Indian Air Force inducts another batch of Young Leaders at A Grand Ceremony held at Air Force Academy

A Combined Graduation Parade was held at Air Force Academy, Dundigal today, the 21^st December 2019, which marked the successful culmination of training for 127 Flight Cadets of Flying and Ground duty branches of the IAF. The Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria PVSM, AVSM, VM, ADC was the Reviewing Officer of the Combined Graduation Parade, where he conferred the ‘President’s Commission’ on the graduating Flight Cadets who successfully completed their professional training. Twenty one women officers joined the growing number of women in the IAF. On this day the President’s Commission is formally conferred on these young and tough air warriors after a long period of rigorous training. The graduation ceremony was undertaken through a smart parade and administration of Oath. The parade commenced with the flag bearing skydivers of the famous Akash Ganga team, spreading the tricolor over the blue skies of Dundigal. The Air Warrior Drill Team once again put up a sharp synchronized performance, delighting the spectators with their handling of weapons. The event was witnessed by the proud family members and friends of passing-out cadets. Several senior serving and retired officers from the three services were present.

The Reviewing Officer was received by Air Marshal AS Butola, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Training Command and Air Marshal J Chalapati, Commandant Air Force Academy. The Reviewing Officer was presented with a ceremonial Salute by the Parade followed by an impressive March Past. The highlight of the Parade was the ‘Pipping Ceremony’, where the Flight Cadets were awarded their ‘Stripes’ (Air Force rank) by the Chief Guest. They were then administered the ‘Oath’ by the Commandant of the Academy in the presence of the Reviewing Officer and other dignitaries.

After the ‘Pipping Ceremony’ the Reviewing Officer gave away awards to the Flying Officers who excelled in various disciplines of training.Flying Officer ArunabhaChakrabortyfrom the Flying Branch was awarded the ‘Sword of Honour’ and President’s Plaque for standing First in Overall Merit in the Pilots’ Course. Flying Officer Aayush Pandey and Flying Officer Purnendu Kumar Singh were awarded President’s Plaque for being first in Overall Merit in Navigation and Ground Duty branches respectively.

Later, addressing the Parade, the Reviewing Officer complimented the newly Commissioned ‘Flying Officers’ fortheir immaculate turn out, precise drill movementsand high standards of parade.Congratulating the passing-out cadets, the Chief of the Air Staff said, “It is a matter of great pride for me to witness this momentous occasion of the Combined Graduation Parade of the Indian Air Force”. He emphasized in his address the importance of core values of the Indian Air Force namely, Mission, Integrity and Excellence and exhorted the newly commissioned officers to uphold these values in professional as well as personal lives. On this occasion, he also conveyed his congratulations to all the proud parents who supported their wards and encouraged them to pursue their dreams.
Aerobatic displays by the Suryakiran Aerobatic Team(SKAT) and Sarang, the Helicopter Display Team held the audience spellbound with their gaze fixed upwards watching a painting being created right in front of their eyes. An impressive flying display by the Pilatus PC-7 trainer aircraft added to the ceremonial setting of the occasion.

The grand ceremony culminated with the newly Commissioned Officers marching-out in two columns in slow march to the traditional notes of ‘Auld Lang Syne’(the poignant farewell tune played by Armed Forces of the world when bidding adieu to colleagues and comrades), acknowledging the first salute given to them by their immediate juniors. They marched in step past the reviewing officer with synchronous strides. The newly commissioned officers passed through the portals from where the best Pilots and Ground Duty Officers of IAF have begun their journey to take-on the future assignments and challenges. An unflinching determination was visible in the eyes of the young officers to surmount the challenges and to ‘Touch the Sky with Glory’.

Telephone Call between Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and H.E. Charles Michel, President of the European Council

Prime Minister received a call today from H.E. Charles Michel, President of European Council.

Prime Minister warmly congratulated Mr. Michel on assumption of the office of the President of the European Council and conveyed best wishes for a successful tenure. Prime Minister expressed confidence that India-EU partnership will be further strengthened under the leadership of Mr. Michel.

Recalling his meeting with Mr. Michel in New York on the sidelines of UNGA earlier this year, PM mentioned that India was committed to making progress on issues of mutual interest, including BTIA, Connectivity Partnership, Europol, Euroatom, Counter Terrorism, Climate Change, etc.

Both the leaders agreed to hold the next India-EU Summit at an early opportunity next year in Brussels. Dates in this regard will be decided through diplomatic channels.

Telephone Call between Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and H.E. Charles Michel, President of the European Council

Prime Minister received a call today from H.E. Charles Michel, President of European Council.

Both the leaders agreed to hold the next India-EU Summit at an early opportunity next year in Brussels. Dates in this regard will be decided through diplomatic channels.

Strengthening the family system is the need of the hour: Vice President

The Vice President of India, Shri M Venkaiah Naidu today stressed the need to promote the family system, and its valuesright from school days and teach children the need to respect elders. He urged immediate family members of the elderly and community at large to accord the highest priority to their care and wellbeing.

Addressing the gathering after releasing the book, “Health and Well Being in Late Life: Perspectives and Narratives from India” written by Dr. Prasun Chatterjee, a specialist in Geriatric Medicine, AIIMS, he described Indian family system and family values as the USP of Indian civilization.

Deploring the tendency to ape western culture, Shri Naidu called for a societal and attitudinal change and said that we must go back to the Indian family system, values, culture, and traditions. Respect for parents, Guru, and nature is ingrained in the Indian philosophy.

