioting.
•There was a 8.30% decline in cases of crime against women. A majority of the cases were related to “cruelty by husband or his relatives” (30.0%), followed by “assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty” (23.0%), “kidnapping & abduction of women” (16.8%) and “rape” (7.5%). The crime rate registered per lakh women population is 56.5 in 2020 in comparison with 62.3 in 2019.
•A total of 29,768 cases were registered against juveniles during 2020, showing a decrease of 7.8%. The authorities apprehended 35,352 juveniles in 29,768 cases. A majority of the juveniles apprehended under the IPC and SLL crimes were in the 16-18 age group.
•While 1,45,754 cases of economic offences were registered, showing a decrease of 12%, there was a decline of 27% in cases under the Prevention of Corruption Act from 4,244 to 3,100 cases. However, with 50,035 cases, cybercrimes recorded an 11.80% increase.
•Human trafficking cases declined from 2,208 to 1,714 cases. The agencies rescued 4,680 victims and arrested 4,966 persons. The number of missing persons decreased by 15%. During 2020, over 3.32 lakh such persons, including 2.24 lakh female and 142 transgender, were traced or recovered.
•The report said 59,262 children were reported missing last year, a 19.80% dip compared to 2019, while 64,573 (15,832 male, 48,717 female and 24 transgender) were recovered or traced.
•Last year, 25,65,448 accused persons were charge-sheeted, 8,76,553 were convicted, 1,17,539 were acquitted and 13,755 were discharged. The States reporting high charge-sheeting rate under IPC crimes were Gujarat (97.1%), Kerala (94.9%) and Tamil Nadu (91.7%).
📰 Lifeline for telcos as government offers four-year moratorium on dues
Boost as Cabinet nod for 4-year moratorium on telcos’ dues; reforms include redefinition of AGR concept; 100% FDI under automatic route.
•The Cabinet on Wednesday approved several measures to extend a lifeline to the cash-strapped telecom sector, including a redefinition of the much-litigated concept of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) to exclude non-telecom revenue and a four-year moratorium on players’ dues to the government.
•Union Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the government was keen on ensuring that there were more players in the sector and consumers retained choices, when asked about the fears about a duopoly emerging with just two major telecom players — Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio.
•In all, Mr. Vaishnaw announced nine structural reforms and five procedural reforms for the sector, including a fixed calendar for spectrum auctions with an extended tenure of 30 years for future spectrum allocations, and a mechanism to surrender and share spectrum. Foreign direct investment (FDI) in the sector has also been allowed up to 100% under the automatic route, from the existing limit of 49%. Together, these measures would pave the way for large scale investments into the sector, including for 5G technology deployment, and generate more jobs, he said.
‘Path-breaking reforms’
•Aditya Birla Group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla termed the changes ‘path-breaking reforms’ that could ‘unshackle’ the industry by addressing its ‘long-standing’ issues, while Vodafone group CEO Nick Read called it a ‘constructive initiative’ after the sector ‘has struggled for many years’.
•Experts are, however, not sure the package would be enough to keep their troubled joint venture Vodafone Idea Limited (VIL) afloat as the moratorium on AGR dues, spectrum dues and interest payments, would only provide temporary relief with these deferred dues to be payable eventually with interest. The tariff regime still needs a reboot for players to sustain operations, they said, echoing Bharti Airtel top brass.
•Mr. Read hinted at the need for further measures, seeking the ‘continued strong support of the Telecom Minister and the Finance Minister’ for VIL to continue to contribute to ‘India’s digital ambitions.’
•“There was a regime of heavy interest, penalty and interest on penalty on payment of licence fees, spectrum user charges and all kinds of charges, which has been rationalised,” the Minister said, adding that AGR calculations would exclude all non-telecom revenue from now and penalties had been completely scrapped.
•The earlier definition of AGR, backed by the Telecom Department and upheld by the Supreme Court in 2019, had made telcos liable to pay ₹1.6 lakh crore. Last September, the apex court had granted players 10 years to pay up, starting April 2021. The change in definition that will reduce the burden on telcos, applies only prospectively, so those past dues remain payable.
•Interest on those dues will now be compounded annually instead of monthly and the Minister said interest would be charged at a ‘reasonable’ rate of MCLR plus 2%. MCLR refers to the lowest lending rate banks are permitted to offer — the marginal cost of funds-based lending rate.
•Rating agency ICRA assessed that the moratorium on AGR dues provides an annual cash flow breather of around ₹14,000 crore for the industry while the moratorium on spectrum dues gives another ₹32,000 crore of annual cash flow relief as a whole.
