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Reforms in Punjab
Towards a strong Navy |
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Proposed air fare hikes
Advances in N-power technology
Man in a pub
The move to make education more inclusive by reserving 25 per cent of the seats for the economically weaker sections in private schools
may be laudable. But the way the Chandigarh Administration has gone about implementing it has created more roadblocks and confusion that has resulted in a detrimental standoff between the government and independent schools that bodes ill for the
programme.
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Reforms in Punjab
It
is not enough for Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal to say that he will hold the deputy commissioners accountable for implementing development programmes. He must show results. Punjab’s bureaucrats spend more time kowtowing to political masters and grabbing plum postings through the use of political influence than doing the assigned job. Red tape and corruption have flourished under successive governments as no top gun gets punished. Each party has its list of favourite IAS officers, who capture key posts during its rule, and get sidelined when the other party comes to power. It is rare to see an IAS officer getting convicted as a united bureaucracy comes to the rescue of its beleaguered member. In this scenario it will be quite a surprise if responsibility for non-performance gets fixed on any of the powerful IAS officers. They understand and use the system so well that every act of omission and commission can be explained away or blamed on someone else. For instance, the poor implementation of the national rural job guarantee scheme in Punjab is blamed on low wages and poor response from the targeted beneficiaries. Not many deputy commissioners seem to have heard of governance reforms suggested by a government-appointed commission. Otherwise, how could they disregard the instructions of their own boss, the Chief Secretary, and insist on having affidavits from citizens? It was quite a commendable decision to authorise the automobile dealers in Punjab to issue permanent registration certificates to the buyers of non-commercial vehicles. But thanks to the babus, the decision remains on paper. The registration of vehicles is a source of easy money for officials — from top to bottom. Similarly, the decision to allow the college principals to issue the learner’s driving licence has remained unimplemented. It is one thing to talk of governance reforms and quite another to get them implemented. Why not hold a deputy commissioner responsible for any act of corruption in his/her office as well? Mr Sukhbir Badal’s governance skills will be on test.
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Towards a strong Navy
For
long, modern Indian military history and thinking has been land-focused, and therefore, army-centric. Much of this has to do with invasions on the country’s western front beginning with the Greeks and followed by various Muslim invaders. Yet, the irony is that while all land-based aggressors either plundered and departed or stayed on to rule and subsequently get absorbed, it were the invaders who arrived by sea who ended up colonising the country. They comprised the British, the Portuguese and, in small measure, the Danes. It is only in recent years that the Indian Navy, which celebrates Navy Day today, has begun getting due importance. From its first post-Independence military engagement in 1961 when it provided fire support to the Army’s landing troops during the liberation of Goa, the Navy has added to its history a long list of operations and engagements that include the blockade of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and bombing of Karachi Harbour during the 1971 war; engagements in the Maldives and Sri Lanka in the late 1980s: deployments in the Northern Arabian Sea during the Kargil war: relief missions to as far as Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Maldives following the horrific Tsunami; evacuation missions from war-torn Lebanon; anti-piracy operations off the coast of Somalia; and several UN peace support operations The Navy has emerged crucial to India’s strategic interests that extend from the Strait of Malacca to the Strait of Hormuz and other ‘choke points’ in the Gulf considering that it is located astride the world’s most critical sea lane of communication that is used for transporting a considerable quantum of trade, chiefly oil. The Navy has emerged as a valuable instrument of diplomacy by engaging in numerous bilateral and multilateral exercises and port visits. For India to be able to develop a credible second-strike capability, the soon-to-be inducted nuclear-powered submarines are critical. India could take a leaf from the navy of the country with the world’s largest Muslim population, Indonesia, whose motto is Jaleseva Jayamaha, a phrase derived from Sanskrit, meaning ‘On the sea we are glorious’ and whose crest is the Brahm-astra, which symbolises the ultimate weapon of mass destruction.