Expressing anguish over reports of abuse of elders and their abandonment, he said that many elders were forced to stay in old age homes. He said that it was the bounden duty of children to take good care of their parents and grandparents.

Stating that India was ageing much faster than previously thought and expected to have nearly 20 percent population of the world’s 60 years and above by 2050 with the largest number of older adults in the world, the Vice President said that one must be prepared to address all challenges and be prepared to give elders a joyous, healthy and happy late life.

Pointing out that ageing increases one’s susceptibility to many diseases and conditions, the Vice President said that there was an urgent need to set up more Geriatric Departments in medical colleges across the country in view of the increasing population of the elderly. He also asked all stakeholders in the health sector to work for the well being of the elderly and stressed that good health was the right of all, irrespective of age.

Shri Naidu appreciated the government of India for implementing the National Programme for Health Care of the Elderly (NPHCE). He said that the government was proactively working on lifestyle modification, non-communicable disease management, vision and hearing problem management, and accessible health care through Ayushman Bharat.

Keeping the rise in demand for specialized care for elderly people, the Vice President wanted institutes like AIIMS to be at the forefront in promoting healthy ageing.

Talking about the book, he said that it discusses preparedness for an aging individual as well as the society in the Indian context. Apart from highlighting the health issues like depression and dementia, Shri Naidu said that the book provides a detailed analysis of solutions that are practicable in low resource settings.

The President of IGNCA, Shri Ram Bahadur Rai, Director, AIIMS, Dr. Randeep Guleria, Head of Department of Geriatric Medicine, AIIMS, Dr. A. B. Dey, the Managing Director of Springer Nature, Shri Sanjiv Goswami and others were present.

The Following is the full text of the speech:

I am delighted to release the book “Health and Well Being in Late Life: Perspectives and Narratives from India” written by Dr Prasun Chatterjee, a specialist in Geriatric Medicine and an Associate Professor at the Department of Geriatric Medicine, AIIMS.

It is a timely and important book as Geriatric Medicine deals with healthcare issues in the elderly people.

Today, the world is ageing as a result of unprecedented success of the medical science, adding almost 20-30 years of life expectancy to humans as compared to the last millennium.

I am told that by end of this year (2019), the number of older adults aged 65 and above would be more than the children aged five years or less for the first time in the history of mankind on this planet.

India is ageing much faster than previously thought and expected to have nearly 20 per cent population of the world’s 60 years and above by 2050 with the largest number of older adults in the world.

The patterns of aging vary greatly among older people. Yet we are seldom prepared for ageing. Somehow, it Is a topic that we all fear to talk about. Each elderly person is a living snapshot of everyone’s tomorrow. Due to the aging process, the old people often feel depressed, lonely and find it difficult to adjust to the changes taking place as a result of aging.

It should be noted that ageing increases one’s susceptibility to many diseases and conditions. Older people often suffer from multiple health issues from chronic conditions to dementia.

In this lucidly written evidence-based book, Dr. Prasun Chatterjee talks about the less discussed topics and issues like frailty in elderly, fall in elderly, living with failing memory, complexity of diagnosing cancer, constipation, stroke and treating a terminally ill patient, among others.

The author describes how one should navigate the path of ageing. This is a topic which touches our lives, our aging parents or people who are aging. With stories from real life cases, Dr. Chatterjee not only writes for the practitioner, but also provides an insight for the ordinary person to understand the medical and social problems of this greying population.

This book provides a holistic understanding on the issue of old age, and situates the aged person within the context of family, caregivers, clinical and other institutions. All through the book, the author discusses preparedness for an aging individual as well as the society in the Indian context.

Apart from highlighting the health issues like depression and dementia, the author also provides a detailed analysis of solutions that are practicable in low resource settings.

The book uses narratives of elderly patients which makes it interesting to even non-academic readers.

I feel it is a must read book for all to have a correct perspective on ageing. How you live your life at the age of 40 will decide the health condition of later years. A chronic smoker of 40 years cannot expect to have a healthy lung and heart at the age of 70.

I am told that six medical colleges, at present, are imparting the special skill to the doctors to cater to geriatric population. I feel that there is an urgent need to set up more Geriatric Departments in medical colleges across the country in view of the increasing population of the elderly.

With the WHO declaring 2020 to 2030 as “Decade of Healthy Ageing”, I expect Institutes like AIIMS to be in the forefront in promoting healthy ageing. I am happy to know that Dr Prasun Chatterjee is not only spreading the message of active ageing but also participating in community building by promoting Active engagement of older adults.

I would also like to appreciate the government of India for implementing the National Programme for Health Care of the Elderly (NPHCE). I am also glad to know that the National Centre for Ageing at AIIMS, a state of art 200-bedded exclusive geriatric care centre, will be functional by next year. I am told that apart from providing international standard of care, it will also undertake cutting-edge research on ageing.

However, I would like every stakeholder in the health sector to work for the well being of the elderly as good health is the right of all, irrespective of age.

|The book underlines the importance of the leading a healthy lifestyle to prevent various chronic diseases. What I understand from this book is that nutritional intervention and some form of exercise always helps. The author tries to dispel the myth that “ageing population would invariably develop dementia or forgetfulness”. He lays stress on preventable risk factors like smoking, hypertension and diabetes, among others.

