What to Read in The Hindu Editorial( Topic and Syllabus wise)

Editorial 1: ​Mind the gap

Context

India must guarantee meaningful involvement of women in the policymaking process.

Introduction

India’s declining position in the Global Gender Gap Index 2025, now at 131 out of 148, highlights persistent gender inequality. Despite gains in economic participation, health, and education, setbacks in political empowerment hinder progress. The report signals the urgent need for policy action, representation reforms, and a societal shift toward genuine gender parity.

India’s Performance in the Global Gender Gap Index 2025

• Global Ranking and Score
  • India ranks 131 out of 148 countriesin the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index 2025.
  • This marks a drop of two positionsfrom the previous year.
  • India’s overall gender parity score is 64.1%, placing it among the lowest-ranked countries in South Asia.

Assessment Criteria of the Index

• The Index evaluates gender parity across four core dimensions:
  1. Economic Participation and Opportunity
  2. Educational Attainment
  3. Health and Survival
  4. Political Empowerment

Areas of Improvement or Stability

• Economic Participation and Opportunity
  • Slight improvement of +0.9 percentage points.
  • Estimated earned income parityrose from 6% to 29.9%.
  • Labour force participation rateheld steady at 9%, the highest level recorded for India.
• Educational Attainment and Health & Survival
  • Both dimensions showed positive shiftscontributing to higher subindex scores.

Major Area of Decline: Political Empowerment

• Female representation in Parliament
  • Declined from 7% to 13.8%in 2025.
  • This is the second consecutive yearof decline since 2023.
• Women in Ministerial Positions
  • Fell from 5% to 5.6%, continuing the downward trend since 2023.

Way Forward: Policy and Political Will

• Structural Reforms Needed
  • India must build on existing gains and address shortfalls with strong policiesand decisive political will.
• Historical Hurdles
  • The Women’s Reservation Bill, introduced in 1996, faced decades of delay and resistance.
  • Eventually passed in 2023, the Act reserves one-third of seatsfor women in Parliament and State Assemblies.
  • Implementation, however, is deferred until 2029, following the next Census and delimitation exercise.

Beyond the Index: Real Gender Equity

• Ranking should not be the sole goal; the focus must be on substantive gender equitywithin India.
• Political parties need not wait till 2029to enhance female representation.
  • They can take proactive steps nowto field more women candidates and foster inclusivity in political processes.

Conclusion

India’s focus must shift from merely improving global rankings to achieving substantive equality. The delayed implementation of the Women’s Reservation Act and falling female representation reflect systemic gaps. Only through political commitment, timely execution, and inclusive leadership can India foster a truly equitable society and transform gender justice from aspiration into actionable reality.

 

Editorial 2: India needs a sincere aircraft accident investigation

Context

India does not lack the talent or the technical capability to investigate air accidents; what it truly lacks is the institutional courage to speak the truth.

Introduction

In a country where every life lost in an aircraft accident should result in Despite promises of justice, transparency, and reform, India’s system appears designed to obscure the truth. The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), though statutory on paper, is not truly independent. It operates under the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA), which also regulates airlines and appoints AAIB and DGCA leadership, creating a clear conflict of interest. Unlike railway accidents, where an independent Commissioner of Railway Safety leads inquiries, aviation investigations remain under the control of those they are meant to scrutinize

Stop the firefighting

• Accident Severity: The June 12, 2025 Ahmedabad accidentwas not a minor operational issue—it was a serious aircraft accident and should be treated as a wake-up call for aviation safety in India.
• Safety Framework Gap: India’s aviation safety frameworkmust be questioned in light of its rapid sectoral growth.
• Recent Incidents: Notable safety failures include:
  • Helicopter crashes– indicating gaps in rotorcraft operations.
  • Flying school accidents– reflecting issues in pilot training standards.
  • A weather-related incidentinvolving a Delhi–Srinagar IndiGo flight in May 2025 – highlighting deficiencies in weather preparedness.
  • Ground handling lapses, such as the cancellation of Çelebi Aviation’s permit– raising serious airport security concerns.
• Systemic Weakness: These events are not isolated, but reveal deeper structural flawsin India’s aviation safety ecosystem.
• Risk Management: Are we proactively identifying risks, or simply reacting after failures?
• Prevention vs Reaction: Firefighting is unsustainable; India needs a preventive aviation safety systemrather than one focused solely on crisis management.
• Investigative Scope: The high-level committeeinvestigating the Air India AI171 crash must go beyond reviewing a single accident.
• Policy Outdated: India’s aviation sector has outgrown the existing National Civil Aviation Policy (NCAP).
• NCAP Reform: A comprehensive overhaulof the NCAP is required, making safety a foundational principle in all aviation policy and regulatory decisions.
• Global Responsibility: Embedding safety at every level is how India can prepare to responsibly manage its role as one of the world’s largest aviation markets.