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Proposed air fare hikes
The
air fares proposed by some airlines on domestic routes reflect the kind of increases that would render travel by flights unaffordable for most middle class passengers, except when they are travelling on office or company account. To give a few examples, to have air passengers cough up Rs 10,500 for a Chandigarh-Delhi or a Chennai-Coimbatore flight or as much as Rs 40,000 for a Delhi-Bangalore or Delhi-Kolkata flight is indeed daunting and unrealistic. That this would cut air travel down drastically and thereby render a whole host of routes uneconomical is beyond question. A few years ago, when the launch of the first low-fare airline Air Deccan unleashed fares that compelled other airlines to fall in line, air passenger traffic had gone up considerably, with many middle class passengers who would have hitherto gone by rail switching to air travel. A hike in air fares on the scale now proposed would drive all such passengers scurrying back to rail travel. Mercifully, the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation, which is the industry regulator, is unlikely to give its nod to the proposals. Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel indicated on Wednesday that the DGCA will not allow any predatory or exorbitant pricing. He said, “if there is something lacking we will make necessary correction. We will not allow airlines to charge exorbitantly. We will not let them take advantage of a situation.” While this is reassuring, the government must study the tax structure more realistically and look at paring down the huge taxes it imposes on this sector. There is no denying that the bottom lines of airline companies are under great strain both due to the high cost of aviation fuel and the high incidence of taxes. Some increase in fares may indeed be inevitable but the government needs to guard against any cartelisation among airlines. Since there is consensus among airlines that tickets be made available cheaper if bookings are made well in advance, it is important that people plan their outings in proper time to take advantage of lower fares.
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It has been said of the world's history hitherto that might makes right. It is for us and for our time to reverse the maxim, and to say that right makes might. — Abraham Lincoln
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Advances in N-power technology
PRE-commissioning
trials of Kaiga 4 — India’s twentieth nuclear power reactor - denote a high water-mark in the Indian nuclear establishment’s mastering the pressurised heavy water reactor design. This is a moment of significance in India’s quest to harness nuclear science and technology for meeting the country’s energy needs - the core requirement for achieving Indian developmental targets. The journey from RAPS-1 in Rajasthan to Kaiga-4 in Karnataka has encompassed a sequential improvement in reactor design — in operational working, safety features and per unit costs — making India a global front runner in pressurised heavy water reactor (PHWR) design. In the process, the excellence in Indian design PHWRs was highlighted by Kakrapar 1 and 2 reactors being declared (in 1994-1995) as the best PHWRs in operation the world over. Having mastered 220MWe capacity PHW reactor design, with as many as 16 such PHW nuclear power reactors in operation, the Indian nuclear establishment has successfully upgraded reactor capacity to 540 MWe, embodied in Tarapur 3 and 4 reactors, now running at the availability factor of 92 to 95 per cent for the last three to four years. Further on, the next round of indigenous PHWR design has been upgraded to 700 MWe capacity reactors. As many as 10 such 700 MWe pressurized heavy water reactors are being lined up for construction. Construction of Kakrapar 3 and 4 and Rajasthan 7 and 8 PHWRs of 700 MWe capacity is already in full swing. Construction of six more such reactors is being processed — four at Kumharia in Haryana and two at Bargi in Madhya Pradesh. Construction of a further six to eight 700 MWe indigenous design PHWRs at Markandi in Orissa awaits the Centre’s clearance. Mastering PHWR design capability has, however, been achieved through the hard road of indigenous technology development over three decades - a road of scintillating achievements, hardly equaled anywhere. It entailed indigenous mastering of several key fuel cycle technologies and building equipment and infrastructure industries, a tough challenge by any standard. What are these key technologies, mastering of which is a prerequisite for the capability to build nuclear power reactors? To quote a leading nuclear scientist, “The first group of these technologies relates to basic disciplines needed for the design of the reactor such as reactor physics, structural design of reactor systems, core thermal hydraulics, and reactor control and instrumentation. In each one of these areas the challenges lie … in the development of computer codes, determination of physical properties relevant for full understanding of component behaviour, experimental validation, and testing under the simulation of actual conditions. (After acquiring a grip on these technologies), one is able to design, develop and upgrade any reactor system.” Paving the way for pressurised heavy water reactor design construction is just a half-way journey. The PHWR power generation programme requires several other major inputs, all of which pose searing challenges. These major inputs are: appropriate nuclear fuel development, building heavy water plants, and nuclear electronic instrumentation. A telescopic view shows monumental achievements in all these inputs by India’s nuclear establishment. Building the Nuclear Fuel Complex (NFC) at Hyderabad is a monumental achievement. The NFC tackles the challenges in providing appropriate nuclear fuel on an ever-enlarging scale — not only for the bulk of the reactors of PHWR design, but also for the Tarapur 1 and 2 reactors using enriched uranium fuel. En route, the NFC has, in delivering nuclear fuel that matches the perfection standards required of