•“Further, a moratorium of four years gives enough time for industry to carry out fundamental improvements by way of increasing tariffs, which is critical from the industry perspective,” said Sabyasachi Majumdar, senior vice-president at ICRA.
‘More needed’
•Bharti Airtel Managing Director and CEO for India and South Asia, Gopal Vittal, said these reforms would further boost the firm’s efforts to invest in the digital economy. “More needs to be done, however, towards a sustainable tariff regime to ensure the industry gets a fair return. This will in turn allow it to continue investing in new technologies and innovation to bring world-class services to customers,” he added.
•“The moratorium will immediately ease out the stress on the cash flows of the telcos to a great extent, especially Vodafone Idea Ltd [VIL],” reckoned Vipula Sharma, director of ratings and head of infrastructure at Brickwork Ratings.
•VIL had to shell out an amount in the range of ₹8,000 crore-9,000 crore towards the AGR payments by March 31, 2022, and over ₹15,000 crore during 2022-23 towards the spectrum payments.
•Sonam Chandwani, managing partner at KS Legal & Associates, said the extra time would help manage immediate stress, but it remained unclear how VIL would pay off its obligations and stay viable.
Digital India goal
•Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh D Ambani called the telecom sector one of the prime movers of the economy and said the measures announced by the government would enable the industry to achieve the goals of Digital India.
•The package aims to infuse investor confidence and give some flexibility to operators and the moratorium of four years on AGR dues from October 1 will provide temporary relief, said Akshat Jain, partner at J. Sagar Associates.
•“It does not essentially alleviate the already bleeding balance sheets of the telecom operators since the dues will ultimately have to be paid with interest. It will be interesting to see whether these measures promote competition in the sector and achieve the desired objectives,” he said.
📰 U.S., U.K. and Australia announce new security partnership for Indo-Pacific
The security grouping AUKUS will focus on advancing strategic interests in the Indo-Pacific region
•A week before a meeting of Quad leaders in Washington DC, the Biden administration, on September 15, announced a new trilateral security partnership for the Indo-Pacific, between Australia, the U.K. and the U.S. (AUKUS). As part of this, Australia will acquire nuclear-powered submarines with help from the U.K. and the U.S.
•The trilateral grouping was formally announced by Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison who joined U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House via video-link. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also participated in the launch via video link.
•“The future of the Indo-Pacific will impact all our futures,” Mr. Morrison said, adding that AUKUS will enhance Australia’s contribution to its other partnerships, including the Quad.
•“We need to be able to address both the current strategic environment in the region, and how it may evolve, because the future of each of our nations — and indeed the world -depends on a free and open Indo-Pacific enduring and flourishing in the decades ahead,” Mr. Biden said.
•There was no divide separating the interests of America’s Atlantic and Pacific partners, he said, adding that the U.S. would work with other partners — such as the Quad and ASEAN — in the region. Mr. Biden also singled out France for its growing presence in the region and role in strengthening security there.
•Speaking to reporters ahead of the announcement , a senior administration official outlined a trilateral grouping that was security focused, suggesting it was different from - but complementary to - arrangements such as the Quad.
18-month plan
•The nuclear powered submarines will be built in Adelaide, Mr. Morrison said, in close cooperation with the U.K. and the U.S.. Officials said the 18-month project to deliver the first fleet, would help Australia acquire submarines that are quieter than their conventional counterparts but also more capable of being deployed for longer periods and needing to surface less frequently.
•“But let me be clear: Australia is not seeking to acquire nuclear weapons, or establish a civil nuclear capability,” Mr. Morrison said.
•Mr. Biden emphasised that the submarines would be conventionally armed.
•“Only a handful of countries, possess nuclear powered submarines, and it is a momentous decision for any nation to acquire this formidable capability,” Mr. Johnson said, as he highlighted the employment opportunities the partnership would create for Britons.
•If the new partnership lives up to its promise, it could be a “game changer” for the region , according to Arzan Tarapore, a South Asia security expert and Stanford University scholar.
•“ Alongside India’s stated intent to acquire more nuclear-powered submarines, it will amount to a step-change increase in the Quad’s undersea and anti-submarine warfare capabilities,” Mr. Tarapore told The Hindu.
•AUKUS will also involve a new architecture of meetings and engagements between the three countries, as well as cooperation across emerging technologies (applied AI, quantum technologies and undersea capabilities).
