Monday, January 04, 2016

All six north Indian cities for which data was available had worse air quality than Beijing in 2015, The Hindu’s analysis of official data shows. However the south’s comparatively better air quality levels hide some lethal truths.

Launched in April 2015, India’s National Air Quality Index portal produces an Air Quality Index (AQI) value for around 15 cities based on the most prominent pollutant at that time for that city. Pollution monitoring stations measure the concentration of six different pollutants – PM2.5 (particulate matter of diameter less than 2.5 micrometres), PM10, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and ozone.

For the AQI to be calculated, a station needs to have values for three or more pollutants, one of which needs to be particulate matter. The AQI is then classified along one of six categories – good, satisfactory, moderate, poor, very poor or severe.

Analysing AQI data for 2015, The Hindu found that Anand Vihar in east Delhi measured the worst air quality of any of the 25 monitoring stations for which adequate data was available, with just 15 per cent of its days being good, satisfactory or moderate.

Airoli in Navi Mumbai, on the other hand, had the best air quality – all of the days for which it recorded data were of good to moderate air quality. Averaging for multiple stations across cities, Varanasi had the fewest clean air days (52 per cent), followed by Delhi, Faridabad, Agra, Kanpur and Lucknow.

However, the index numbers might not capture the actual magnitude of pollution cities occasionally experience. BTM Layout in Bengaluru had the highest annual average concentration of PM2.5, The Hindu found, owing to massive intermittent spikes. The station’s annual average was a whopping 378 microgrammes per cubic metre in 2015 as against 157 for Anand Vihar.

CPCB officials in Bengaluru claimed that the spikes, however, are not due to construction or the increasing vehicular movement, but due to erratic power supply. “Every time the power supply is cut, our system shuts down. On restarting, erratic values start to be generated and this is sent directly to the AQI,” K. Karunakaran, Senior Technical Officer for the Bengaluru Zonal division told The Hindu. In April last year, meanwhile, state officials had claimed that the high numbers were a result of PM2.5 values being interchanged with carbon monoxide values.

On PM2.5, tiny particulate matter which is highly damaging to the lungs, the six north Indian cities were far worse off than Beijing was in 2015, a comparison with US Department of State data for China showed.

“The north has higher concentration of particulate matter due to dust and biomass burning, while the impact of combustion sources would be higher in the south”, Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director of the Centre for Science and Environment explained. Combustion sources, particularly from vehicles, are more toxic, and therefore, lower values of AQI in the south should not be ignored from a public health perspective. Particulate matter is the dominant pollutant in Indian cities, The Hindufound, followed by carbon monoxide. “Carbon monoxide is almost entirely from traffic,” Ms. Roychowdhury said.

Source: The Hindu, 4-01-2016

Why opt for a course abroad?

Indian students in the U.S., Australia, Italy, New Zealand and Canada give suggestions for improving higher education at home.

The number of Indian students going abroad for higher studies is rising every year. Not only are students attracted to countries such as the U.S., the U.K., Australia and New Zealand, where English is the national language, but also to Germany and Italy where English is not the official language. Why do Indians choose foreign universities for higher studies? Is it for prestige or for better career prospects or for any other specific reason? If the quality of education, reputation of the university, research facilities and career prospects could be cited as some of the reasons for Indian students to prefer a foreign university, then these questions arise: Is the higher education system in India not up to the international standard? Do our universities not give much importance to research? What ails higher education in India? What measures should be taken to make our higher education desirable and good, if not great?

Aravintakshan, pursuing his master’s in mechanical engineering at the University of Toronto, Canada, says the main reason for choosing the university was the high-end research facilities available at the university. His interest in research in the field of mechanics and materials and the high reputation of the university — ranked ninth in the world, made him choose it.

For Adlin Selestina, specialising in software engineering at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, it is not just the reputation of the university that mattered, but also courses that matched her interests and the freedom to choose from a wide range of courses.

