📰 The status of the Naga peace talks
•The recently released annual report of the Ministry of Home Affairs said that the Isak-Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM) was involved in 44% of insurgency-related incidents in Nagaland in 2020.
•The NSCN-IM continues to demand ‘Greater Nagaland’ or Nagalim — it wants to extend Nagaland’s borders by including Naga-dominated areas in the neighbouring States of Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh.
•In 1997, the Government of India got the NSCN-IM to sign a ceasefire agreement to begin the holding of talks with the aim of signing a Naga Peace Accord. There have been over a hundred rounds of talks, after the ceasefire, between the Centre and the insurgent group but no solution.
The story so far: The annual report of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) released recently said that the Isak-Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM) was involved in 44% of insurgency-related incidents in Nagaland in 2020.
•The Union government had, in 2015, signed a framework agreement with the NSCN-IM to find a solution to the Naga political issue. The negotiations are yet to be concluded.
Why did the Naga insurgency begin?
•The term Naga was created by the British for administrative convenience to refer to a group of tribes with similar origins but distinct cultures, dialects, and customs. The Naga tribes are accumulated in Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, and Myanmar.
•Residing in the Naga hills of Assam during the advent of the British and the annexation of Assam in 1820, the Nagas did not consider themselves a part of British India. The British adopted a way of governance over the Nagas that involved keeping in place their traditional ways of life, customs, and laws while putting British administrators at the top.
•At the time of the withdrawal of the British, insecurity grew among the Naga tribes about the future of their cultural autonomy after India’s independence, which was accompanied by the fear of the entry of “plains people” or “outsiders” into their territory. These gave rise to the formation of the Naga Hills District Tribal Council in 1945, which was renamed the Naga National Council (NNC) in 1946. Amid uncertainties over the post-independence future of the Nagas, a section of the NNC, led by Naga leader A.Z. Phizo declared the independence of the Nagas on August 14, 1947, a day before India’s declaration.
•The underground insurgency began in the early 1950s when Mr. Phizo founded the Naga Federal Government (NFG) and its armed wing, the Naga Federal Army (NFA). The Central Government sent the armed forces into Naga areas to curb the insurgency and imposed the contentious Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), which is still in place in parts of Nagaland.
•The Nagas, led by Mr. Phizo, demanding an independent state outside of India, boycotted the 1952 and 1957 general elections and armed clashes grew. Unlike other groups in the north east which were accepting some form of autonomy under the Constitution, Nagas rejected this in favour of sovereignty.
•Some leaders among the NNC formed their own group to hold discussions with the government, leading to the formation of the State of Nagaland in 1963. This, however, did not satisfy many in the NNC and NFG, who, following years of negotiations with the government, eventually signed the Shillong Accord of 1975, agreeing to surrender arms and accept the Constitution.
When did the NSCN come into the picture?
•This signing of the Shillong Accord was not agreeable with many top leaders of the NNC and those operating from Myanmar as the agreement did not address the issue of Naga sovereignty and coerced them to accept the Constitution.
•Three NNC leaders — Thuingaleng Muivah of the Tangkhul Naga tribe of Manipur’s Ukhrul district, Isak Chishi Swu of the Sema tribe, and S. S. Khaplang from Myanmar’s Hemis tribe, formed the National Socialist Council Of Nagaland (NSCN) to continue the armed movement. The motto of the NSCN was to create a People’s Republic of Nagaland free of Indian rule.
•In 1988, after years of infighting and violent clashes along tribal lines and over the main cause of the movement, the NSCN split into two factions. One, led by Mr. Muiwah and Swu called the NSCN-IM and the other, led by Mr. Khaplang called the NSCN-K. The NSCN-IM demanded and continues to demand ‘Greater Nagaland’ or Nagalim — it wants to extend Nagaland’s borders by including Naga-dominated areas in the neighbouring States of Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh. The NSCN-IM has now grown to became the most powerful insurgent group, also playing a role in the creation of smaller groups in other States. Its armed operations intensified along with illegal activities like tax extortion, smuggling of weapons and so on.
Where do the peace talks stand now?