•Tensions have been high between Australia and an increasingly assertive China, its largest trade partner. Australia banned Chinese telecom giant Huawei in 2018 and Mr. Morrison called for an investigation into the origins of COVID-19 last year. China retaliated by imposing tariffs on or capping Australian exports.
•However, as in the case of the Quad, U.S. officials denied the partnership was a response to China.
Peace and stability
•“I do want to just underscore very clearly this partnership is not aimed [at] or about any one country , it's about advancing our strategic interests, upholding the international rules based order, and promoting peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific,” an official said on Wednesday.
•The initiative, officials said, is in response Australia wanting to step up its game with regard to maritime security in the Indo-Pacific region. The partnership was also a “down-payment” the U.K. was making on its decision to engage more deeply with the Indo-Pacific, as per one official, who said the partnership was a “fundamental decision…that binds, decisively, Australia to the United States and Great Britain for generations.”
•Asked about extensions of this trilateral framework in the future, an administration official said AUKUS was “very rare” and a “one off” and that the U.S. sharing this kind of technology on nuclear powered submarines had been done only once before — with the U.K. and almost 70 years ago.
•“I do not anticipate that this will be undertaken in other circumstances going forward,” the official said.
📰 Cabinet clears PLI for auto sector to spur ‘green’, high-tech
The ₹26,058 cr. scheme will also cover auto component, drone manufacturing
•The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a ₹26,058 crore production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme to accelerate domestic manufacturing of high value advanced automotive technology vehicles as well as components and drones.
•The government estimates the scheme will attract ₹42,500 crore in fresh investment in the automobile and auto components industry over five years, spurring incremental production in excess of ₹2.3 lakh crore and helping create more than 7.5 lakh jobs. “It will herald a new age in higher technology, more efficient and green automotive manufacturing,” it said in a statement.
•Coming at a time when the industry is struggling to emerge from the twin blows of an economic slowdown and the pandemic, the scheme has been devised for both, existing automotive firms and new investors.
•The ‘sales value linked’ scheme has two components. A Champion OEM Incentive is applicable on Battery Electric Vehicles and Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles of all segments, while a Component Champion Incentive is for Advanced Automotive Technology components of vehicles, CKD/SKD kits, vehicle aggregates of 2-wheelers, 3-wheelers, passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles and tractors.
•“The revised focus of PLI scheme on alternative fuels, electric vehicles and utilisation of advanced technological innovation, will help the industry move faster towards the future technologies,” said TVS Motor Co. Chairman Venu Srinivasan. “Any country which aspires to lead in a particular sector needs government support and this scheme aims to do just that in the future mobility space,” he added.
•The PLI scheme aims to help industry overcome cost disabilities in the manufacture of advanced automotive technology products in the country. Its incentive structure is expected to encourage fresh investments in an indigenous supply chain of such products. Along with the ₹18,100 crore Advanced Chemistry Cell and the ₹10,000 crore Faster Adoption of Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME) PLI schemes, the plan aims to give a boost to the manufacture of EVs, the government said.
•Separately, the PLI scheme for drones and drone components is estimated to lead to investments worth ₹5,000 crore and an increase in eligible sales of ₹1,500 crore over a period of three years. The government also sees it creating additional employment of about 10,000 jobs.
•Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India president Sunjay Kapur said for five years from 2022-23, the PLI scheme would incentivise investments in new age automotive technologies such as automatic transmission assembly, electronic power steering system, sensors, super capacitors, ECUs, parts of EVs and Hydrogen Fuel Cells and its parts.
•“Thrust on incentivising new age technologies will facilitate creation of a state-of-the-art automotive value chain and give a much-needed impetus to manufacturing of cutting edge automotive products in India,” said Mr. Kapur. “With global economies de-risking supply chains, the PLI will aid India in developing into an attractive alternative source of high-end auto components,” he added.
•Tata Motors Executive Director Girish Wagh said the scheme was both progressive and transformational and offered several meaningful incentives across the entire value chain engaged in manufacturing of battery powered electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cells, as well as their supporting infrastructure and exports.