Elson George had planned to do his master’s either in Germany or in Italy. After weighing the merits and demerits of studying at various universities in the two countries, he landed at the University of Siena, Italy, where he is specialising in electronics and telecommunication engineering. He cites the reputation of the faculty in the university as the main reason for his choice. Avanthi Gopal, pursuing her master’s in electrical engineering at California State University, Los Angeles, U.S., states two reasons for opting to do her master’s at the university. “CSU is a public university with better visibility and affordability and it ranks as one of the safest universities,” she says.

The uniqueness of the programme also makes students opt for a particular university. Vishnupriya, doing her master’s in Applied Science (Information Security and Assurance) at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia, says she chose the university because information security and assurance is a blend of both technical and management aspects of information security.

What do Indian students studying overseas think about our education system? They say that the higher education system in the country has both merits and demerits. India has many premier institutions such as IITs, NITs, IISc, IIMs, BITS Pilani and JNU. These institutions do prepare students to face the challenges of the real world. Higher education in India is affordable and the cost of education is cheaper than in many countries. Students with an underprivileged background can also seek admission at top institutions.

Challenges

However, the demerits outweigh the merits. Everyone agrees that our education system does not promote creativity and fails to focus on developing students’ practical knowledge. Adlin says that students do not have freedom to choose courses from within the programme and are not given an opportunity to develop their practical knowledge and skills. “A student pursuing ME Computer Science has to study all the subjects in the syllabus even when his/her interests are more specific. The curriculum encourages the students to study what is in the book rather than exploring the real world scenario in which those techniques/tools/concepts are used,” she says.

Aravintakshan is of the view that research takes a back seat in India. “Most universities lack research facilities and there is not sufficient fund for research. Lack of facilities for carrying out research is the main drawback in the Indian education system.”

Elson says that education in India is based on rote-learning and is exam-oriented. The system focuses more on marks than on assessing whether the students have understood the concepts. According to Avanthi, “Except a few top ones, most institutions do not focus on improving the quality of education.”

Transition

Indian students who move to a foreign country, after having studied in India for over 16 years, do not always find the transition easy. Getting oneself accustomed to a different education system takes time. “It took me one semester to adapt to the educational system here. The transition period was very tough. I underwent a rough patch in the beginning. Being a topper in undergraduation was of no use. Nothing seemed to help but knowledge about the practical applications of what I studied so far,” says Adlin.

Though most students experience an ‘academic shock’ because of a different education system in a foreign country, they get used to it quickly and gain confidence. “In Australia, the academic environment is totally different. Students are given freedom to choose what they want.

The courses are flexible and the pace of learning can be altered according to their comfort,” says Vishnupriya. She also adds that her university was very helpful in providing support to international students.

For Elson, the transition was not difficult as he was mentally prepared to face challenges. “The expectations of professors in Italy are very high. The system here is that the students need to clear a written exam and then an oral exam, which is not like the viva voice conducted in India. The oral exam is a personal interview between the professor and the student and only those who have deep knowledge of the subject can clear the exam.”

Although all of them initially find the transition difficult, they are positive about their experience in a new environment. They gain more confidence and insight by befriending students of different countries, joining different clubs and getting involved in various co-curricular activities.

Advantages

What are the positive aspects of the education system in the U.S., Australia, Italy, New Zealand and Canada? Some of the salient features of most universities in these countries are application-based learning, purposeful research, institution-industry interaction, 24x7 library and lab facilities, superfast WiFi on the campus and faculty support.

Students in Canadian universities acquire knowledge through research-oriented assignments and project work. “The focus is on developing students’ autonomy. Though professors are there to provide a helping hand, it is our work that helps us gain knowledge.”

Echoing the same view, Elson proudly states that the education system in Italy makes students independent and responsible for their learning.

American universities help students gain in-depth knowledge of the courses by providing them with opportunities to work on projects in a team, to present research papers and to interact with the industry. “We also get opportunities to meet and work with people from different places and culture and learn to celebrate diversity,” says Avanthi.