•In 1997, the Government of India got the NSCN-IM to sign a ceasefire agreement to begin the holding of talks with the aim of signing a Naga Peace Accord. After this ceasefire, there have been over a hundred rounds of talks spanning over 24 years between the Centre and the insurgent group, while a solution is still awaited. New Delhi has been holding peace parleys simultaneously with the NSCN-IM, and the Naga National Political Groups (NNPGs) comprising at least seven other extremist groups, including the NSCN (K).
•In 2015, it signed a Framework Agreement with the NSCN (IM), the first step towards an actual Peace Accord. The then Joint Intelligence Chief R.N. Ravi was appointed the interlocutor for Naga peace talks and signed the agreement on behalf of the Centre. He was later appointed as Nagaland’s Governor in 2019 to further the negotiations.
•The negotiations hit an impasse in 2020, with the NSCN-IM demanding the removal of Mr. Ravi as interlocutor, accusing him of “high handedness” and tweaking the agreement to mislead other Naga groups. The NSCN-IM continued to demand a separate flag and constitution for the Nagas and the creation of Nagalim, which it claimed was agreed upon in the Agreement. Mr. Ravi, however, denied this claim. After Mr. Ravi’s removal as the interlocutor last year, Intelligence Bureau officer A.K. Mishra was first appointed as the Centre’s adviser and then the interlocutor for the peace talks. On April 19 this year, Mr. Mishra visited the NSCN-IM’s camp in Dimapur to hold closed-door talks but issues over the Naga flag and constitution remain to be ironed out.
43 seats for Jammu division and 47 for Kashmir division demarcated; nine seats reserved for STs for the first time
•The Jammu and Kashmir Delimitation Commission on Thursday notified the new boundaries, names and number of Assembly constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir, paving the way for the first-ever Assembly elections in the Union Territory that was carved out of the erstwhile State of J&K in 2019.
•While not mentioned in its order, the Delimitation Commission said in a statement that it had recommended to the Centre to nominate at least two “Kashmiri migrants” to the Legislature who would have the same powers as nominated members of the Puducherry Assembly and to “consider” giving “some representation” to persons displaced from Pakistan-occupied J&K. A source said this was a “proposal” that the Centre would take a call on.
•A day before its term was to end, the Commission, chaired by Justice (retired) Ranjana Prakash Desai and including Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra and J&K State Election Commissioner K.K. Sharma as ex-officio members, met to finalise its order and later issued a gazette notification. The delimitation was carried out based on the 2011 Census and other considerations like geographical features and access.
•The new Assembly would have 90 seats, 47 in Kashmir and 43 in Jammu, which was an increase from the earlier 83, with six of the additional seats being in Jammu and one in Kashmir. The commission said in its statement that for the first time in J&K, nine seats have been reserved for Scheduled Tribes. Six of the ST reserved seats were in Jammu region and three in the Kashmir Valley. Seven seats had been reserved for Scheduled Castes.
•“There are five Parliamentary Constituencies in the region. The Delimitation Commission has seen Jammu & Kashmir as a single entity for purposes of the delimitation. Therefore, one of the parliamentary constituencies has been carved out combining Anantnag region in the Valley and Rajouri and Poonch of Jammu region. By this reorganisation, each Parliamentary constituency will have equal number of 18 Assembly Constituencies each,” the commission said in its statement.
•The move to the merge the two regions in one Lok Sabha constituency had been criticised by regional parties, including the National Conference, given the two areas remain cut off in winter and have no direct access.
•The commission said it had accepted many of the suggestions regarding names of constituencies that came up during consultations. It restored restored old names and reworked a few Assembly segments in the Kashmir division, which had been renamed in the previous draft and had evoked criticism from local parties.
•In north Kashmir, Gulmarg and Wagoora-Kreeri Assembly segments were restored on traditional geographical limits. Similarly, the constituency names like Hazratbal, Zadibal, Lal Chowk, Eidgah have been restored in Srinagar. In Jammu division, the name of Gulabgarh constituency has been restored. In Reasi district, a constituency was named after the famed Shri Mata Vaishno Devi shrine.