nuclear operations, done intensive research to produce the unique zirconium alloy cladding for fuel bundles of PHWR design requirement. Zirconium alloy produced by the NFC is also valuable for the manufacture of critical PHWR coolant channel components, and other reactor internal structures. Building heavy water plants for India’s PHWR programme has been an all-round success story — beginning from a low base, projecting India into world leadership in heavy water, both in terms of quantity, quality and price. The challenge of electronic instrumentation has been adequately met by the Electronics Corporation of India (ECIL). It would be an understatement to be content with lauding these fantastic achievements. More such prowess is needed for continuing the operation of the chain of power reactors — developing capability for life management of operating reactors. This is a challenging task involving R&D effort in areas like inspection techniques, analytical methodologies and computer codes for the assessment of integrity of components, on-line monitoring and diagnostics. Technologies have to be developed for repair, maintenance and replacement. Most of the critical components operate in high radiation environment, which adds a new dimension to the study of their ageing behaviour. That the challenge of life management of the chain of reactors has been met with great capability is demonstrated in tackling the operation of ageing Tarapur 1 and 2, functioning at high capacity factors beyond their life time. And delivering electricity to the Maharashtra electricity grid at the lowest charge per unit electricity. Dr Homi Bhabha’s three-phase nuclear programme envisages construction of PHWR design in the first phase, using the plutonium obtained from reprocessing reactor spent fue for fast breeder reactors in the second phase, and building next generation reactors using thorium as the nuclear fuel to launch the third phase. Kaiga-4, along with Kaiga-3 and RAPPS 5 & 6 denotes a high-end achievement of the first phase of this nuclear quest. The second phase has been launched with the 500 MW prototype fast breeder reactor being successfully constructed at Kalpakkam. Basic fast breeder technologies have been acquired with the construction of Fast Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR), operating successfully for 25 years, using indigenous design plutonium-uranium mixed fuel. The third phase of the Bhabha-ordained programme has also been initiated by developing appropriate fuel — uranium 233 — produced by irradiation of thorium by placing thorium as blankets in operating fast breeder reactors. The unique next generation design Advanced Heavy Water Reactor developed at BARC provides a short-cut to the third phase — the thorium phase. These multi-fold advances in nuclear technology mean India’s emergence as an advanced nuclear capability nation on the global arena. India has now to project itself as a nuclear exporter - not only of heavy water and radio isotopes for medical use, as of now, but also in PHWRs. With the aura of global nuclear renaissance spreading, India can look forward to provide reliable and sturdy 220 MWe and 540 MWe PHWRs to friendly developing countries under IAEA safeguards.n The writer is author of “India’s Tryst With the Atom”.
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Man in a pub This is Kishie’s story but I know he will forgive me for telling it. He is the foremost authority on motors and motoring in India. His work takes him all over the world. One year he decided to shun work and go abroad purely for a holiday. He went to a quiet, serene, suburban town in England. His only regular activity was a visit to the pub. It was during one such visits that he met Narinder Poonia. Kishie sat with his friends, happy and content, when the peace was suddenly shattered by an altercation. His friends, glanced casually towards the noise, smiled and said; “O! it’s only Poonia.” Kishie gradually drew out the entire Poonia story. Mr Poonia was a Punjabi migrant who had done extremely well for himself in the restaurant business. He had done so well that now he did nothing other than drink and get into arguments. Every evening two cops in plainclothes escorted him to the pub and, when he became aggressive, firmly took him home again. During the remaining part of his holiday Kishie saw a great deal of Poonia. He was every bit the stereotypical Punjabi businessmen of films and endless jokes. He was loud and brash and crass. His crudeness stood out against the politeness and decency of those around him. He had one virtue, his overwhelming generosity. But because of his crassness, even this did nothing to endear him to people. Kishie tolerated him for a while and was even the recipient of his hospitality. But then, he too found Poonia’s overbearing manner and crudeness too much, and studiously stayed away from him. Years later, Kishie boarded an international flight. He had settled down in his seat when he saw Poonia coming into the plane. Kishie prayed that Poonia would not notice him. But Poonia did, and after an exchange of boisterous greetings, bullied Kishie’s neighbour into changing seats with him. The flight was a nightmare. The loud, crude jokes and laughter went on and on. The serving of the meal provided temporary relief. Poonia pulled out some alloo ka paranthas and the strong pungent smell of mango pickle destroyed the delicate flavour of Kishie’s shrimps. Kishie could have throttled Poonia. Then the flight ran into bad weather and was diverted to a godforsaken airport in one of the central Asian Republics. The airport was not equipped to handle such an emergency. The heating was switched off, the toilets were soon clogged. Worst of all, the food supplies ran out. Kishie wished now, that he had fortified himself with something more substantial than the shrimps. He was famished. It was then that Poonia came into his own. He pulled out another huge packet of paranthas and passed them around without keeping even a morsel for himself. All Kishie’s hostility and antagonism fell away. Now whenever he goes to England, he makes it a point to meet up with Poonia, at least
once.