📰 Transient easing: On fuel taxes and prices
Cutting fuel taxes is a sure-shot way to address a major component of price pressures
•The latest retail inflation data suggest, at first flush, that price pressures have begun to moderate in the economy, with the August print for CPI showing inflation having slowed for a second straight month to a 5.3% pace, after July’s 5.59%. Price trends among the constituents of the Consumer Price Index and the latest Wholesale Price Index-based inflation, however, show that it would be premature to drop the guard on price gains. For one, the year-earlier inflation reading was elevated thus imparting a favourable base effect. Month-on-month, however, the CPI nudged up 0.25% from July, belying the inference of softening inflation. And the pace of price gains in at least three essential food components speeded up from the preceding month, with meat and fish, dairy and oils and fats posting significant accelerations. Edible oils have been on a tear for months now — the August print was 33% after July’s 32.5% — and an earlier round of cuts in import duties have had little impact in cooling their prices, forcing the Centre to announce another tranche of duty reductions this month. Inflation in two other vital protein sources, eggs and pulses, also continued to remain a cause for concern. While inflation in eggs remained in the high teens at 16.3%, price increase in pulses was 8.81% after slowing 23 basis points from July’s 9.04% pace. A persistent and wider deflation in vegetable prices was the main positive contributor to the easing in overall food and beverages inflation last month.
•The pace of inflation in fuel and light, clothing and footwear, health as well as household goods and services all ratcheted up last month. Transport and communication, which includes pump prices of the main automotive fuels of petrol and diesel, stayed stuck in double digits at 10.2% albeit after a 30 basis points easing from July’s 10.5% pace. And the WPI data show higher transportation costs combined with input price pressures fanned faster inflation in manufactured products as well, sending the segment’s pace to 11.4%, a fourth straight month of double-digit price gains. The outlook for inflation is far from sanguine if one considers that IHS Markit’s PMI survey for services revealed input costs rose in August at the fastest rate in four months, and a recent CII poll of CEOs showed a majority 67% expect average retail inflation this year to hover close to or exceed the RBI’s mandated monetary policy upper threshold of 6%. Policymakers are only too well aware that ultimately, inflation is not just about a point reading but far more about consumers’ and businesses’ expectations of the trend in prices. Fears of future high inflation dampen sentiment and thus retard economic activity. Cutting fuel taxes is a sure-shot way to address a major component of price pressures and it is time the Government bites the bullet and acts to provide a more abiding solution.
📰 ‘Know the enemy, know self’ is sound professional advice
It can be achieved if the national leadership and military education system have access to full-time domain specialists
•Sun Tzu, Chinese general, military strategist, writer, and philosopher, famously said, “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles... if you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” Considering the recent events in military circles, this needs examination, and certain facets of Professional Military Education (PME) in the Indian armed forces evaluated.
A structured process
•Knowing the adversary and yourself is a three-step process. First, gathering information (the adversary’s and your own), its distillation into knowledge and finally recommending options to decision-makers; the third step is critical for national leadership.
•Pragmatic leadership seeks advice from knowledgeable people. Thus, the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS), the National Security Advisory Board (NSAB) and NITI Aayog advise the Government and offer options on key issues. Each body must have domain specialists from important fields and when one considers the NSCS and the NSAB, the three arms of the armed forces should be represented at the senior advisory level. Unfortunately, this has not been the case for many years now; it would be instructive to see how other nations fare in such apex bodies since the members need to be both, academics and professionals, rolled into one.
Apex institutions abroad
•I had the good fortune of doing two specialist courses abroad. In the test pilots school (EPNER) in France that I attended in 1987, the Chief Ground Instructor, who taught us theory of test flying, was a civilian aerodynamicist. The school’s commandant had earlier been the Air Force’s Mirage-2000 project pilot with the aviation company M/s Dassault; he was seconded to EPNER to teach test flying. Can we replicate such intermixing in PME institutions so that personnel benefit from expertise available within ourselves? Incidentally, the examiner for my final examination was the chief test pilot of Aerospatiale, i.e., a civilian working in the French aviation industry.
•The EPNER example, one from the tactical level, illustrates how theorists and practitioners from different fields can be dovetailed to holistically train junior professionals who later hold appointments at the operational and strategic realm. The United States Air Force has its air university with a faculty of civilian academics who, having dedicated their lives studying just one particular field, are the last word in their area of expertise. Their teachings are co-related with real life experiences by uniformed service instructors. When I was doing my course there, Colonel John Warden came as the Commandant of the Staff College — an air power strategist, the Colonel had designed the brilliant air campaign in Operation Desert Storm against Iraq in 1991; post the successful air campaign, it would be remembered, ground forces had a free run. After his successful operational tour, he turned an academician and enriched the staff college syllabus with his operational experiences.