•Noting the challenges of carrying out the delimitation, the commission said unique issues arose due to factors like “competing political aspirations of the geographically and culturally distinctive Jammu and the Kashmir regions”, the wide range of population density from 3,436/square km to 29 sg/km, geographical barriers affecting connectivity and inadequate conveniences along the International Border.
•The commission, which was appointed on March 6, 2020, had visited J&K twice, meeting 242 delegations during the first visit and around 1,600 people during the second that was in April, the statement said.
•In addition, the commission received inputs from its associate members – the five Lok Sabha MPs from J&K. The three National Conference MPs who were associate members had raised concerns over the entire exercise, since the J&K Reorganisation Act, 2019, which had mandated the delimitation, is under judicial scrutiny.
📰 The SpiceJet ‘accident’
What are the factors that might have caused the flight to experience severe turbulence? What about adverse weather?
•The story so far: On the evening of May 1, a Boeing 737-800 aircraft of low-cost private carrier SpiceJet, on a scheduled flight (SG-945) operating from Mumbai to Andal (Durgapur, West Bengal) with 195 passengers on board (189 passengers and six crew), experienced severe turbulence, at around 16,000 feet, while on approach to the destination airport.
What happened on the flight?
•Due to severe turbulence, nearly 17 passengers suffered head, shoulder, spinal, forehead and facial injuries that were serious enough to warrant hospitalisation. The aircraft too experienced damage in the cabin. Visuals showed oxygen mask compartments open, sections of the cabin ceiling having come apart exposing ducts, damage to some seat handrests and the cabin being in a state of disarray, with items from the galley as well as passenger belongings strewn around. The flight crew took manual control of the aircraft (from autopilot mode) and the aircraft made a safe landing about 20 minutes later.
•A preliminary report by India’s civil aviation regulatory body, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), categorised it as an “accident”. It said: “... the vertical load factor [which is related to aviation] varied from 2.64G and minus 1.36G, and during this period, the autopilot got disengaged for two minutes....” In addition, there were speed variations. The crew have been off rostered. The airline’s aircraft maintenance engineer who released the aircraft from Durgapur (the plane was flown from Andal to Kolkata later) has also been derostered. The aircraft has been grounded and the DGCA has ordered a full inspection of the SpiceJet aircraft fleet.
Why has it been called an ‘accident’?
•The occurrence would fall under one of the conditions that defines an “accident” in aviation, i.e., “an occurrence associated with the operation of aircraft which ... i) in the case of a manned aircraft, takes place between the time any person boards the aircraft until such time as all such persons have disembarked.... a) a person is fatally injured or seriously injured as a result of: i) being in the aircraft ii) direct contact with any part of the aircraft including parts of which have become detached from the aircraft....”
•India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), has taken over investigation into the occurrence. The AAIB is responsible for “classification of safety occurrences” that involve aircraft operating in Indian airspace falling under the categories ‘accidents’, ‘serious incidents’ and ‘incidents’. The AAIB says it investigates any ‘accident’ and ‘serious incident’ involving aircraft having what is called an ‘all up weight (AUW) of more than 2,250 kg’.
Was there awareness of turbulence? What could have happened?
•A pilot says air turbulence can be graded as light, moderate, severe and extreme. In the last classification, there may be even structural damage and possible loss of aircraft control. In terms of the categorisation of turbulence, there is (in general): convective turbulence (or turbulence linked to cloud convection); mechanical turbulence (low-level turbulence); orographic turbulence (linked to elevated terrain such as mountains); clear air turbulence; low-level jet streams, and also wake turbulence caused by other aircraft.
•In a tweet, Madhavan Rajeevan, former Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences, who has “research interests on monsoons” has said: “In my understanding Spice jet has their own weather forecasting team for their planning. They don’t take [the] services of [the] IMD [India Meteorological Department]. All airlines should take weather services very seriously for their operations....”
•It must be reiterated, however, that airlines do invest considerable resources in the training of crew in aviation meteorology.