I am happy that the Government is proactively working on life style modification, non-communicable disease management, vision and hearing problem management and accessible health care through Ayushman Bharat.

Taking proper care of the elderly should be accorded highest priority by immediate family members and the community. I get anguished when I come across reports of abuse of elders or their abandonment. Many elders are also forced to stay in old age homes. I feel that there is an urgent need to promote family system and its values.

I was most touched by the last chapter in which the author mentioned about the ‘secret of successful ageing’. This chapter presented the stories of people, who led healthy and happy lives and explained how to be happy in late life.

Lastly, I am told that the royalty of this book would be used to empower elderly through engagement with underprivileged school children. I hope this model would help to curb drop out in schools and promote active ageing.

I congratulate Dr Chatterjee for writing this informative and inspiring book. I also appreciate his devotion to the cause of geriatric medicine.

Thank You!

JAI HIND!

**********

Right problem ; Wrong solution

The extreme left , as this blogger is wont to repeat ad nauseam, is as bad as the extreme right. The champions of the hard left – Bernie Sanders in the US and Jeremy Corbyn in the UK have one policy in common that is a good example of this. Free college for everybody.

They also have another thing in common which is often the case with the left’s policies. Right problem. Wrong solution.

First the right problem. Its a complete disgrace that in a developed country, a young person starts working life under a mountain of debt. Outstanding student debt is now £100bn in the UK, and a ridiculous $1.3 trillion in the US. And just to give you a perspective on the latter statistic, its $ 600 m higher than the total credit card debt in the US. You start life with a mountain of debt, and not a ready prospect of a good job. Great. If I was to be born again and had a choice of where to be born, I wouldn’t choose either the US or the UK on that statistic alone.

The left deserves great credit for highlighting this problem. Successive governments of all stripes and colours (pun intended) deserve censure for ignoring the problem and allowing it to build to these levels. A society, and a nation, that spurns its young does not deserve to be called “civilised”.

But, as is often the case, the left’s solution is dead wrong. Their prescription is for college to be made free and the costs to be picked up by the government. Fantastic. Will they never learn that tax tax tax and spend spend spend does not work – for free advice apply to Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro, et al.

This blogger suggests three solutions instead.

First cut costs. Why is college education so expensive ? In the US, a ridiculous amount of cost is spent on college sports, fancy living quarters and everything that has nothing to do with education. My good friend Sriram has blogged extensively and is far more knowledgeable on this subject. In the UK, the average Vice Chancellor earns £300,000. And gets payoffs for leaving the job, which would make any corporate fat cat proud. Wield an axe on any cost that does not strictly have to do with education. Get the professional cost cutters from industry and let them loose on the education sector and within 3 years they’ll cut costs down.

Secondly, what about parental responsibility. I am not at all clear why parents in these countries do not pick up a large portion of these costs. In Asia, education costs are largely picked up by parents. That’s their legacy and gift to their offspring. If you are not prepared to start your child off well in life, you don’t deserve to have a child. Period. And anyway what sort of an argument is it that you will not pay for your offspring’s education, but somebody else (the tax payer) should. And don’t tell me the parents cannot afford it – they have 15 odd years from the child’s birth to plan savings. Save $ 5 every day and you won’t have to worry about student debt.

Thirdly make college education truly global. Allow students from anywhere in the world to study anywhere else – allow free movement of students. There are superb universities in China and India for example, where you can get high quality education at a fraction of the cost in the US or the UK. Just like industry has truly globalised with activity automatically moving to the lowest cost location, so be it with education. Yes, I know this is an utopian dream and will never happen, but at least I can articulate it in my own blog (and no doubt face a volley of criticism in the comments !). Just to make it very clear, I am only advocating free movement for education; not permanent immigration.

The hard left may not ascend in the US, despite how many ever have felt the Bern. But there is a real chance that Jeremy Corbyn might become the Prime Minister of the UK. In that case their national anthem of “God save the queen” could perhaps be amended to God save the UK !

Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh Inaugurates Air Force Commanders’ Conference

Second bi-annual IAF Commanders’ Conference was inaugurated by the Hon’ble Raksha Mantri on 25 Nov 19 at Air Headquarters (Vayu Bhawan). Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria PVSM AVSM VM ADC, welcomed Hon’ble Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh, Hon’ble Raksha Rajya Mantri Shri Shripad Yesso Naik, Defence Secretary Dr Ajay Kumar and Secretary Defence Production Shri Subhash Chandra. He introduced Air Force Commanders to the Raksha Mantri.

Raksha Mantri addressed the Commanders and said “The Nation isproud of the Indian Air Force. I praise the IAF for its professionalism and laud all air warriors and their families for giving us a most competent and combat worthy force. The IAF has proven itself time and again. It has earned the respect of foreign Air Forces who are eager to cooperate as well as exercise with us. We are strengthening our defence capability through increased domestic production and reduced dependence on import of military hardware. We have to seize new opportunities for indigenous design and development and I appreciate the IAF’s effort in this regard. I urge the Air Force Commanders to use the Conference for developing strategies against future challenges and enhancing IAF’s capability. The IAF is growing steadily towards becoming a truly strategic aerospace power”. The CAS briefed the Raksha Mantri on the current status of the IAF.

The CAS while addressing the Commanders emphasised the need for further enhancing our operational capabilities to deter any misadventure by our adversaries. He highlighted the need for continuous enhancement of in-house maintenance capabilities and optimum utilisation of new inductions in order to make IAF a formidable combat force. He also emphasised the need for enhanced joint training with the Indian Army as well as the Indian Navy for fostering jointmanship and ensuring national security.