The situation in India
•How are we doing in India? It would be safe to say that in our PME institutions most, if not all, instructors are service officers posted-in from field/staff appointments who do their two/three-year tenure and move on; there is no time to become an ‘expert’. Having guest lectures is no substitute to having subject matter experts on staff doing full-time teaching. Luckily, we see a whiff of change in some institutions. The Naval War College in Goa invites an eminent academic from abroad to run capsules on operational art. The college also has an adjunct faculty of tri-Service retired officers acting as mentors in specialised areas of learning. It is also heartening to see the National Defence College at Delhi set-up a President’s Chair of Excellence teneted by a retired scholar warrior; and, this is how it should be elsewhere too.
IDU project languishes
•The Defence Services Staff College should be the starting point with permanent chairs for subject matter experts teaching military history, strategy, geo-politics et al.; service officers would be the links to field realities. It is a joint institution and hence the Commandant should be a reputed scholar warrior from any of the three services, and not just from the Army as has been till now. The Army War College, College of Air Warfare, College of Defence Management, etc. should take similar action. And as one moves up the hierarchy of learning, one wonders where the Indian Defence University (IDU) project (earlier INDU — Indian National Defence University) is languishing after its foundation stone was laid in 2013 near Gurgaon. In times when road infrastructure and the setting up of additional Indian Institutes of Technology, Indian Institutes of Management, All India Institutes of Medical Sciences, etc. are being fast-tracked, the silence on the IDU, which would be the capstone institution to guide PME architecture in India, is unfathomable. While the Ministry of Home Affairs has set up the Rashtriya Raksha University (RRU) in Gujarat (whose head is a member of the NSAB too), one wonders why the Ministry of Defence is procrastinating with IDU that is planned to have all tri-Service institutions, including the National Defence College, under its tutelage. Incidentally, the website of RRU states that it will have schools for Air and Space, Navy, Army, et al.; but, one thought that the charter for such schools of higher strategic learning was to be for IDU.
•Which brings us to the topmost policy advisory tier, the NSAB and NSCS. These apex bodies conduct long-term analyses and provide perspectives on issues of national importance to India’s political leadership; if there was ever a case of sound academic presence and military professionals from all three services populating them, it is here. The national leadership, both civil and military, in these times of galloping technology in the military sphere and re-hashing of international relationships, will gain immensely in knowing the enemy — and ‘itself’.
📰 Hardly the India-China century Deng envisioned
For the current Chinese leadership, the 21st century is destined to be China’s alone, with India to be shown its place
•Fifteen months after the clashes between Chinese and Indian soldiers in the Galwan Valley, India-China relations are at their lowest ebb in living memory.
•To be sure, there have always been political tensions even before, both over each country’s territorial claims over land controlled by the other, and over such long-term problems as China’s “all-weather” alliance with our hostile separated sibling, Pakistan, and our hospitality to the Dalai Lama, who was granted refuge when he fled Tibet in 1959. But neither country had allowed these tensions to overwhelm them: China had declared that the border dispute could be left to “future generations” to resolve, and India had endorsed the “One China” policy, refusing to support Tibetan secessionism while limiting official reverence for the Dalai Lama to his status as a spiritual leader.
The line is no provocation
•India has usually shown no desire to rock the boat. Its actions and statements have usually been designed not to provoke our northern neighbour, but to relegate the border problem to the back burner while enabling trade relations with China (now worth close to $100 billion) to flourish. India made it clear that it was unwilling to join in any United States-led “containment” of China; its traditional obsession with preserving its “strategic autonomy” after two centuries of colonial rule made it wary of the blandishments of the West.
•Ironically, before Galwan, 2020 was supposed to be a landmark year for the two countries’ bilateral relations. In October 2019 in Mahabalipuram, at their 18th meeting in nine years, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had grandly pledged to take relations between their two countries to “greater heights”. To mark the 70th anniversary of formal diplomatic relations between the two countries, they announced they would conduct 70 joint activities, including further improving their burgeoning trade, supporting scholarly research into their ancient civilizational links, and even exchanging military delegations, in a grand show of Sino-Indian cooperation.
There is much connect
•This wasn’t just fluff. The two countries had indeed developed multiple avenues of engagement. From negligible levels till 1991, trade with China had grown to become one of India’s largest trading relationships. Prime Minister Modi, an early enthusiast, had lifted residual restrictions on bilateral Chinese investment in strategic sectors of the Indian economy (notably ports, airports, power generation and telecoms technology), so that by 2020, Chinese investment (current and planned) stood at about $26 billion with infrastructure projects accounting for about half the total. India engages with China diplomatically in the BRICS (an association of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa), as well as conducting annual summits of RIC (Russia-India-China). India is an enthusiastic partner in the Chinese-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the New Development Bank (NDB), formerly referred to as the BRICS Development Bank.