The students believe that India has the potential to compete with the top research-based universities such as the Harvard, MIT and the University of Toronto provided some radical steps such as changing the assessment pattern and providing adequate funds to research laboratories are taken by the HRD ministry.

Indian universities should also attract more foreign students. It is possible only if our policymakers and educationists are ready to undergo a paradigm shift and listen to the voices of education reformers.

Suggestions and recommendations:

There could be more practical learning and research-oriented assignments as these would kindle the inquisitive nature in the students.
Individuality of the student should be considered and appreciated rather than expecting a monotonous outcome from all students.
The courses should be structured with more flexibility.
Research should be given importance and students should be encouraged to carry out purposeful research. Research laboratories should be funded adequately.
Students’ knowledge and not their marks should be valued. Their knowledge and skills should be tested continuously through research-based assignments, individual and group projects, paper presentations and so on.
Facilities such as 24x7 library, high speed WiFi, 24x7 lab should be provided so that students can work anytime.
Institution-industry interaction should be made compulsory.
Cross-disciplinary courses should be introduced.

The author is Professor of English and Head, Higher Education at KCG College of Technology, Chennai. Email: rayanal@yahoo.co.uk

Keywords: study abroad, higher education, indian education system, higher studies, University of Toronto, difference between indian and UK education system

Source: The Hindu, 4-01-2016

All in the spirit of equality

Regardless of what our respective moral positions on policies of prohibition might be, and regardless of the potential efficacy of such programmes, the judgment on the validity of Kerala’s liquor policy militates against the fundamental promise of equal concern and treatment under the Constitution.

As virtually its last significant act of 2015, on December 29, the Supreme Court of India delivered its judgment on the validity of Kerala’s newest liquor policy, which seeks to prohibit the sale and service of alcohol in all public places, save bars and restaurants in five-star hotels. Regardless of what our respective moral positions on policies of prohibition might be, and regardless of the potential efficacy of such programmes, the new law, as is only plainly evident, militates against the fundamental promise of equal concern and treatment under the Constitution. In placing five-star hotels on a pedestal, the law takes a classist position, and commits a patent discrimination that is really an affront to the underlying principles of our democracy. Regrettably, though, the Supreme Court’s judgment, in The Kerala Bar Hotels Association v. State of Kerala, eschews even the most basic doctrines of constitutionalism, and, in so doing, allows the state to perpetrate a politics of hypocrisy.

Kicking off the excise policy
Since 2007, the Kerala government has sought to tighten its Abkari (excise) policy with a view to making liquor less freely available in the State, ostensibly in the interest of public health. At first, the State sought to amend the policy by permitting new bar licences to be granted only to those hotels that were accorded a rating of three stars or more by the Central government’s Ministry of Tourism. In 2011, these rules were further changed. This time, all hotels that had a rating of anything below four stars were disentitled from having a licence issued to serve alcoholic beverages on their premises. However, those hotels with existing licences were accorded an amnesty, which permitted them to have their licences renewed even if they did not possess a four-star mark.

The Supreme Court held, in a convoluted judgment, in March 2014, that the deletion of three-star hotels from the category of hotels eligible for a liquor licence was, in fact, constitutionally valid. The court provided a rather bizarre rationale for what appeared to be a palpable act of favouritism. Even hotels without a bar licence, it said, were entitled to three-star statuses under the Ministry of Tourism’s rules and regulations.

In August 2014, the Kerala government sought to further intensify its Abkari policy, by making its most drastic change yet, in purportedly trying to enforce complete prohibition. Only hotels classed as five star and above, by the Union government’s Ministry of Tourism, the new policy commanded, would be entitled to maintain a bar licence. To give effect to this rule, the Abkari Act, a pre-constitutional enactment that was extended in 1967 to Kerala, was duly amended, and the State’s excise commissioners issued notices to all hotels of four stars and below, which served liquor, intimating them of the annulment of their respective bar licences.

