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

Editorial 1: Reform cannot wait, aviation safety is at stake

Context

The Ahmedabad air crash should be a wake-up call — it’s time to build a real culture of safety that reaches every partof India’s aviation system.

Introduction

The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) released its preliminary report on the Air India Boeing 787 crash in Ahmedabad (June 12, 2025) on July 12. The report is still inconclusive and leaves key questions unanswered — especially whether the pilot’s actions were accidental or intentional. I believe that many pilots and people like me, who closely follow aviation issues, have little confidence in how these investigations are done. This lack of trust is not just about one report — it reflects a deeper problem in India’s aviation system. Too often, the system punishes pilots and other frontline staff harshly, while airlines and regulators are rarely held equally accountable. This imbalance makes people doubt whether investigations are really fair or reliable, even if the findings may be correct.

Reform Must Be Rooted in a True Safety Culture

• A real culture of safetymust exist at every level—from airlines to regulators.
• This includes:
  • Fair employment termsfor aviation workers.
  • Access to mental health carewithout fear of punishment.
    • Currently, seeking help can result in automatic groundingand loss of income for air crew.
    • Ironically, the system meant to protect safety jeopardizes their mental well-being.

Understanding Aviation’s Technical Layers

The aviation system is complex but can be broken down into two main responsibility zones:

System Component	Responsible Entity
Aircraft design, maintenance, airworthiness	Airline operator
Pilots, cabin crew, engineers, technicians	Airline operator
Airport infrastructure, ATC systems & personnel	Airports Authority of India (AAI) / Aerodrome operator
Regulatory oversight of airlines, AAI, airports	Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)
Supervisory control of DGCA and AAI	Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA)

Years of working with aviation professionals have helped me understand these technical layers and their interconnections.

Why Accidents Happen: The Swiss Cheese Model

• Aviation accidentsare never caused by a single failure.
• Instead, they occur when multiple small failures alignacross different layers of the system.
• This is known as the Swiss cheese model:
  • Every safety layer has some flaws (holes).
  • When those holes line up, an accident becomes unavoidable.
• This model shows why systemic reformis essential—not just fixing one part, but strengthening every safety layer.

Impact of Court Interventions

• In 2016, the Bombay High Courtissued a stay order halting construction near Mumbai Airport.
• This action helped save livesduring the 2018 Ghatkopar crash, where a small plane fell into a construction site.
• Without the court’s stay, a 13-storey buildingwould have stood at that exact spot, making the crash even deadlier.

Alarming State of Mumbai’s Airspace

• Mumbai’s airspaceis now considered one of the most hazardous globally.
• There are over 5,000 vertical obstructionswithin a 4-kilometre radius, violating the Inner Horizontal Surface (IHS) safety limits.
• Despite a pending PIL, obstacles in the approach and take-off pathincreased dramatically:
  • 2010: 125 obstacles
  • 2025: Over 1,000 obstacles

Regulatory Gaps and Misrepresentation

• The rise in obstacles reflects serious regulatory opacityand possible misrepresentation before the Bombay High Court.
• Agencies potentially involved in misleading the court include:
  • Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)
  • Airports Authority of India (AAI)
  • Airport operators
  • Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA)
• Had the High Courtreceived accurate information, the spread of obstacles could have been prevented.

Obstacle Clearance Around Airports

Issue	Details
Strict control till 2008	Until 2008, building heights around airports were regulated under the Aircraft Act and Statutory Order 988 (1988).
Change in 2008	A non-statutory committee bypassed these legal safeguards and cleared 25 high-rise buildings in Mumbai using ICAO’s aeronautical study.
ICAO’s role misused	The ICAO study was wrongly used to approve illegal heights. ICAO later distanced itself, but the AAI continued weaker assessments.
Appellate committee’s failure	Post-2015, the appellate committee allowed unsafe height clearances that affected radar and communication.
Statutory recognition in 2015	Ironically, this same committee was given legal recognition under the 2015 Rules, even though the rules didn’t allow such relaxations.