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The move to make education more inclusive by reserving 25 per cent of the seats for the economically weaker sections in private schools may be laudable. But the way the Chandigarh Administration has gone about implementing it has created more roadblocks and confusion that has resulted in a detrimental standoff between the government and independent schools that bodes ill for the
programme.
This
year the start of the admission period was marked by an excitement of an extremely different kind in private schools in the Chandigarh region. Starting in the second week of November, there was a rash of newspaper reports indicating that the implementation of the provisions of the Right to Education Act had run into a roadblock with the "law-breakers", the administrators of private schools, on one side and law enforcement agencies, the officials of the Education Department, ranged on the other. Both had their swords drawn and from the language of some of the statements issued, it seemed that both were determined to fight to the bitter end. If you were in sympathy with the beleaguered officer, you felt that it was the independent schools which were behaving in an unreasonable manner, to delay, if not to defer altogether, the implementation of the Act, which was perceived to be a miraculous cure-all for all the evils that plagued the school education system. As a layperson who no longer has any vested interest in the field of school education, I should have looked at the controversy with a touch of amusement. Considering the very casual approach that almost all state governments, with the possible exception of Kerala, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, have adopted towards school education, the confusion was, perhaps, inevitable. But school education in general is too serious a subject to be looked at with amusement under any circumstances, especially the ones that we are passing under now. So I decided to look at all the newspaper reports over the last ten days and try to arrive at the heart of the controversy because I was convinced that the truth, as always, lay somewhere in between the two different and conflicting viewpoints that were being projected. It is true that initially when the details of the provisions of the Right To Education Act were first made available, there was a great deal of resistance and hostility. It would be dishonest to claim that much of this resistance did not come because of the additional financial burden on the independent schools by the provision of subsidised education for 25 per cent of the school population. But over the months, a feeling has grown that if this is the only method by which quality education can be made available, even to a small fraction of the school-going population in India, so be it and the schools would then do their best to cope with the
additional financial burden. As a result the feeling that is sought to be created that the independent schools are opposed to the Right to Education Act in toto is false. Mr. H.S. Mamik has gone on record to say that all members of the Association are ready to implement the Act in totality. (Chandigarh Tribune, November 19, 2010). Both Mr Atul Khanna, Director of the Durga Das Foundation, which manages the Strawberry schools, and Mr. Harold Carver, Principal of St. Stephen's School, have also reiterated the commitment of the independent schools towards implementing the Act (Times of Chandigarh, November 17,2010). Contrary to what is being projected, the problem lies not in the hearts and minds of independent schools but in the government's failure to act in time. Even though the Right to Education Act came into effect on April 1, 2010, no effort was made by the Education Department to frame guidelines for the effective implementation of the Act -- as late as November 2010. And even this effort resulted only when matters were brought to a head. Advocate Pankaj Chandgothia and his wife Sangeeta have filed a petition in a court, stating that they have experienced the trauma, tension and worry which parents undergo during the admission process. "This tension is multiplied when the administration puts up roadblocks in the admission policy of schools, by way of introducing certain rules and regulations which were ambiguous, thus adding more confusion to the already tedious admission process". The plaintiffs also raised questions regarding the eligibility for the seats that have to be allotted through the EWS quota, Notice was issued to the UT Education Department and the Department, in turn sought time to frame guidelines ("Education Department seeks time to frame guidelines" -Chandigarh Tribune, November 9, 2010). In the absence of these guidelines, it was inevitable that there should be confusion regarding the admission procedure to be followed for admissions for the next academic session. The first point which caused confusion was the definition of the EWS from which 25 per cent of new admissions were to be made. What would be the parameters for establishing this section? In April 2010 Finance Secretary Saniay Kumar had told private schools that the government would conduct a survey, draw up a list of EWS students and the criteria for establishing whether the child can avail the benefit of reservation or not, and providing these lists to the schools. Till November no such surveys were made and naturally no lists were forthcoming. But in spite of this lapse, private schools remained committed to the implementation of this provision. Reema Dewan, Principal of DPS, voiced the general opinion when she said: "There is no clarity on the reservation quota for EWS students. After getting clear instructions from the department, we will increase the seats from 15 to 25%". And all through this period of confusion and uncertainty, the Education Department stepped up its efforts