Prashant Mavani, is an expert in current affairs analysis and holds a MSc in Management from University of Surrey (U.K.). Above all he is a passionate teacher.
Centre s decision to put unruly air passengers on a no-fly list ranging from three months to a lifetime, depending upon the gravity of the offence, is stringent but welcome. The list will be maintained by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, and be put in the public domain. Punishment is to be decided by an internal committee of the airline in question based on evidence produced by both the airline and the passenger within 30 days. During which time the passenger would not be allowed to fly. No compensation will be offered to the passenger in case the allegations of the airline are proven wrong. Aggrieved passengers can appeal within 60 days to an appellate committee. Other airlines will not, however, be bound by one airline s no-fly ban.
In India, these appear necessary in particular because of a. widespread culture of entitlement, especially among VIPs b. growing incidents of air rage No-fly list system, has been adopted by other countries too. How it should be used? Preventive measures Should be used as the last resort Should remain in the books as a deterrent Passengers are not always wrong The record of some airlines in ensuring service on time and avoiding over-booking of tickets that result in last-minute cancellation of tickets is not satisfactory. Airlines must be careful not to hold out the threat of the no-fly list to keep passenger frustration in check, and thereby evade giving a full explanation for their mistakes Good opportunity Fuel prices are down, if services are improved then airline industry will grow.
On August 21, when President Donald Trump unveiled his new regional strategy for Afghanistan, it was in large part a reiteration of the above speech in terms of strategic objectives. Interactions with people close to the subject, including Ahmad Daud Noorzai, head of the office of President Ashraf Ghani of Afghanistan, and Joshua White, who was Director for South Asian Affairs at Barack Obama s National Security Council, provide some clues. Junking timelines Mr. Trump s announcement of military commitment without a deadline in Afghanistan could be a game changer, both agree. The word on the street is that Afghans are happy. This allows us to create a culture of peace, to build institutions and improve delivery of public services, Ahmad Daud Noorzai,
The most important reason for Afghanistan s failure to stabilise has been the uncertainty around security. Not announcing a timeline is wise strategy, feels Mr. White. USA could not have fundamentally changed the balance of power without a large number of forces there for ever. When your commander-in-chief says to go after the terrorists, the nature of the military presence changes. More than the number of American boots on the ground, the nature and quality of America s military presence has changed, and this could make a difference.
Pressure on Pakistan The administration decided to keep $255 million in military assistance to Pakistan in suspension until Islamabad demonstrates action against terrorist groups. Defence Secretary James Mattis did not provide certification that Pakistan was taking action against the Haqqani network, and held back $50 million from reimbursements to Pakistan for logistical support for the war in Afghanistan. This is a continuation of the Obama administration s policy. Increased pressure is likely to push Pakistan into a corner, unlikely to deliver results in terms of cooperation on critical security issues. The insurgency in Afghanistan is largely organically funded. The safe havens help the Taliban, but I don t think they are vital to the Taliban. So even if the pressure on Pakistan produces results, I don t think its impact on the situation in Afghanistan will be significant says Mr. White.
Mr. Ghani is trying to impress upon Pakistan to make the best use of Afghanistan s economic potential: We have excellent relations with the countries on the north, west and south. New trade routes and opportunities are opening up and Pakistan has a lot to gain from it all. Expectations from India Mr. Trump called upon India to play a larger role. USA termed India as Afghanistan s most reliable partner. USA would like India to help in working with Afghanistan s domestic factions in widening and buttressing the political legitimacy of the current government, and helping it improve its governance. For his part, Mr. Noorzai finds India s increasing role in Afghanistan very welcome. The Indian private sector must come to Afghanistan, he said. Start your business, make your profit. We could start with IT, we have so many needs.
From 2012 onwards the Obama administration was open to New Delhi playing any role that it could agree with the Afghan government. But there is also a risk, because feeding Pakistan s anxiety about Indian influence in Afghanistan is not necessarily helpful to either Washington or New Delhi. There is an unmistakable level of continuity between the Obama and Trump administrations in viewing the India-Pakistan rivalry as a potential nuclear catastrophe. Not exactly regional Russia has termed the strategy a dead end China has said Pakistan should be on board. The administration has acknowledged that Russia will work to undermine America in Afghanistan, but believes that China is interested in stability in Afghanistan. The new strategy does not appear to be addressing issues that are rising here.
India to further aid Afghan troops India agreed to enhance existing assistance to Afghan security forces, including in capacity building and training of Afghan soldiers in India, during a Partnership Council meeting on Monday, even as Afghanistan s Foreign Minister suggested a larger role for India in regional diplomacy. We hope also that India, as a good friend of other countries in the region like Russia and Iran, can convince those countries to work with the Afghan government to support the peace process in Afghanistan. Ms. Swaraj announced 500 new scholarships for children and kin of the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces (ANDSF) to honour their sacrifices for the cause of entire humanity and ensuring the safety of Indians working in Afghanistan. India-Afghanistan Friendship dam, Parliament, road and rail etc.