The new policy was immediately challenged in a series of petitions filed in the Kerala High Court by hotels of various different denominations. In May last year, after a division bench of the High Court had ruled in favour of the State, the hotels filed appeals before the Supreme Court. They raised two primary grounds of challenge, both predicated on fundamental rights guaranteed under Part III of India’s Constitution.

Fundamental rights

First, the hotels submitted that in cancelling their bar licences, and in prohibiting them from serving and selling liquor on their premises, the State had infracted their right, under Article 19(1)(g), to practise any profession, or to carry on any occupation, trade or business. Second, they pleaded, in separately categorising hotels of five stars or more, and in permitting those hotels alone to serve liquor in public, the new Abkari policy had made an unreasonable classification, by treating persons on an equal standing unequally, and therefore violated Article 14 of the Constitution.

The first argument was admittedly going to be a difficult one to maintain. The liberty to freely carry on any trade or business is subject to reasonable restrictions that may be imposed by the state in the interest of the general public. The Constitution itself, in Article 47, requires States to make an endeavour towards improving public health, including by bringing about prohibition of the consumption of liquor. Therefore, quite naturally, any policy in purported furtherance of such goals would almost always be viewed as a legitimate limitation on any freedom to do business. In fact, in 1994, a constitution bench of the Supreme Court, in Khoday Distilleries Ltd. v. State of Karnataka, explicitly questioned whether any right to trade in alcoholic beverages even flowed from our Constitution.

“The State can prohibit completely the trade or business in potable liquor since liquor as beverage is res extra commercium,” wrote Justice P.B. Sawant. “The State may also create a monopoly in itself for trade or business in such liquor. The State can further place restrictions and limitations on such trade or business which may be in nature different from those on trade or business in articles res commercium.” Therefore, the court, in The Kerala Bar Hotels Association case, perhaps, had little choice but to hold the Abkari policy as being in conformity with the right under Article 19(1)(g).

Such a holding, though, ought not to have precluded the court from scrutinising the liquor policy with further rigour. The mere fact that a commodity is res extra commercium — a thing outside commerce — does not give the state absolute power to make laws on the subject in violation of the guarantee of equal treatment. While a law might represent a valid constraint on the freedom to trade, it nonetheless must confirm to other constitutional commands, including Article 14, which assures us that the state shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India.

The point of classification

Equality, as the legal philosopher Ronald Dworkin once wrote, is a contested concept. But it is however, in its abstract form, a solemn constitutional pledge that underpins our democracy. The Supreme Court, in some of its earliest decisions, interpreted Article 14 as forbidding altogether any law that seeks to make distinctions based on class, except where reasonable classifications are made in a manner that does no violence to the provision’s core promise. The court also crystallised a basic two-prong test to determine what constitutes such a classification: there must be, it held, an intelligible differentia, which distinguishes persons or things that are grouped together from others left out of the group, and this differentia must have a rational relation to the object sought to be achieved by the law in question.

Hence, in determining whether Kerala’s Abkari policy violated the right to equality, the question was rather simple: has the State made a reasonable classification in consonance with Article 14 by permitting only five-star hotels and above to serve liquor? When we apply the test previously laid down by the Supreme Court, there is little doubt that the distinction that the policy makes between hotels on the basis of their relative offering of luxuries constitutes a discernible intelligible differentia between two classes of things. But a proper defence of the law also requires the government to additionally show us how this classification of five-star hotels as a separate category bears a sensible nexus with the object of the law at hand. The changes in the liquor policy were ostensibly brought through with the view of promoting prohibition, and thereby improving the standard of public health in the State. Now, ask yourself this: how can this special treatment of five-star hotels possibly help the Kerala government in achieving these objectives?