to put the blame for the situation entirely on the independent schools. Again and again its spokesperson accused the independent schools of attempting to evade the implementation of the Act. "Private schools have tried to evade reservations on the plea of not having proper guidelines but this will not be tolerated". (Mr P.K. Sharma - Chandigarh Tribune, November 11, 2010). To detract attention from their own glaring lapse and to further discredit the independent schools, the officials now mounted what can only be termed as vendetta against the schools. Suddenly the schools were being targeted on a number of fronts ranging from the question of over-priced uniforms and books, charging of capitation fees and overpricing of admission forms, all evils that need to be dealt with but which have little or no relevance to the implementation of the reserved quota. At last, pressed by the courts to do so, the government department finally drew up the criteria for defining the eligibility of candidates for the reserved quota. On November 16, the papers carried the details. Only people who had been residents of Chandigarh before the commencement of the academic term would be eligible. Proof of this residency would have to be provided in the form of ration card, voters card, copy of the electoral roll or valid driving licence. The annual family income of the applicant should not exceed Rs.1.5 lakh and proof of this would be provided in the form of a certificated duly signed by the SDM. In a complete reversal of his earlier stand, Mr. P.K. Sharma announced: "We have decided that no list of economically weaker children will be sent to the private schools and the schools can admit students who apply under the EWS category. " Thus, effectively, the department has shifted the onus of verifying the authenticity of the income certificate to the schools. Quite naturally this led Mr. Mamik to voice his protest against this onerous responsibility when he asked the question how the schools would be in a position to check whether a student came under the EWS category or not. (HT Live, Chandigarh, 12 November). In an equally surprising, U-turn Mr. Sharma went on to declare that if the seats for the EWS category were not filled, the schools would be free to fill them from the open category. His earlier stand had been the rather gleeful declaration that the seats in this quota would have to be filled and if the schools were not able to find children to fill this quota, the department would give them children. This quick change in stand is indicative of the confusion that prevails in the minds of the officers of the department on this issue. Another bone of contention is provided by the fact that independent schools, which got their land at a concessional rate, have already been mandated to admit 15 per cent children from the EWS category on total freeships. The independent schools now contend that the subsidy made available under the RTE should cover these students as well as the additional 10 per cent they will now be admitting. Typically, the officers of the department are adamant that the subsidy would only apply to the additional 10 per cent students that will now be admitted. I believe that both this issue and the issue of the definition of the EWS have now become issues that have been taken to court and I am sure that the courts will sort them out once and for all in a manner that benefits the poor children. I do hope, however, that the Education Department will have learnt from this entire confusion and not allow itself to lapse into smug complacency at its achievement in having provided the guidelines for
admissions under the EWS category. It must now move urgently to address the other
concerns of the independent schools as voiced by Mr. Mamik. No matter how "rich" private schools may appear to be in terms of state-of-the-art infrastructure and the "high" fee that they charge, we must remember that all good independent schools have little excess of income over expenditure to show at the end of the year. It costs money to remain good and even more to become better year after year. These schools will have no recourse but to pass on the burden, or part of the burden that the subsidised fees will impose on them, to the fee-paying students and in so doing, would be violating the Supreme Court directive which states that no child will pay for another child's education. Mr. Mamik has also given voice to concerns regarding the realisation of the subsidy from the government. One small example of these concerns is the question: What happens if children from the EWS category drop out of school during the term? Will the subsidy continue to be available or will it be withdrawn? The import of these questions can hardly be missed -- if the subsidy is not made available for the whole year it would mean a drop in income without a corresponding drop in expenses because most expenses incurred by schools are annual in nature and have to be maintained throughout the school
calendar year. The Education Department needs to get its act together quickly, make the representatives of independent schools party to its deliberation, listen to the concerns voiced by the independent schools patiently and sympathetically and work towards finding suitable answers to these concerns. The writer is an eminent educationist
who was principal of Yadavindra Public School, Mohali until recently
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If you were a supporter of the independent schools, you felt that the government, most visibly represented by the Secretary Education, was behaving in an arbitrary and dictatorial manner to impose, what were blatantly unreasonable conditions, on the independent schools, and considering the history of the relationship between the Secretary Education and independent schools, in the past, you could not be blamed for such an assumption.