Conflict of Interest: The same authorities that approved safety violations (MoCA, DGCA, AAI) also judge complaints, making the process biased.

Regulatory Gaps and Evading Responsibility

• After a PIL on obstacle clearance, MoCA amended the rules to limit NOC validity to 12 years.
• This is a partial admissionof the issue but avoids real accountability.
• Raises a serious question:
  🔍 What happens to 100-floor buildings if 45 floors become illegal after 12 years?

Worsening Trend Nationwide

Airport Project	Safety Risk
Mumbai	Starting point of obstacle-related violations.
Navi Mumbai	Set to begin with a displaced threshold, limiting runway usage due to obstacles.
Noida	High-rises already affecting the safety envelope of a project still under construction.

These airports are becoming symbols of corruption and neglect, not development.

Six Pillars of Systemic Collapse

1. Aircraft Design & Airworthiness

• DGCA lacks internal capability; over-relies on foreign regulatorslike FAA (US) and EASA (EU).
• Example: IndiGo’s engine failure(2017–18) exposed this overdependence.

2. Aircraft Maintenance

• AMEs (Aircraft Maintenance Engineers)work without proper duty-time limits.
• Airlines delegate tasksto less trained “technicians” to cut costs.
• Court recommendations after Mangaluru crash (2010)remain ignored.

3. Flight Crew

• Flight Time Duty Limitations (FTDL)are violated, with DGCA allowing exemptions.
• Pilots operate fatigued, increasing risk.
• Pilot mobility is restrictedthrough NOC rules, making them more vulnerable.
• Cabin crew’s safety role is undervalued, seen only as hospitality staff.

4. Airline Operations

• Profit-first approachundermines safety culture.
• DGCA’s safety suspensions are ineffective; violators return to power.
• DGCA representativeswithin airlines lack real authority.

5. Air Traffic Management

• Severe shortage of ATCOs (Air Traffic Control Officers).
• Licensing provisionsremain pending.
• Duty-time limits, suggested post-Mangaluru crash, are still not implemented.

6. Silencing Whistle-blowers

• Those who report safety violations are demoted, transferred, or fired.
• This creates a climate of fear, preventing honest feedback in both AAI and airlines.

Crashes Are Not Accidents — They’re Symptoms

Crash	Year	Cause Linked to Systemic Failure
Ghatkopar	2018	Operating from an illegal hangar
Kozhikode	2020	Runway overshoot, ignored warnings
Ahmedabad	2025	Obstacle and radar interference

These are not isolated tragedies — they are outcomes of years of neglect, poor regulation, and profit-over-safety thinking.

Final Call for Action

• The issue isn’t ignorance, it’s the absence of a safety-first culture.
• Without immediate, system-wide reform, the next crash won’t take years— it’s just around the corner.

Conclusion

The judiciary, often seen as the guardian of India’s Constitution, has mostly stayed silent on aviation issues, trusting the technical expertise of the state. But now, it must step up and take action. It should address the declining safety in the aviation sector and hold authorities accountable. Also, the judiciary’s outdated approach to valuing human life needs to change. In India, human life is often undervalued—as seen in the small compensations in railway and road accidents, usually just a few lakhs of rupees. When life is treated as cheap, spending crores on safety measures seems unnecessary to decision-makers. There is a need for urgent and complete reform. The aviation sector must be built on transparency, strict oversight, and a clear focus on safety over profit. Reform cannot be delayed. People’s lives are at risk.

 

Editorial 2: ​India can reframe the Artificial Intelligence debate

Context

As the host of next year’s AI Impact Summit, India has the chance to lead the way by guiding AI to help people and serve the public good.