The Commanders’ Conference will be conducted on 25 & 26 Nov 19; wherein discussions will take place on joint operations, anti-drone operations, countering asymmetric warfare and further strengthening our precision targeting, cyber and information warfare capability. Issues pertaining to indigenisation, streamlining procurement of equipment, strengthening training and optimisation of the HR policies would also be discussed during this Conference.

***

The Tsunami We Don\’t Always See

Our hearts go out to the sufferings of people in Japan. The pictures of the tsunami rushing in and engulfing everything in sight, wreaking havoc – will stay with us. Our sympathies and support should – and will – be available to help our fellow human beings in whatever way we can.

Our horror – and the desire to do something – would obviously be even more if we saw something similar happening all around us. And in a way something similar is happening all around us, only it is not as dramatic as a physical tsunami, making it a little difficult to be noticed by most people. It is what I would call the tsunami of poor quality of education that is hitting a million schools and tens of millions of children, its impact likely to be visible over the years rather than right now, instantly, in front of our eyes.

The Tsunami Around Us

No this is not alarmist, but an effort to put across a real picture and the urgency with which it needs to be recognized and acted upon. Every day, in hundreds of thousands of locations across the country, children make their way to the school. Around a quarter of them may find their teacher not there. This number alone is staggering, ranging as it would between one and two million teachers. MILLION! And if each teacher has 30 children in his class, you can estimate the number but not really conceive how enormous it is. And it is huge not just in terms of numbers, but for each child who loses a day of learning, and does so for many days every month, it is incalculable.

Had the facilities or the teachers not been available we could have cried over our fate in terms of being an underdeveloped country. But having the infrastructure (over 98% children have a school within a kilometre, and most buildings are not bad) and teachers actually in place (though the number of vacancies is still very large) – it is horrifying to watch or at least it should be, for there doesn\’t seem to be a sense of horror, or as much of it as would shake the country into action.

However the story doesn\’t end there. It is when \’teaching\’ takes place that the impact on children is often at its greatest. Decades ago, the Yashpal Committee\’s report on The Burden of the School Bag had detailed the \’burden of incomprehension\’ a majority of children bear. And it is difficult to see if things have changed dramatically, despite changed curricula, textbooks, the use of TLM, evolving assessment patterns, new training programmes… The number of children attending school – and their diversity – too has grown in leaps and bounds, while the approach to handling their needs has remained fairly static. Hence, survey after survey shows that – despite a degree of improvement – we continue to be far from the levels of learning desired (and possible).

But it is when it comes to the process that the greatest deadening effect takes place. Rote memorization, \’explanation\’ ina language not necessarily understood by children, a disregard for the needs of children who are too poor to be able to attend regularly, (an often active) discrimination in the classroom, are the lot of a majority of our children. If you doubt this, all you have to do is visit any 10 government schools in different locations, especially those away from \’headquarters\’.

This is not to say that all government schools are bad and that the \’bad\’ is restricted to government schools. It is to point out that even if only a third of schools are like the ones described above (and the number is surely more than that), it adds up to literally hundreds of thousands of schools and tens of millions of children – a slow tsunami of poor quality education that is surely wreaking havoc on the potential of our children, our country.

Dealing With It

So after all this panic, what do we do?

As in any disaster, stay calm! First recognize that there is a problem and accept that something must be done about it.

Second, realize that you are the right person to do something about it. Anyone is, everyone is. Every small action counts. Even if you smile at a child, say an encouraging word to a teacher, raise this issue with friends, relatives and colleagues, you are doing something.

Third, if you are willing to be more proactive or are already active, please do look at the urgency of the situation. Children cannot wait for us to learn or get our act together slowly. We need to quickly:

Establish the minimum conditions that must obtain. These are well laid out in the RTE (Right to Education) and its rules. Raise this issue wherever you can, and directly with the school or education authorities.
Encourage and support the community and the school management committees (SMCs) drawn from among the community to become more active. You can help in setting them up, in record keeping, in setting the agenda, in follow up, in helping ensure that teachers take them seriously and that they in turn don\’t take an adversarial position vis-à-vis teachers. You can use your position to ensure that the educational agenda is not hijacked by the money-making or power-gaining agenda.

If you are a Head Teacher, supervisor, CRC-BRC / district level teacher educator or officer:

Model the kind of behaviour you want from teachers
Share practical steps they can take in their classes, especially in terms of activity-based teaching (see the many entries in this blog for support)
Encourage teachers to be innovative, support them. If they ask questions, don\’t be dismissive (pass on the questions here if you can answer them!)

If you are a planner / policy-maker / decision- maker, please start by not dismissing what you have just read here. It is real, and it is happening – and it\’s on a gargantuan scale. On any given day, the number of children who are in school and not learning is more than the population of many countries – and it is a shame. What kind of performance standards can you set in place? What kind of outcomes can you insist on? How can you prepare the institutions and the system to deliver this, monitor them effectively and enable an ongoing improvement? Once again, the many entries in this blog would be helpful – and you could always share issues you would like others to provide suggestions / inputs on.

As surely as Japan will recover from the huge earthquake and the devastating tsunami, we can deal with this too. But first we have to see it as an emergency and address it. With all our might.

The Tsunami We Don\’t Always See

The Tsunami Around Us

Dealing With It

So after all this panic, what do we do?