The Supreme Court, as it happened, made no concerted effort to answer this question. This could be because, however hard we might want to try, it’s difficult to find any cogent connection between classifying five-star hotels separately and the aim of achieving prohibition. The court, therefore simply said, “There can be no gainsaying that the prices/tariff of alcohol in Five Star hotels is usually prohibitively high, which acts as a deterrent to individuals going in for binge or even casual drinking. There is also little scope for cavil that the guests in Five Star hotels are of a mature age; they do not visit these hotels with the sole purpose of consuming alcohol.” Given the palpable inadequacies of such a justification — and also given its validation of a manifestly classist position — the court also used the State government’s excuse of tourism as a further ruse to defend the law. But when a policy exists to promote the prohibition of the consumption of liquor, it’s specious to use an extraneous consideration, in this case, tourism, to defend a classification made in the law, regardless of how intelligible such a classification might be.

Prohibition often has a polarising effect on the polity. But the criticisms of the ineffectuality of such policies apart, Kerala’s new law ought to have been seen for what it is: paternalism, at its best, and, at its worst, an extension of an ingrained form of classism that is demonstrably opposed to the guarantee of equality under our Constitution. The judgment in The Kerala Bar Hotels Association case is therefore deeply unsatisfactory, and requires reconsideration.

(Suhrith Parthasarathy is an advocate practising in the Madras High Court.)

Keywords: Kerala liquor ban, Abkari policy, The Kerala Bar Hotels Association case

Source: The Hindu, 4-01-2016

UGC plans BSc, MSc courses in yoga for public-funded universities

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has planned to induct yoga into the curriculum of public-funded universities, hoping to cash in on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s push for the ancient discipline and its growing popularity across the world.

The apex regulatory body for higher education has prepared a proposal to introduce BSc and MSc in yoga in all 40 central universities from the 2016-17 academic session and, later, in state and deemed universities, sources said.

“It is imperative that Indian universities engage themselves in strengthening scientific evidence of the positive effects of yoga and meditation on human health. In order to pursue education and practice in yoga, it is proposed to establish centres and departments of yoga in the public-funded universities,” the proposal says.

Sources: Hindustan Times, 4-01-2016

Only 33% of Muslims work, lowest among all religions

Subodh Varma

Buddhists Are Highest At 43%

Muslims have the lowest share of working people -about 33% -among all religious communities in India. This is lower than the nationwide average work participation rate of 40%.The figure for Jains and Sikhs stands at 36% each. Buddhists, comprising mostly Dalits who embraced Buddhism in the 20th century , have a high working population share at 43%. For Hindus, the figure is 41%. Drawn from the Census 2011 data, the statistics show a faith-based profile of India's 482 million strong workforce.The figures haven't changed much from the 2001 Census, indicating a stasis in the economic status of communities.
The key reason behind low work participation rates in some communities seems to be the low work participation of women. Women's participation is just 15% for Muslims and Sikhs, and even lower at 12% among Jains. Among Hindus, there are 27% working women, while it is 31% for Christians and 33% for Buddhists. Several smaller faiths fall under `Other Religions'. These are mostly tribal communities from peninsular India and the northeastern states. Their work participation rates are markedly different from other communities. Nearly 48% of members of this section work, more than any of the country's six major religious communities. Women's work participation is also highest in tribal communities, at nearly 44%.
Census data also provides a picture of how many are engaged in what kind of work. For the country , 55% of workforce is in agriculture, as cultivators or as agricultural workers. The Census classifies all occupations in industry and services as `Other', a convention since British times. This makes up 41% of all workers.Only 13% of Jains are involved in agriculture, the lowest for any community .
While 41% of Muslims and Christians work in agriculture, this goes up to 47% among Sikhs and to 54% for Buddhists. The highest share of workers involved in agriculture is among Hindus, at 57%.
The Jain community is predominantly working in industry and services. Muslims too are largely concen trated in these sectors as are Christians. Muslims are also notably more involved in the `Household Industry' category which is mainly artisanal work like carpentry , black-smithing etc.
Among tribal communities classified under `Other Religions', over 80% of their members are working in agriculture, indicating their poor economic status.

Source: Times of India, 4-01-2016

Friday, January 01, 2016

New Year Postcard-1: A new beginning in school

Dear Prime Minister

For the last 20 years, I have been a teacher at a government school in Dadri. A resident of Jarcha village in Gautam Buddh Nagar district, I never saw my district make the headlines until last year.