•Captain A. (Mohan) Ranganathan, a former airline instructor pilot and aviation safety adviser, who shared resource material with The Hindu from an ‘Adverse Weather Operations training kit’ prepared on behalf of the DGCA in 2001, said that from initial analysis, it appeared that the flight crew had not followed the speed for turbulence penetration. This, he said, was probably why severe conditions were encountered. The aviation expert highlighted the important factor of Total Air Temperature (TAT), which is the best guide for turbulence. TAT monitoring by crew is essential while in flight, more so during the crucial phases of aircraft climb and descent, he said. A key point highlighted in the training kit was for a pilot to be alert to a temperature inversion between 16,000 feet and 24,000 feet as being an indicator of adverse weather conditions. He said that aviation awareness about TAT is low these days.
•More importantly, the aviation expert drew attention to a weather phenomenon (and an aviation hazard) called the Norwester over eastern and northeastern India which occurs in March, with its frequency increasing in May and early June (almost eight occurrences a month). This subject is in focus as the flight path of the SpiceJet aircraft was over Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, with its descent into West Bengal.
•Norwesters are destructive squalls which take place in the afternoon/evening; what is more, cells of weakening down drafts regenerate themselves as new storm cells. An aircraft can experience a stall and loss of lift when flying near or through them. There is also an additional high risk of hail damage. The professional aviation advice is to avoid making an approach if in the vicinity of a Norwester. Captain Ranganathan also gave the example of the kind of turbulence that can be expected, when in the 1980s, a Boeing 737 on the Agartala-Calcutta sector got into one such cell and was buffeted so severely that it caused several rivets on the aircraft fuselage to go missing; this was discovered after landing.
•In a typical Norwester, if flying in proximity of what is called its downwind wake area (these can be generated given the way a Norwester is formed), an aircraft can get sucked into the centre of the storm cell and experience damage and severe turbulence.
•A senior commander who flies Airbus aircraft said turbulence detection, in general, would also depend on whether it was clear air turbulence or, separately, what is called avoidable weather. If it was weather that was visibly noticeable, or read on the aircraft’s weather radar, the question during the investigation would be whether the crew were monitoring this and had situational awareness. While the weather radar system fitted in the new generation of aircraft is technologically advanced — some models can perform 3D picturisation using multibeams for hundreds of kilometres ahead and autoscan from the ground up to 60,000 feet — management of adverse weather flying calls for good meteorological knowledge, a thorough understanding of the aircraft’s radar functions, planning, anticipation, and, most importantly, the crew’s overall assessment of the weather situation.
📰 The school dress is in the cross hairs
The uniform has been transformed into a new political tool and as a means to curtailing the autonomy of educationists
•Nowhere in the long history of education can you find evidence to say that a school uniform is a factor in learning. Yet, a lot of people today cannot imagine a school without a uniform. When they think about a school, including their own, they think about the uniform that makes its children distinct from the children of other schools. Especially on festive occasions when grand events bring all the schools of a city together, people find something deeply edifying in the spectacle of children marching or displaying their smartness wearing a distinct uniform. The public fascination with such spectacles, and the history of the school uniform, point to the single most important role that a school uniform plays: it helps in the regimentation of the young. Uniformly dressed children constitute one of the two archetypal metaphors of schooling. One is that of a garden where different flowers bloom; the other is of an army of little soldiers marching together.
A history, social impact
•If you divide the world into countries that have a compulsory uniform in their schools and countries that do not, the history starts to reveal itself. Systems of education that evolved under colonial rulers of different types generally favour strict enforcement of the school uniform. That includes us.
•If you strain popular memories and scan old photographs, you will find that the idea of a school uniform has spread with urbanisation, prosperity and privatisation. Rural and small town schools seldom insisted on a daily uniform in the early years of Independence. It was required on certain days of the week and on special days. Gradually, when different types of private schools started, they demanded every day wearing of the prescribed uniform. Supply of uniforms for children of different schools offered business opportunities for local cloth merchants, tailors and shoe stores. Instead of offering competitive pricing, the uniform business encouraged local monopolies. In many cases, the schools assented to participate and asked parents to patronise a particular source.
Command-based system
•This short, and obviously generalised social history has little apparent relevance to the situation in Karnataka. Nicely hemmed in between the order of the Directorate and the court, a complete uniform code has evolved within a few weeks. Its regime now encompasses the classroom as well as the examination hall. And although Kendriya Vidyalayas (central schools) are not governed by any provincial government, the ones located in Karnataka have fallen in line. Their stance is not difficult to appreciate under the circumstances.