Introduction

Just a few years ago, tools like ChatGPT brought artificial intelligence (AI) out of labs and into everyday life—into our homes, schools, and even parliaments. The impact was immediate, and world leaders quickly realized how powerfuland fast-moving this technology had become. Even though the global calendar was already full of summits, three major international meetings on AI were held soon after. Now, as New Delhi prepares to host the AI Impact Summit in February 2026, it has the chance to do more than just gather a big crowd. It can prove that governments—not just big tech companies—have the ability and responsibility to guide AI in ways that truly benefit society

India can bridge the divide

Theme
Global Tensions	The world is facing instability — the Ukraine war continues, West Asia remains volatile, and trade barriers are rising faster than global regulations evolve.
AI Summit Division	The Paris AI Summit (Feb 2025) aimed to bring unity but ended in disagreement. U.S. and U.K. rejected the final text, while China supported it, exposing divides.
Threat to AI Cooperation	The very platform created to safeguard humanity’s digital future now risks fragmentation and rivalry.
India’s Diplomatic Strength	India has both the credibility and the neutral standing to act as a bridge between divided powers.
Early Indian Initiative	The Ministry of Electronics and IT began preparations early, showing leadership and intent.
Public Participation via MyGov	In June 2025, India launched a nationwide consultation using the MyGov platform to gather inputs from students, startups, researchers, and civil society.
Clear Purpose of Consultation	The aim was to gather ideas on how AI can promote inclusive growth, support development, and protect the environment.
Democratic Edge	This wide and transparent consultation process gave India a unique democratic advantage over previous summit hosts.
Foundation for Policy Ideas	The collected suggestions are based on India’s digital governance experience, offering low-cost but high-trust solutions.
Five Practical Proposals	India plans to offer five AI policy suggestions that are affordable, realistic, and can boost international trust and cooperation.

Pledges and report cards

1. Measure What Matters

• Digital Inclusion: India’s tools like Aadhaar(digital identity for 1+ billion) and UPI (instant money transfers) show that tech can serve all.
• Action-Oriented Goals: Every delegation at the 2026 summit should set 1 measurable goalfor 12 months.
  • Examples:
    • Company: Cut data center electricity
    • University: Offer a free AI coursefor rural girls.
    • Government: Translate health adviceusing AI into local languages.
  • Transparency & Accountability: Publish all pledges on a public website, track progress via a scoreboard, and issue report cardsinstead of press releases.

2. Empower the Global South

• Inclusivity: Half the world was missingfrom the first summit’s photo. That must not repeat.
• India’s Leadership: As a Global South voice, India should ensure wide participation.
• AI for Billions Fund: Propose a fund backed by development banksand Gulf investors to:
  • Provide cloud credits, fellowships, and local language datasets.
• Multilingual Innovation: Launch a model challengefor 50 underserved languages with prizes announced at summit’s end.
• Core Message: Talent exists everywhere, not just in California or Beijing.

3. Build a Common AI Safety Check

• Global Safety Tools: Since the 2023 AI Safety Summit, experts demand stress testsand red teaming.
• Need for Collaboration: Many safety institutes exist, but no unified checklist.
• India’s Role: Form a Global AI Safety Collaborativeto:
  • Share stress test tools, incident logs, and checklistsfor high-compute models.
• Transparency Tools: India’s AI institute can publish an open evaluation kitwith code and bias testing datasets.

4. Champion Balanced AI Regulations

• Diverse Approaches:
  • S.resists strong rules
  • EUenforces strict regulation (AI Act)
  • Chinauses state control
• India’s Unique Position: Propose a middle path:
  • Draft a voluntary code of conductbased on the Seoul Pledge.
  • Make it stronger by requiring:
    • Red team resultswithin 90 days
    • Compute disclosurepast certain thresholds
    • AI accident hotline

5. Prevent Global Fragmentation

• Avoid Rivalry-Based Summits: Tensions between S. and Chinaover AI leadership risk splintered efforts.
• India’s Diplomacy: Use the summit to offer a broad, inclusive agendafocused on shared global benefits.
• Unifying Goal: Promote collaboration over competitionin AI policy and development.

Conclusion

India can’t build a global AI authority overnight, nor should it attempt to. Instead, it can bring together existing effortsand lead a strong initiative to share AI capabilities with the Global South. If India can turn global participation into real progress, it won’t just be hosting another summit — it will be reshaping its global role on one of the most critical issues of our time.