As in any disaster, stay calm! First recognize that there is a problem and accept that something must be done about it.

Establish the minimum conditions that must obtain. These are well laid out in the RTE (Right to Education) and its rules. Raise this issue wherever you can, and directly with the school or education authorities.
Encourage and support the community and the school management committees (SMCs) drawn from among the community to become more active. You can help in setting them up, in record keeping, in setting the agenda, in follow up, in helping ensure that teachers take them seriously and that they in turn don\’t take an adversarial position vis-à-vis teachers. You can use your position to ensure that the educational agenda is not hijacked by the money-making or power-gaining agenda.

If you are a Head Teacher, supervisor, CRC-BRC / district level teacher educator or officer:

Model the kind of behaviour you want from teachers
Share practical steps they can take in their classes, especially in terms of activity-based teaching (see the many entries in this blog for support)
Encourage teachers to be innovative, support them. If they ask questions, don\’t be dismissive (pass on the questions here if you can answer them!)

As surely as Japan will recover from the huge earthquake and the devastating tsunami, we can deal with this too. But first we have to see it as an emergency and address it. With all our might.

The Tsunami We Don\’t Always See

The Tsunami Around Us

Dealing With It

So after all this panic, what do we do?

As in any disaster, stay calm! First recognize that there is a problem and accept that something must be done about it.

Establish the minimum conditions that must obtain. These are well laid out in the RTE (Right to Education) and its rules. Raise this issue wherever you can, and directly with the school or education authorities.
Encourage and support the community and the school management committees (SMCs) drawn from among the community to become more active. You can help in setting them up, in record keeping, in setting the agenda, in follow up, in helping ensure that teachers take them seriously and that they in turn don\’t take an adversarial position vis-à-vis teachers. You can use your position to ensure that the educational agenda is not hijacked by the money-making or power-gaining agenda.

If you are a Head Teacher, supervisor, CRC-BRC / district level teacher educator or officer:

Model the kind of behaviour you want from teachers
Share practical steps they can take in their classes, especially in terms of activity-based teaching (see the many entries in this blog for support)
Encourage teachers to be innovative, support them. If they ask questions, don\’t be dismissive (pass on the questions here if you can answer them!)

As surely as Japan will recover from the huge earthquake and the devastating tsunami, we can deal with this too. But first we have to see it as an emergency and address it. With all our might.

Work Smart, Not Hard!

Whenever teachers are being trained, they are bombarded with the same tired old phrases. \’You are the future of the country,\’ they are told. \’There\’s a great responsibility on your shoulders; you must work very hard to fulfil this responsibility.\’ This is what we hear every time, isn\’t it? And aren\’t you fed up of listening to this over the years?

The problem is that this is such a naive notion. As if working hard makes everything OK. No, you have to use your head! Even those whose work is seen as involving nothing but hard work, they too can do their work well only if they use their head. For instance, the labourers who unload a truck, the farmer working in the field, those who dig pits or carry head loads of debris… If they do their work without thinking and being alert, they can get hurt, face a loss, be shouted at or even fired. In the case of a teacher, therefore, this is bound to be even more crucial!

A thinking teacher – i.e. a smart teacher – is one who greatly increases children\’s role in the classroom. And not just in keeping things clean and organized, but in the in the learning process itself. For instance, the class 4 teacher said to the children: \’You know, in this story, when the lion woke up one morning, he found that he had no hair on his head! His mane – totally gone! So guess what he did in order to get it back? Well, read the story and find out!\’

When children started to read the story, the teacher went and sat with those who were in danger of falling behind others. After a little while she said: \’If there are any words you\’re not able to understand, circle them with your pencil. Then ask the children around you if they know.\’ When everyone had finished this, she asked groups of children to look at each other\’s circled words and see if they could find out the meaning. \’If there are still some words that you don\’t know, I\’ll tell you the meaning,\’ she said.

You can guess what this smart teacher did next. For the entire duration that she was in her class, each child was engaged in work, was learning and helping others learn too. All this while she herself was totally relaxed!

So what are the ways in which we too can be a little more lazy, and a little smarter?

How would YOU implement the RTE?

If YOU were in charge of implementing RTE in a district / block, exactly WHAT would you do? Could I have step by step suggestions please. That\’s because all of us have by now said all that is wrong with RTE implementation, but this is not equal to knowing what to do. I come across many district and block functionaries who are seriously looking for suggestions (they also welcome critique, but find that it doesn\’t help them decide what to do – at best they only see they\’re doing something wrong).

It would be a great contribution. I promise I\’ll share the suggestions with at least 10 \’serious\’ functionaries who have asked for support and will try to impact 300 to 3000 schools each. As they start implementing, we\’ll create a facebook page where they can record their progress and impact. But could we have specific suggestions please, maybe even a framework or a detailed note?

One response I received was from Anjela Taneja:
Gave this some thought overnight. Basically, one immediate suggestion is to put this question onto a website (read you blog atleast) so you can get a larger pool of responses. Personally, I added the question onto the RTE India page I moderate as well. However, a more user friendly interface of responding would help instead of trying to type everything on FB. In response to the actual question, I see two sets of responses- universal recommendations (only a few), but a lot of questions related to specific geographies. The solutions need to emerge from the local problems, so it would help to know where the functionaries in question are actually stuck and atleast what states one is talking about.