•But it has become increasingly apparent that the policy of side-stepping contentious issues and encouraging bilateral economic relations has played into Chinese hands. The People’s Liberation Army has used the seemingly benign situation to repeatedly undertake “minor” military incursions, inflict small-scale military setbacks on India, take a few square kilometres of territory along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) for local tactical purposes, and then declare peace. Mutual disengagements are duly announced, both sides claim the crisis is over, but China establishes and fortifies its new deployment. These mini-crises always end with the Chinese in a better position on the ground than before. Each incident establishes a new “normal” on the LAC.
The Chinese strategy
•In the Galwan clash, the Chinese troops seem to have been engaged in a tactical move to advance their positions along areas of the LAC that it covets, in order to threaten Indian positions and interdict patrols. After the recent incursions, the Chinese now reportedly control over 900 square kilometres of area in Ladakh along the LAC. They are threatening India’s construction of roads, bridges and similar infrastructure on undisputed Indian territory, a belated effort to mirror similar Chinese efforts near the LAC in Tibet. Rather than merely patrolling, they have established a fixed presence in these areas well beyond China’s own ‘Claim Line’, occupied the “Finger Heights” near Pangong Tso Lake, pitched hundreds of tents, constructed concrete structures and built additional kilometres of road along the LAC. The objective seems to be to extend Chinese troop presence to the intersection of the Galwan river and the Shyok river, which would make the Galwan Valley off bounds to India. The Chinese have constructed permanent structures in the area of their intrusion and issued statements claiming that sovereignty over the Galwan valley has “always belonged” to China.
•China’s strategy seems to be to consolidate the LAC where it wants it, so that an eventual border settlement — that takes these new realities into account — will be in its favour. That is the longer-term plan: Beijing keeps saying the border should be left to future generations to settle, knowing full well that each passing year increases China’s relative economic, military and geopolitical strength vis-à-vis India, while shifting the LAC in its favour. In the meantime, border incidents keep the Indians off balance and demonstrate to the world that India is not capable of challenging China, let alone offering security to other nations. Whereas Deng Xiaoping had told then-Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1988 (picture) that the 21st century would be “India and China’s century”, the current Chinese leadership has no patience for such pablum. They believe — indeed believe they know — that it is destined to be China’s century alone, and are all too happy to show India its subsidiary place in the pecking order.
India’s options
•India’s tactical options are unenviable: it has reinforced its military assets on the LAC to prevent deeper incursions for now, and hopes to press the Chinese to restore the status quo ante through either diplomatic or military means. Chinese and Indian officials are currently engaged in diplomatic and military-to-military dialogue to ease tensions, but de-escalation has been stalled for months, with China behaving as if their disengagement is already complete.
•India has responded with largely symbolic acts of economic retaliation, banning Chinese apps in India on grounds of data security. It is likely that Chinese companies will be barred from various lucrative opportunities in the vast Indian market, as two of them, Huawei and ZTE, have been from the ongoing trials to be picked to build India’s 5G telecoms infrastructure. India has also reimposed tighter limits on Chinese investment in projects such as railways, motorways, public-sector construction projects, and telecoms, a reversal of the openness to China that the Modi administration had initially shown.
The economic angle
•Yet, India is far too dependent on China for other vital imports — such as pharmaceuticals, and even the active ingredients to make them, automotive parts and microchips, all needed by Indian manufacturers — that many in New Delhi fear it would be shooting itself in the foot if it acted too strongly against China. Today, India’s dependence on China for its non-consumption economy remains high; what is more, imports from China have become indispensable for India’s exports to the rest of the world. Various manufacturing inputs, industrial equipment and components, and even some technological know-how come from China; eliminating them could have a seriously negative effect on India’s economic growth at a time when, thanks mainly to the COVID-19 crisis, our GDP is estimated to have shrunk dramatically. And there are limits to the effectiveness of any Indian retaliation: trade with China may seem substantial from an Indian perspective, but it only represents 3% of China’s exports. Drastically reducing it would not be enough to deter Beijing or cause it to change its behaviour.
•This range of considerations seems to leave only two strategic options for New Delhi: reconciling itself to playing second fiddle to an assertive China in the region, or seeking strength and leverage by aligning itself with a broader international coalition against Chinese ambitions. Since the first is indigestible for any democracy, is China de facto pushing India into doing something it has always resisted — allying with the West?