In 2015, the lynching incident in Bisara village was a wake-up call not just for Dadri but for the entire country. I am 57 years old and in my lifetime, I have not witnessed a more shameful incident here where Muslims and Hindus have lived in harmony for decades. The incident was shameful enough but the manner in which it has been used for political interests is even worse. Not just one district but the entire country has been shamed.

I don’t know what really happened, whether or not a cow was slaughtered — what I know I have learnt from media reports. But even if they (Akhlaq and his son Daanish) had killed a cow, no one has the right to take the law into their own hands. The Indian Constitution applies to everyone. If such an incident did take place, a case should have been registered against them by the police. All I know is, we need to uphold the basic values of humanity and brotherhood. No religion — mazhab, deen, dharma — speaks of bringing an end to brotherhood. When brotherhood ends, so does humanity. One of the most critical tenets of Islam stresses the importance of brotherhood.

As headmaster of the government-run Junior High School in Khangoda village, Dadri and a teacher for two decades, I feel that the only way in which we can combat these attempts to tear apart the social fabric of our country is through education. Our children need to be taught the values of communal harmony, brotherhood and tolerance. After the incident in Bisara, we talked of these values to our pupils.

I hope that we do not witness or hear about such an incident in 2016.

Pradhan Mantriji, another serious concern, which has crippled schools like ours in rural areas, is a lack of facilities and resources. Against a student strength of 64, my school currently has just two teachers, including me. While I teach science and mathematics to children of Classes VI to VIII, I am also the headmaster of the school. Most of my time goes in administrative work and I get only an hour or so each day to teach.

Government schools have an acute shortage of staff. There have been times when my school has operated with just one teacher. In rural areas, the government should provide more facilities to students and teachers. Most teachers don’t want to work in schools in rural areas, which lack basic facilities of transportation and housing.

Our primary goal should be to provide education to as many children as possible. However, government teachers are regularly given other work like election duty and drawing up voters’ lists. Education has taken a backseat. The government should spend more on education. We should perform our duties for which we draw salaries from the government. We need more facilities: Classrooms, labs, vocational courses.

The state, the administration should encourage village folk to send their children to school. Around 80 per cent do enrol their children but they don’t care whether or not their children attend school. Often, we have to visit the students’ homes to ensure that they do not drop out.

With the implementation of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, there has been progress in the enrolment ratio. Almost 90 per cent of children are enrolled in schools now. However, the issue of drop-outs is still serious. We need more awareness campaigns by the government to ensure that children don’t drop out of school.

I hope more parents are encouraged to send their children to school and that the standard of education in government schools is raised so that parents admit their children to them instead of private schools. Many parents, especially from the poorer sections, struggle to make ends meet in order to send their children to private schools. These private schools are run like businesses — poor people cannot get their wards enrolled in them.

Even in this modern age, there are no schools for girls, especially in areas with a large Muslim population. In Jarcha, there is not even a higher secondary or inter-college institution for boys. Girls face more problems — there are no decent transport facilities for them. I urge you, please let minorities have better access to education in the coming year.

In the next year, I hope the government helps set up “vikas samitis” in villages. These committees should have representatives from all communities as well as women representatives. They should meet at least once a month to discuss social issues and devise way to maintain communal harmony.

I am a teacher, first and last. My main goal is ilm (knowledge): Taleem lena aur taleem dena (to nurture and to be nurtured) is of primary importance. There is no greater gift than that of learning.

Even if a single child is successful in life, the teacher’s life’s goal has been fulfilled.

From Dadri

Source: Indian Express, 1-1-2016

Followers

Monday, January 04, 2016

Economic and Political Weekly: Table of Contents

Vol. 51, Issue No. 1, 02 Jan, 2016

Air in Indian cities fouler than in Beijing

Anand Vihar in east Delhi reported the most pollution