In response, here are some details.
As for geographies… Specific ones include: the block of Fatehpur, near Kanpur; the training coordinator of Bareilly; an informal govt school teachers\’ collective (who want things to impove) in Varanasi; in terms of states, Bihar and Gujarat to start with.

Some of the comments received:

Naaz Khair
Where there is a will there is a way! Government is running the central schools par excellence. If it wants it can change things for its other set of schools as well. The RTE Act itself is very explicit in terms of who is supposed to do what i.e. the duties that need to be performed so that educational rights of children are upheld. The RTE Act almost reads like a program and contains step by step measures to taken at different levels to ensure its implementation. This forum, along-side raising its voice whenever RTE violations took place, has also been proposing possible solutions. It is more than time now for the people in the system to make decisions given the resources in hand.

Janmejoy Patel
Yes, it is basically a question of how serious the govts are regarding implementation of RTE. Do they have required amount of political will or commitment? Are they willing to allocate adequate funds & invest in education? Once these factors are settled, there is no private school good enough to rival our schools in quality. But will the politicos do so on their own? No hope since none of them has any stake involved. Unless forced to.

Anjela Taneja there are two levels of issues here- what should be done to improve the policy and practice, and another is what can a government official do immediately within the constraints of the system

Subir Shukla
‎@Janmejoy If you take a look at the amounts released, you will find that the country as a whole is not really able to use more than 70% of the funds made available…

There\’s a need to understand the nature of social \’filters\’ involved. Things such as buildings, textbooks – concrete things that can be touched, inaugurated or \’released\’ and credit taken for – tend to get done. But a child\’s right to learn is a lot more than that, and needs a new set of relationships and processes in order to be attained. It\’s common to have \’disco bhajans\’ (i.e. allowing a western \’pollution\’ of a cultural aspect) but more difficult to implement the notion that a child does not need to be beaten in order to learn (in fact, while teachers are responsible, many parents also insist that their children be kept in discipline through corporal punishment; similarly, look at the response to CCE…). It\’s like trying to ban spitting or dowry (for which a law exists…).

Similarly, the notion that you do not need to memorize or be given explanation – instead you should learn through activity, exploration and projects (which is what the RTE provides for) – is not the easiest to implement even for those who are seriously trying, including in the NGO sector, including in the organizations that are seen as the \’teerth sthal\’ of education. Another crisis – and this is a professional, considered opinion of a curriculum/textbook/materials developer after closely examining materials from all over the country for 20 years – is that the NGO \’products\’ in terms of curricula / materials / pedagogy / teacher development are also fairly weak when it comes to the kind of quality desired, the constructivism to be implemented, the kind of equity-oriented and diversity based classroom that is now needed. Indeed the textbooks of several states would rate much higher.

@Naaz, steps about how to make \’special training\’ or create a differential classroom which must necessarily result, are not really spelt out in RTE documents. (This is just an example, and there are several more such aspects, esp about how to help those in the system realize that post-RTE, it is THEY who are the \’beneficiaries\’ and children / parents / community are the REASON for the system to exist.)

I\’m afraid the real import of many of the RTE provisions have not really been understood and a whole lot of \”why aren\’t you doing your job\” kind of comments are being passed around. While these will help in situations such as getting children admitted, other aspects such as getting discrimination (subtle and overt) to reduce, community to be empowered, teachers to be enabled to create vibrant and equity-oriented classrooms, in 1500000+ schools, (including private schools), are something else altogether. \’Protesting\’ or \’raising\’ voice may curb something negative, but doesn\’t necessarily make something positive (e.g. teaching better) happen. I\’ve written about \’preventive power\’ vs \’generative power\’ elsewhere in this blog.

The perspective changes when you\’re someone who has to actually deliver the RTE, and I haven\’t found much in the various fora that is dramatically helpful, or not known or not being tried out. A lot of the suggestions are very vague (ideas such as \’involve the community\’, \’empower the teacher\’ are outcomes of steps, which themselves are not always spelt out, or examples given of a very preliminary level..). Many of the issues (such as teacher attendance and accountability) are larger governance issues and need a larger strategy, some of which is indeed being thought about at different levels. I still believe that people thinking and working on these issues have a great deal to contribute – both within the government set up and outside. Hence my request for the kind of engagement that foregrounds concrete actions.

CLW Produces 300th Locomotive Of 2019-20 In Less Than 9 Months

Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW) has turned out 300^th locomotive of the FY 2019-20 on 21st December 2019 evening, in less than 9 months (in 216 working days) of current financial year.

The working days for production of 300th loco has reduced from 292 days in the year 2017-18 to 249 days in 2018-19 and further to 216 days in the current FY 2019-20. Therefore, a reduction of 28% since 2017-18.

Shri Praveen Kumar Mishra, General Manager flagged off the 300^th loco, WAG-9 HC (32692) from CLW on 21^st Dec 2019 evening amidst the presence of senior officers and staff. He appreciated the efforts of all the dedicated team of officers and staff in production of 300^th electric locomotive from CLW.

Shri Praveen Kumar Mishra also expressed hope that with this trend in production, CLW will be able to even surpass the target of this FY 2019-20 and will be all set for creating a new record. CLW produced 402 locomotives in 2018-19 and thus became the world’s largest producer of locomotives.