Historical Neglect of Honest Reviews

• The Air Marshal J.K. Seth Committee Report (1997)remains India’s most honest and comprehensive reviewof aviation safety.
• It exposed systemic flawsincluding:
  • Fragmented oversight
  • Lack of institutional independence
  • Inadequate training and resources
  • Regulatory capture
• However, the report was quietly buriedbecause it revealed uncomfortable truths.
• New investigative committeesmust confront these unresolved issues and avoid superficial reviews that are shelved without action.

Examples of Investigative Contradictions

Incident	Reported Cause	Contradiction / Suppressed Element
2001 crash (Union Minister killed)	Entry into cloud	Weather section showed no clouds in the vicinity
1993 Aurangabad crash (IC491)	Pilot-related incident	Overloading was evident but not clearly stated
2018 Air India Express IX611	No clear cause disclosed	Suspected overloading; data access denied

Misuse of AAIB Reports

• The Aircraft (Investigation of Accidents and Incidents) Rules, 2017clearly state that investigations are for preventing future accidents, not assigning blame.
• Yet, law enforcementand courts often treat the AAIB’s findings as legally binding, despite their technical scopebeing non-judicial.
• Police and courts, lacking aviation expertise, use AAIB reports to assign conclusive guilt, often without proper context.
• This leads to the truth being lost, and reports being misinterpretedfor legal or punitive purposes.

Convenient Blame: The Pilot as Scapegoat

• Investigators and courts often default to blaming the pilot:
  • This is legally simpleand expedites insurance payouts.
  • It shields other actorslike airlines, maintenance teams, and air traffic controllers from scrutiny.
• The label of “pilot error”becomes a convenient conclusion, even in cases where the system as a whole failed.
• In effect, the deceased pilotbecomes the scapegoat, and deeper accountability is avoided.

Institutional Failures and Structural Control

Issue	Observation	Impact
Concentration of power	The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) controls policy, regulation, appointments, and investigations.	Accountability is compromised; the same authority investigates itself.
Distorted investigations	Accident reports are often reshaped to protect institutions, not victims or the public.	Families receive contradictory, hollow reports, eroding public trust.
Systemic evasion	The system uses delay, dilution, and deletion to evade scrutiny.	It breaks faith and shields responsibility, creating an illusion of safety.

Data vs Reality

Source / Claim	Contradiction	Consequence
ICAO State Safety Briefing (2022): Zero fatal accidents recently.	In August 2020, the Kozhikode air crashkilled 21 people.	False perception of safety; recommendations unimplemented, no accountability.
India’s silence on Kozhikode crash	No systemic reform followed; committee recommendations remain unaddressed.	Shows a lack of transparency and unwillingness to accept institutional flaws.

Urgent Reforms for Aviation Safety in India

• Structural Independence: Transfer the AAIB (Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau)and DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) to an independent statutory body that reports directly to Parliament, ensuring autonomy and credibility in investigations.
• End Parallel Committees: Discontinue the practiceof forming ad hoc or parallel investigative committees that bypass or dilute the role of official investigative agencies, preserving the integrity of due process.
• Legal Safeguards for AAIB Reports: Enact laws to prevent the misuseof AAIB reports in criminal trials, unless independently validated by experts. This will protect the technical scope of safety investigations and uphold due legal process.
• Reform Rule 19(3) of Aircraft Rules, 1937: Amend the provisionthat penalizes pilots for any mistake. Introduce a genuine no-blame culture, ensuring pilots are protected unless gross negligence is clearly established.
• Independent Ombudsman: Appoint an external ombudsmanto audit and review how aviation accident reports are prepared, processed, and acted upon. This will introduce an accountability mechanism free from internal bias.

Conclusion

India does not lack talent or the technical tools required to investigate aircraft accidents. What it truly lacks is the institutional courage to confront and reveal the truth. This is the core of the writer’s plea: to conduct an honest and sincere investigation into such accidents—one that reflects a commitment to truth and the value of human life over maintaining a superficial image. Let this be the legacy India offers—not just for the lives lost in the skies, but also for those lost in the silence that follows.