📰 T.N.’s unending dilemma with NEET
The courts will have to come up with a solution to the question of medical admissions by next year
•The latest Bill passed by the Tamil Nadu Assembly exempting the State from the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for admission to undergraduate (UG) medical courses and also to prescribe its own admission method for MBBS seats is in no way different from the efforts taken by the previous government in 2017. The Bills sent by the State were returned by the President of India without getting his assent.
•Before passing the Bill, the Tamil Nadu government had appointed a committee of experts under Justice A.K. Rajan, a retired judge of the Madras High Court, to look into the question of the desirability of having the examination as a prerequisite for MBBS admissions. When the committee started its hearing, it was generally stated that it would advise the government to exempt itself from the requirement of the examination. However, when a public interest litigation (PIL) petition was filed in the High Court challenging the appointment of the committee on the ground that it violated the orders of the Supreme Court regarding NEET, the stand taken was that the committee would only look into the effects of the examination on the students in the State.
Views of all stakeholders
•The committee said it had ascertained the views of all the stakeholders and that a majority were not in favour of the NEET requirement. It did not recommend any legislation. The committee was of the opinion that the examination had not provided any special mechanism for testing the knowledge and aptitude of the students. It suggested that the higher secondary examination of the State board itself was an ample basis for the selection of students for MBBS seats. NEET only worked against underprivileged government school students, and had profited coaching centres and affluent students.
•The present Bill proceeds on the assumption that medical college admissions will come under the Concurrent List (Entry 25 of List III) and, therefore, the State can also enact a law regarding admission and amend any Central law on admission procedures.
•This thinking of the State may be due to the observation made by the Supreme Court in the selection process of postgraduate (PG) courses in medicine, where the Medical Council of India (MCI) had prescribed certain regulations providing reservation for in-service candidates. The Supreme Court struck down regulation 9(c) made by the MCI on the ground of the exercise of power beyond its statute.
•It must be remembered that the Supreme Court was only dealing with a regulation framed by the MCI, whereas the requirement of NEET being a basic requirement for PG and UG medical courses has now been statutorily incorporated under Section 10D of the Indian Medical Council (IMC) Act, which states, “ There shall be conducted a uniform entrance examination to all medical educational institutions at the undergraduate level and postgraduate level through such designated authority in Hindi, English and such other languages and in such manner as may be prescribed and the designated authority shall ensure the conduct of uniform entrance examination in the aforesaid manner: Provided that notwithstanding any judgment or order of any court, the provisions of this section shall not apply, in relation to the uniform entrance examination at the undergraduate level for the academic year 2016-17 conducted in accordance with any regulations made under this Act, in respect of the State government seats (whether in government medical college or in a private medical college) where such State has not opted for such examination.”
•Though this amendment was to come into force from the academic year 2016-2017 onwards, due to opposition from many quarters, the Union government issued an Ordinance on May 24, 2016, postponing the introduction of NEET to the next academic year.
•When the Tamil Nadu government issued an order in 2017 providing for the reservation of 85% of the seats for students passed out from the State board and 15% for students from other boards, it was struck down by the Madras High Court. An appeal by the State to the Division Bench was also rejected.
Same fate
•It was then the Tamil Nadu Assembly passed a Bill seeking the exemption of the State from NEET, which the President refused to give his assent to. The present move to pass a fresh Bill on the same lines is most likely to meet the same fate.
•It is significant that no other State in India has sought an exemption from NEET and, therefore, exempting Tamil Nadu alone may not be possible. Even among the seats allotted to the State, there is no bar for students from other States from competing or selecting colleges in Tamil Nadu. Also, if exempted, what will be the fate of the all-India quota of 15%, which will be filled up by students who write NEET, and what will happen to Tamil Nadu students who do not write the examination, thus not availing this quota?
•As a sop for government school students, the State government had brought in a law providing 7.5% reservation in medical seats, but with NEET as a criterion. The same situation continues even for the admission for this academic year.
•The introduction of internal reservation for government school students is under challenge before the Madras High Court. Similarly, NEET as a requirement is also pending in the Supreme Court. Unless these two issues are decided, NEET cannot be removed by a State amendment.
•However, certain legal pundits had said the State could amend a Central law falling under the Concurrent List and had given examples of the amendments made to to the Hindu Marriage Act, the Industrial Disputes Act, etc.
•The question is not whether the State government can amend a law falling under the Concurrent List. The question is whether the State government can exempt Section 10D of the IMC Act, which is a parliamentary law that falls under the Central List (Entry 66). Moreover, the Supreme Court has also upheld NEET as a requirement.
•Mere statistics highlighting that a majority of the stakeholders do not want NEET in Tamil Nadu is not an answer for exempting the examination that was introduced by a Central law. Data is necessary only when there is power to legislate on the subject concerned.