Indian Railways to Procure 44 rakes of Vande Bharat Trains from ICF: Tender published for supply of electrical equipment and other items

Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi had flagged off the maiden run of the Vande Bharat trainset on New Delhi -Varanasi route on 15^th February 2019. The second such Train set service between New Delhi and Shri Mata Vaishnodevi Katra was flagged off by Hon’ble Home Minister Shri Amit Shah on 3^rd October 2019.

As part of the continuing initiative of Make in India, the Integral Coach Factory at Chennai has published, today, the tender for supply of electrical equipment and other items for 44 Trainsets of 16 coaches each. The procurement process promotes transparency, accountability, speed of delivery. It ensures compliance with RDSO specifications and vendor neutrality to allow maximum potential bidders to ensure competitive rates.

This is an invitation for two packet Global Competitive bids to procure 3 Phase propulsion equipment (electrics) with passenger and operator related peripheral items suitable for maximum service speed 160 kmph speed with 50 % powering (8 Motor Coaches out of 16 cars in the formation as per clause no. 1.3.12 of RDSO Specification no. RDSO/PE/SPEC/EMU/0196–2019 (Rev.0).

Bids can be submitted till 1415 hrs on 24^th March 2020. A Pre-bid conference will be held on 23/01/2020 at 10.30 Hrs. in the meeting room at the Design & Development Building, Integral Coach Factory, Chennai. The procurement shall be done in accordance with extant “Make in India” policy of DPIIT, Government of India.

In order to improve upon the passenger throughput by way of higher acceleration/ deceleration and reduction in turnaround time, Indian Railways have planned to introduce passenger train sets with distributed powering, working on 25000 V single phase 50 Hz OHE system. This project is driven by corporate mission of providing semi high speed trains with service speed of 160 KMPH having world class technology and passenger amenities.

All coaches in Train set will be Chair Car type for day travel. All the Train sets will be provided with cab AC in DTCs , above roof HT equipment, 25 KV Roof through HT cable assembly with associated accessories like insulators, jumper cables etc, fully air-conditioned passenger compartment with vestibule arrangement, automatic plug doors with retractable footsteps, automatic intercommunication door, PAPIS consisting of in coach displays, speakers, side destination boards etc, luggage racks with reading lamps, direct lighting (for passengers) and diffused lighting (for luggage racks), continuous LED light fixtures, modular pantry equipments and GPS antenna in all coaches, Mobile/laptop charging sockets in the passenger seats, CCTVs and Emergency talk back units with networking system in all coaches.

The tender will be two packet single stage bid, where the bidder has to submit electronic bids for the technical and financial bid simultaneously. The technical bid will be opened first and the offers found eligible will be categorised as qualified. The offer not complying with the essential technical and commercial requirement of the tender will be declared as in- eligible for award of contract. After evaluation of the technical and commercial suitability of offers for placement of order, the Financial bid will be opened for these Technically suitable offers.

The revised specification takes care of the improvements pointed out by Chief Commissioner for Railway Safety in the prototype rake and will provide more reliable service along with ease of operations and improved passenger comfort. These light weight energy efficient trainsets will have a ride index of less than 3.5 against the earlier value of less than 4, which will improve passenger comfort even for longer journeys. These optimized trainsets will also be suitable for operations in Jammu and Kashmir and the electrics will be tested for continuous operations at 160 kmph.

A residual acceleration value of 0.1 ms2, which is double the earlier value of 0.05 ms2, will enable the trainset to reach the top speed of 160 kmph in maximum 140 seconds. The new trainsets will provide an actual saving of 20% in journey time and all equipment are suitable for flooding conditions.

The trainset interiors will have improved fire safety as per EN 45545 HL2 and improved electrical protection and safety with a well-defined protection scheme for High Voltage roof cable, Automatic fire detection and alarm. The trainset is also provided with explosion proof, light weight lithium-iron-phosphate batteries specified to provide back up for duration of 3 hours, state of the art aluminium body roof mounted packaged unit (RMPU) type air-conditioning units with thermal comfort based Microprocessor controller. The peak efficiency of propulsion system of these trainsets will not be less than 87% which provides for a more robust, efficient and reliable system. These trainsets will be supplied in multiples of Basic Units of 4 coaches each which can be attached or detached from the train as per requirement. This will be a major improvement in reliability and operational efficiency as it will be possible to replace basic units in case of defects, or augment the train length upto 24 coaches in case of increased demand. The present trainsets do not have this feature because of which the entire trainset is rendered ineffective in case of any defect in a coach.

‘Nagpur Resolution: A Holistic approach for empowering citizens’ adopted during regional conference organised by DARPG in Nagpur

The ‘Nagpur Resolution- A holistic approach for empowering citizens’ was adopted during the Valedictory session of the two-day Regional Conference on ‘Improving Public Service Delivery – Role of Governments’, in Nagpur, Maharashtra today. The Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways and Minister for Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises, Shri Nitin Jairam Gadkari and Minister of State (Independent charge) of the Ministry of DONER, Minister of State for PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space Dr Jitendra Singh were present during the adoption of the Resolution. The conference was organised by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG), Government of India, in collaboration with the Government of Maharashtra and the Maharashtra State Commission for Right to Public Services.

In his address, Shri Nitin Jairam Gadkari said that positive approach, transparency, corruption-free system, fast track decision making and social sensitivity are essential to good governance. He said that collective team spirit and humane approach towards the subordinates is the most important quality of the successful leaders. He said that at the same time we should understand the spirit behind the law. He emphasized upon the independent and impartial decision making within the domain of law. He added that development-orientated approach and sensitivity towards the last man in the queue are important for job satisfaction.