•Thus, one of India’s most literate and prosperous States, globally famous for its advancements in the so-called knowledge economy, has emerged as the crucible of educational orthodoxy and control. The school uniform has mutated into a new political tool, and as a means of curtailing the already limited autonomy of principals and teachers. To what extent the politics of the school dress will influence electoral outcomes will become a subject fit for research in the social sciences. Systematic study of the school dress, its history and fascination, was long overdue.
•It is interesting that the uniform controversy erupted in the secondary education system of a State that bypassed major policy reforms of the 1960s. Pre-university or junior colleges are left in only a small number of States now. Elsewhere in the country, the 10+2 model recommended by the Kothari Commission nearly 60 years ago prevails. It led to a significant reorganisation of the administrative system in education. Its full potential would have been realised had school principals and teachers been given a greater say and freedom in establishing the norms that govern institutional life.
•Another gain would have been a participatory role for the community in matters of day-to-day life at school. Had the vision of the Kothari report — sculpted by its Member-Secretary, J.P. Naik — been realised in its entirety, bureaucratic authority would have declined, creating greater room for school autonomy. A different kind of politics might have emerged, with the school as its intellectual resource. Karnataka might have been a highly fertile social ground for such alternative democratic polity because of its own history and propulsion towards decentralised governance.
•History took a different direction. The picture of a teacher or principal of a junior college in Karnataka stopping a student from entering the examination hall on account of a dress item will serve as a symbol of unkindness for many years to come. Hopefully, her predicament will also become a subject of discussion in teacher education colleges. The question it will raise is: ‘Did she voluntarily agree to be so unkind to a student in order to be compliant to orders?’ An administrative query might also be worth pursuing: ‘Did the Directorate’s order on the specified uniform extend to the examination hall?’ Notionally it did, but then it stretched the normal role of a school uniform — to provide a collective institutional identity. If that identity covers the examination hall, why do students need a hall ticket, establishing their individual identity? Let us hope the legal argument on this issue will go into these uncharted layers of the lives of learners and examinees.
Key distinction
•Even at this juncture, it is worth recalling a key distinction. A uniform is different from a dress code. A uniform is more prescriptive than a dress code. The latter may expect children and their parents to avoid using clothes flaunting status or wealth. A uniform, on the other hand, may well go as far as prescribing not just the colour but also the material and the design or cut. In older times, it was considered sufficient to recommend a dress code; nowadays even a fully defined uniform does not seem to suffice. The social ethos promotes conspicuous consumption (a phrase used by the economist, Veblen), and banquet halls serve this aim as efficiently as schools. Uniforms do help to maintain a veneer of equality in a society where inequality is pervasive.
•Education, however, is supposed to promote equal opportunities for all strata and sections of society in more substantial ways. One important contribution that education can make in this direction is to widen the scope of public debates, enabling the participation of all concerned, especially teachers. They are in far closer touch with students from different backgrounds and, therefore, will be more sensitive to what makes classroom life more comfortable for all.
•No modern philosopher has explained the problems that underlie this state of collective existence better than Sri Aurobindo. In The Ideal of Human Unity, he draws upon diversity in nature to explain why uniformity tempts us, but does not contribute to a sense of relatedness or unity. He extends his analysis to all aspects of social, cultural and political life, including international relations. In our present context, the issue underlying the turmoil in Karnataka has to do with the role of education and the manner in which it functions as a system. As the term ‘uniform’ suggests, a common dress conveys that all differences have been overcome.
•Had that been the case in Karnataka, the Directorate would not have to exert its pressure to seek compliance. The expectations this resilient institution forged under colonial rule harbours in its bureaucratic heart are best illustrated by a story J.P. Naik told me. The Kothari Commission had suggested ways to make classroom teaching less stereotyped, and more lively and child-centred. Soon after the Commission’s report received official approval, the Directorate in Maharashtra fired off a D.O. (i.e. demi-official) order to all schools that, as per the desire of the competent authority, henceforth, all teaching must be child-centred!