•If the committee’s findings that government school students are edged out from entering medical colleges due to competitive examinations are accepted, it will be difficult to explain the 7.5% reservation exclusively meant for these students.
•Since the Bill, which will become an Act after the President’s nod, will come into effect only from the next academic year, the battle for and against the NEET requirement will continue in courts. Hopefully, the courts will determine the legality and have a definite solution to the question of medical admissions within the next year. Till such time, students who wrote NEET will fill the seats under the State quota.
📰 NEP schools: the future
COVID-19 brought the online model sooner than we imagined.
•The COVID-19 pandemic has been the greatest disruptor in the education sector. It has brought the future to us sooner than we ever imagined. Had there been no pandemic, the use of digital technologies in education would not have been so rampant. Many of our teachers would have superannuated without ever learning to browse on devices. Learners would not have been exposed to a huge variety of innovative content or digital formats of education in their own languages. The engagement of parents and communities in their child’s education would have been a distant dream. The essential role of schools and teachers in caretaking and the mental/physical/cognitive development of a child would not have been so permanently established. The need for foundational literacy and preventing dropouts would not have been so intensely realised. And the need to overcome the digital divide would not have been felt so acutely.
•The schools of the future and the future of schooling are now both subject to intense debate, especially with the coming in of the National Education Policy 2020. But certain broad understandings have emerged that most agree upon. Firstly, there is already a discernible shift in the focus from physical infrastructure towards digital and virtual requirements. Secondly, it is not edtech as much as it is the traditional face-to-face modes of learning in schools that will continue to be the greatest equaliser in education. Thirdly, skill-building for the requirements of the 21st century has assumed great significance. Fourth, accelerated and even differentiated instructional interventions will be required to overcome and reverse the impact of the pandemic. Lastly, it is likely that there will be more pressure on the government schooling system to expand its intake.
Four qualities
•In this scenario, for schools to emerge as strong, inclusive and professional educational systems, it is essential to imagine what the schools of the future will be like. We believe that the following four qualities will define the schools of the future, both public and private.
•Firstly, schools will encourage extended networks rather than remain as closed classroom communities. A wise person said, “In school, you’re taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you’re given a test that teaches you a lesson.” Over the last couple of centuries, our education systems have shifted towards methods that may help individuals acquire knowledge, but may not equip them with life skills. As a result, we hardly have job creators passing out of the school precincts. We have many day-to-day problems, but very few problem-solvers. Future schools will go beyond the school walls. They will take teaching-learning to informal settings such as topic circles and eco clubs, visits to the neighbourhood, to museums or scientific laboratories, etc. Learners will be green in their approach, tech-savvy, connected to their roots and to the world, and will be able to effectively link their curriculum to their lives.
•Secondly, schools will be pro-active innovators. They will adopt innovative pedagogies and differentiated instructions as per the needs of the learners to enable them to become knowledge creators and, eventually, job creators. They will utilise innovative methods of assessment to bring out the unique potential of every child, harness innovative technologies for teaching, learning and administration, and usher in a general culture of innovation and entrepreneurship as an integral aspect of the curricular transaction.
•Thirdly, the future of jobs also has a direct bearing on the schools of the future. Routine jobs will become scarce. Students of the future will have to struggle with the new set of capabilities needed, hyper-information digressing into disinformation, virtual teams not seeing each other physically, and will constantly experience a swing between super speciality and cross-disciplinary skills. Curiosity and lifelong learning will become imperatives. Future schools will be future-oriented and connected to the job market, capable of empowering, and building the skills of learners for jobs that are yet to be created and technologies that are yet to be invented.
•Lastly, schools will forge stronger and more trusting engagement with families and communities. The online world of e-parents-teachers meetings (e-PTMs), e-guidance to parents, and social media-based active communication with parents during the pandemic has opened up an entire world of possibilities. Parents, siblings, grandparents and other family members will turn out to be the most powerful ally and support in the effective delivery of education at all levels during the pandemic. This aspect will become robust and institutionalised. Local self-governments, health workers, environmentalists, civil society organisations (CSOs) and the community at large will be actively engaged in future schools in offering services, support, infrastructure, internships, exposure to future jobs, and learning from beyond the school boundaries, to create a vibrant school ecosystem.
•The future depends on the decisions we make in the present, and lest we forget, the future of the country is enrolled in our schools today. Future schools will build the character of the children and set them free to discover the world, shape it and contribute to make it just and equitable.