The Minister said that performance audit of public servants should be done at regular intervals. He said that social and national commitment are important for any civil servant. He said that administration is the strength of our country and they are important stakeholders. He added that they play the role of an engine, so their leadership role is very important. Shri Gadkari said that conversion of knowledge into wealth is the future of country. Speaking about the role of IT and e-governance in bringing transparency and efficiency in the system, Shri Gadkari said that Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways has started Fastag system at tolls. This has led to rise in per day toll collection by Rs 13 crore per day resulting into collection of Rs 81 crore per day now. This has been implemented upto 51 percent till date and will be implemented completely by next month.

Speaking about the Nagpur Resolution adopted today, Dr Jitendra Singh said that on earlier occasions also, Shillong Declaration and Jammu Resolution have been adopted for good governance. He added that soon after the formation of J&K and Ladakh as UTs, DARPG organised the conference in Jammu, which was the first major event organised by Centre Government in the UT. The conference was attended by delegates from 19 states and 7 UTs. The Minister said that Government under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi is committed to the mantra of ‘Minimum Government, Maximum Governance’ since beginning. He said that the emphasis of the Government is on transparency, citizen centricity and participation. He mentioned about various initiatives taken by the Government: discontinuation of interviews for junior level posts, launching of portals, self-attestation and en-masse promotions, among others. He said that the Grievance redressal system has been made more responsive and prompt. The grievances lodged with the Government have gone up from about 1.5 lakh in the beginning to about 16 lakh now. This has been due to the prompt and time-bound response by the Government, he said. He added that telephonic feedback system has been introduced by the Department.

Dr Jitendra Singh said that the Government has started organising these conferences out of Delhi. Such conferences have been organised in Shillong, Jammu, Chandigarh and other places across the country. The Minister emphasised upon the maximum utilisation of technology in governance. He also said that the entire format of PM Excellence Awards has been changed in recent years and it is now based on implementation in priority programmes. He said the mantra of Government i.e. ‘Reform, Perform and Transform’. Mentioning about the Prevention of Corruption Act that was passed, Dr Jitendra Singh said that said that the Government is committed to zero tolerance towards corruption but shall protect the honest and sincere officers.

The Chief Commissioner, Right to Services, Maharashtra, Shri S. S. Kshatriya said that 20 states have passed the Right to Services Act. He briefed about the sessions held during the two-day conference. He said that awareness needs to be generated about the right to public services. He also emphasized upon electronic delivery and optimal utilisation of Information technology.

The conference was inaugurated yesterday and six technical sessions were held during the 2-day event.

‘Nagpur Resolution: A Holistic approach for empowering citizens’

The Conference unanimously adopted the ‘Nagpur Resolution: A Holistic Approach for Empowering Citizens’ outlined below after intensive deliberations during the sessions held over two days. The Conference resolved that Government of India, the Government of Maharashtra, the Maharashtra State Commission for Right to Public Services and the participating State Governments shall collaborate to:

To empower the citizens by policy interventions for better service delivery through timely updation of citizens charters, implementation of enactments and benchmarking standards for continuous improvement;
To empower citizens by adopting a bottom-up approach to bring massive improvements in quality of grievance redressal and reduction in timelines of grievance redressal;
To adopt a holistic approach of systemic public grievance reforms through improved mapping, formulation of monitoring matrix, data collection and evaluation in quality of grievance redressal;
To provide an enabling environment for States and Ministries/ Departments of the Government of India for creating web portals and to adopt a holistic approach for improved service delivery through digital platforms;
To focus on dynamic policy making and strategic decisions, monitoring of implementation, appointment of key personnel, coordination and evaluation;
To achieve a sense of common identity by exchange of technical expertise in the areas of Improved Service Delivery between the paired States under the Ek Bharat – Shresht Bharat Program;
To work towards long-term engagements in the areas of Improved Service Delivery for Empowering Citizens through greater cooperation between the DARPG and the participating States and,
To ensure timely publication of Good Governance Index to identify the quality of governance in 10 sectors especially those pertaining to welfare and infrastructure at the Union, State and District levels.

Arrangements for the dissemination of results of Election to the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly

The Election Commission of India has developed an integrated ICT counting application which will display the results on the website http://results.eci.gov.in and Voter Helpline (Android & iOS) Mobile App. The website will start displaying the results of the General Election to Jharkhand Legislative Assembly with effect from 8 AM onwards on 23rd December 2019. The data is entered by the Returning Officers directly in the centralised software ‘ENCORE’ developed by the Election Commission of India. This application allows the Returning Officers to enter table-wise data in the software, thereby considerably reducing the time and makes the results & trends data error-free.

The counting software developed by the ICT team of ECI allows generation of various types of statutory reports during counting process which are mandatory for Returning Officers such as Form-20 Preparation / Compilation of Final Result Sheet, 21-C for Formal Declaration of Result and Return of Election in Form 21-E. The Returning Officers can download these system-generated reports after the counting is over and complete the statutory requirements in a hassle-free environment.
The Election Commission of India also launched Election Trends TV, on which the graphically-rich micro-details of result trends are published in real-time. As and when the counting data of each round is entered after officially been declared by the Returning Officers, the data is displayed on the Election Trends TV, without any manual intervention using advanced secure technologies. These panels can be customized and configured, for display automatically in public places using large TV Panels by Returning Officers & Chief Electoral Officer.

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