Bullet trains were commissioned more than five decades ago and they are the symbol of Japan s engineering prowess. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe will arrive in Gujarat later this week to lay the foundation stone for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR) project also known as the Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train. India has already experienced success in major projects in the past, which includes building the Golden Quadrilateral and upgrading its national highways, which has added to GDP, created efficiencies in transportation, provided jobs and improved rural development through enhanced connectivity.
3 advantages from the MAHSR project 1. economic benefits, including infrastructure development and job creation 2. technological development, in which Indian companies imbibe the new technologies and potentially also become suppliers to HSR contracts worldwide 3. cultural transformation through a demonstrated ability to implement large projects and improve safety. Investment in infrastructure development has always acted as a catalyst in the economic growth of India. This project could provide an important boost to public investment. The soft funding of the project by the Japanese government is an additional advantage, which brings the two countries together and provides significant economic benefits.
The HSR system is more energy- and fuel-efficient. Studies show that HSR systems are around three times more fuel-efficient than aeroplanes and five times more fuel-efficient than cars. Given the traffic density in this corridor, this project could lead to a significant reduction in India s carbon footprint. A dedicated High Speed Rail training institute is being developed at Vadodara. Its successful and timely completion could act as a powerful catalyst to create a culture of efficient project implementation in India.
Government, after all, is a community of individuals who constitute it. Society Individual Government Individual Group Individual In India, however, the current trends would indicate that state seems to take an increasingly apathetic stand on fundamental rights issues in legal adjudication. Three recent examples are instructive.
1) Marital rape On the question of criminalisation of marital rape, the Centre made several regressive arguments before the Delhi High Court. It was argued that what might appear to be marital rape to an individual wife might not appear so to others. Only non-consensual sexual acts will qualify as rape and not all sexual acts. It is consent that reverses the equation. The second claim was that penalising marital rape would destabilise the institution of marriage. In fact, penalising marital rape will clean the institution of marriage. Whatever the benefits of collective institutions are, the value of individual liberty ought to triumph them.
2) The Akhila Case The Supreme Court is currently examining the legality of an unusual judgment passed by the Kerala High Court of nullifying the marriage of a 24-year-old girl called Akhila/Hadiya. Akhila s parents, who were the petitioners, argued that their daughter had been subject to indoctrination and forced conversion to Islam and that she was unable to take an independent decision in the matter. Without any proper medical examination or other authentic evidence, the government argued that Akhila was unable to make an informed decision about her own life. It is important to respect the fact that individuals can also make wrong decisions. Only when the state system ensures individual self-governance can collective democratic self-governance be meaningfully exercised. Even further, it is correctly argued by scholars that the legitimacy of the state is heavily dependent on its respect for individual autonomy.
3) The privacy case The Supreme Court verdict on privacy was certainly momentous in Indian constitutional law. The then Attorney General argued that privacy does not enjoy the status of a fundamental right under the Constitution. Constitutions are not to be read like commercial contracts. Constitutions talk about rights in an abstract language and the Indian Constitution is no exception. Article 21 merely states about non-deprivation of life or personal liberty. Merely because a right is not expressly conferred by the Constitution, it does not cease to exist. Many unwritten rights are, after all, manifestations of written provisions. Written Unwritten
The grand narrative of modern Indian history has come to be dominated by the triumvirate of Gandhi, Nehru and Ambedkar. No doubt, it is a well-deserved recognition. But it also relegates several freedom fighters and national leaders to the status of foot soldiers. Our collective amnesia does more injustice to all those from the British Isles and associated with the Raj. Some were oppressive but some were good too. Time for a forgiving gaze Sir Arthur Cotton who built a barrage on river Godavari (and several others) is gratefully remembered by people in coastal Andhra Pradesh. He is called a Modern Bhagirath and his statue is kept in a temple. Newspapers in the State carry special articles on occasion.
It is natural that a generation remains bitter towards an oppressive regime, foreign or home-grown, that it managed to overthrow. And the subsequent generations would be more forgiving, if not forgetful. It is emblematic of the times that we now witness the reverse in India. Hardly a generation ago, it would be natural for a history teacher to extol the greatness of this or that Briton who may have happened to be associated with the Raj and faced no consequences. Nowadays, even the students would drag such a teacher out of the classroom and teach him a lesson.
In 1834 Macaulay accepted an invitation to serve on the recently created Supreme Council of India, foreseeing that he could save from his salary enough to give him a competence for life. He played an important part, throwing his weight in favour of the liberty of the press and of the equality of Europeans and Indians before the law. He inaugurated a national system of education, Western in outlook, and as president of a commission on Indian jurisprudence he drafted a penal code that later became the basis of Indian criminal law.
Macaulay s bequest to India Macaulay in 1833 was the first on record among those ruled India to reject caste and communal distinctions in categorical terms: the worst of all systems was surely that of having a mild code for the Brahmins while there was a severe code for the Sudras. India has suffered enough already from the distinction of castes, and from the deeply rooted prejudices which that distinction has engendered. God forbid that we should inflict on her the curse of a new caste, that we should send her a new breed of Brahmins! Eminent historian K.M. Panikkar said he was India s new Manu. The software revolution in India might never have happened had it not been for Macaulay s Minute. And India might not have still been united had it not been for that Minute either. -Ramachandra Guha Panikkar and Mr. Guha highlight Macaulay s two gifts to India, the rule of law and English language; they have played and still play a critical role in building and keeping India as a functioning democracy.
For Macaulay, the following ought to be the mission statement of British rule in India: It would be, on the most selfish view of the case, far better for us that the people of India were well governed and independent of us, than ill governed and subject to us; that they were ruled by their own kings, but wearing our broadcloth, and working with our cutlery, than that they were performing their salams to English collectors and English magistrates, but were too ignorant to value, or too poor to buy, English manufactures. To trade with civilised men is infinitely more profitable than to govern savages. The case in point is the recent controversy over Mahatma Gandhi s quite uncharitable comments on Black Africans and consequent demands in several countries from Ghana to South Africa to pull down his statues. The shortcomings of these two great men are not good enough to deny them of their rightful place in history. Can we continue to ignore Macaulay s foundational contributions towards making modern India?
In an India of Macaulay s vision Dalits would enjoy equal rights and freedoms while gau rakshaks are put behind bars. And India would trade with Britain as an equal.
Aviation, Home Ministries spar over regulating drones The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has raised a few objections to the Home Ministry s bid to frame a new law to regulate unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), loosely referred to as drones. The Director-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has told the Home Ministry that licensing and safety of all aircraft manned or unmanned was their domain Recently, the Home Ministry circulated a draft law to regulate the low-flying objects for inter-ministerial consultations. The DGCA has the capacity to detect aircraft of a particular size and [which] fly at a certain altitude. It has radars to detect their presence. The unmanned objects, if they fly low, cannot be detected by any radar. It has security and privacy issues, a Home Ministry official said
Centre will respect J&K s special status, says Rajnath Home Minister Rajnath Singh has said, the Centre is committed to resolving issues and problems of Jammu and Kashmir to ensure peace and development of all the people in the State. Addressing a press conference in Srinagar today, he expressed willingness to meet each stakeholder to resolve long-standing issues of the State. The Home Minister declared that the government-led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is always willing to talk to all stakeholders, including separatists, to resolve issues with an open heart and mind. Rajnath Singh assured that government will not go against the peoples sentiments on the issues of protection of J&K s special status under Article 35 A of the Constitution. He announced that Centre will accommodate the cost escalation in the projects under 80 thousand crore rupees PM s Development Package that has crossed more than 01 Lac crore. Rajnath Singh expressed satisfaction over the considerable improvement in the overall security situation in Kashmir Valley. He appealed countrymen and people abroad to visit Kashmir as there is no threat to the tourists.
Toilets first, temples later: PM Paying tributes to Swami Vivekananda on the anniversary of his speech at the World Congress of Religions in Chicago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday juxtaposed it with the 9/11 terror attack in the U.S., saying the World Trade Center tragedy would not have taken place had the message of love and brotherhood of the speech been understood. Referring to Vivekananda s teachings, the Prime Minister highlighted the fact that the saint was never afraid to speak his mind and prioritised public service over ritualism. Pooja paath se Bhagwan nahin miltey, sewa karo toh prabhu prapt hotey hain [you do not come close to God by rituals and prayers, but by serving the people], the Prime Minister said. Do we even have the right to chant Vande Mataram today? I know my question will hurt some people, but how can we chant Vande Mataram while at the same time soiling the nation with paan [betel] spittle? Those who keep the country clean are the real sons and daughters of the nation. We have to build shauchalaya [toilets] before devalaya [temples], he added.
Nirmala finds a place on key panels Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who was elevated in the recent Cabinet restructuring exercise, the government has not only included her in the highprofile Cabinet Committee on Security but also made her a full-time member of the Cabinet Committees on Economic and Political Affairs. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will hold meeting with three Services Chiefs on a daily basis to review defence preparedness and allied issues of strategic interests. Ms Sitharaman will also have a daily meeting with the Defence Secretary as a new practice for quick decision making. The Defence Acquisition Council meeting will be held on a fortnightly basis to ensure time-bound and speedy disposal.
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