Daily Excelsior... Editorial

EDITORIAL PRIVATE SCHOOLS Action for closing down unrecognised schools as per the enunciated policy of the Government has since been initiated. There is no denying the fact that in the total scheme for educational revamp mushroom growth of private schools without the requisite infrastructure has to be checked. Commercialisation of education is justified to the extent of improving competitive environs and better standards. .. ....more DESTABILISERS While it is the right of all opposition parties to pinpoint deficiency of the Government and seek resolve of peoples problems by focussing them at all conceivable forums, opposition that tends to destabilise the country and does not subserve national interests has no sanctity in democracy. It is the pure game of numbers. If the incumbents have it and mandated as such by the people singly or......more		New credit policy : A shift in thrust By : Sisir Basu The Reserve Bank has replaced the credit policy for the busy reason with a midterm review of monetary and credit policy. While ....... more Recognise the contribution of women to development By : Arun Vinayak What will be the status of women in the next millennium, hardly a year away? What is happening to them the world over at present doe.....more Economy through fleet harmonisation By: D. K. Arora An airline's successful operation depends on the composition of its fleet. The trend today is towards aircraf...more

EDITORIAL PRIVATE SCHOOLS Action for closing down unrecognised schools as per the enunciated policy of the Government has since been initiated. There is no denying the fact that in the total scheme for educational revamp mushroom growth of private schools without the requisite infrastructure has to be checked. Commercialisation of education is justified to the extent of improving competitive environs and better standards. But opening of teaching shops by all Toms, Dicks and Harrys pose serious danger to the entire educational system. Some means have to be deployed to ensure that education remains education and the vulnerable sections of society do not fall victims to antics of such set ups that have only money as the motive without giving anything in return in terms of proper education. From the outset it must be appreciated by the policy makers that mushroom growth of unrecognised schools is very largely attributed to lack of any standards in Government schools. Consequently parents are left with no choice but to admit their wards in nearby private school. They are not aware whether the school is recognised and if so upto which class. Since admission to well-reputed private institutions is restricted and they are unable to meet the demand, patronisation of schools with hardly any standing is the obvious choice but surely Government schools happen to be the last choice. It is apt to mention that education department functionaries are equally to be blamed for their failure to check growth of unrecognised schools, some of them remaining in the business for a number of years. Now that the malaise has assumed alarming proportions, the administration has woken up to tackle the menace by initiating steps for closing them down. On the face of it this exercise appears ridiculous at this stage. While figures from Jammu are not readily available, there shall be at least 63000 students who will be deboarded from unrecognised schools in the valley. The figure in Jammu is not going to be any lesser. This means over a lakh of students face the axe or disruption or dislocation. This is something very difficult to justify or digest. The Government has no moral or any other authority to let thousands of children go for education in Government school worse than what they got in the unrecognised schools. At this stage the problem needs to be viewed pragmatically so that minimum number of children are derailed. It is the considered view that those of the schools that remain unrecognised should be rationally categorised in three compartments. First, schools that have the potential of maintaining average standard. The building is okay and the faculty meets the requirements of education department. Such schools must be asked to seek recognition forthwith. The second category pertains to those not so well equipped in terms of basic requirements. Such of the schools should be put on notice to improve the things within stipulated time frame, say one or two years. It is also to be treated as notice to such schools in the event of their failure to come upto the required standards. Interim recognition for a couple of years can be considered for such of the schools. The third category is the one which is devoid of any infrastructure and has no possibility of looking up. Only such unrecognised schools that have nil prospects for the teachers and the taught should face the axe. This exercise would reduce the number of students likely to be displaced to a manageable level. As regards recognition exercise, it ought not to be a cumbersome exercise with frivolous procedures that breed corrupt practices. In fact, recognition business is indeed vulnerable to extraneous considerations. It should be so simplified asto allow all private schools to get it smoothly and expeditiously. Since private schools play important role, even unrecognised ones, and in fact reduce the burden on the Government significantly, there should be no element of witch-hunting and wholesale winding up. No, that is not on. Let it be a selective application. The entire thrust should be for according recognition to the maximum number of schools and only those that have nothing to offer in terms of reasonable education should be wound up. .DESTABILISERS While it is the right of all opposition parties to pinpoint deficiency of the Government and seek resolve of peoples problems by focussing them at all conceivable forums, opposition that tends to destabilise the country and does not subserve national interests has no sanctity in democracy. It is the pure game of numbers. If the incumbents have it and mandated as such by the people singly or jointly, they should be allowed to govern the country. The opposition must wait until next chance at the husting. Contrarily, if the number game starts favouring the opposition they have every right to lay claim to form Government. Unfortunately the ongoing game is quite sinister. All types of intrigues and nasty games are on to somehow destabilise the Government. In doing so, no norms and ethics are being observed. All types of tools are being used to get rid of the BJP led Government at the Centre. Initial stand of the Congress Party as enunciated by its President Sonia Gandhi was that they would wait for the BJP Government to fall and then only think of forming alternative Government. Right now means other than democratic are at work to create uncertainty by arousing passions, provoking religious susceptibilities to cause communal divide and indulge in rhetorics to undermine credibility of the Government. These things are bound to recoil on the initiators before long. But right now the damage being done is acute. The system, the values the ethics and all that is in danger of being threatened. One such example pertains to protests being lodged on the recitation of Vande Matram and Saraswati Vandana. Incidentally, Vande Matram is a nations theme so favourite with the freedom fighters which included people from all religions. In fact Vande Matram was the rallying slogan like 'Inquilab Zindabad'. Saraswati Vandana is worship of the goddess of learning. These are very old ancient themes when there was no communalisation. But these days the fashion in vogue is to exploit all such issues that inculcate nationalism and exhort the vulnerable by giving it religious twist. The second example pertains to CPM and Congress becoming strange bed-fellows overnight sans programme or policies. Only one point is mentioned i.e. to dislodge BJP Government which is communal and replace it with secular one. Strangely it comes from parties that have promoted communalism in Kerala and other places by appeasing Muslim League in return for political support. Leftist Government of Namboodribad (CPM) created Mallapuranm district while Congress led Government in Kerala declared Friday as holiday in many places. Mulayam in order to appease Muslim electorate asked Government to release Rs 2000 crore for Pakistan to bail them out from current economic crisis. One really wonders who is communal and who is secular. But destabilisers are overzealous and working overtime to the detriment of teeming millions and the nation that needs stability at this crucial juncture.

New credit policy : A shift in thrust By : Sisir Basu The Reserve Bank has replaced the credit policy for the busy reason with a midterm review of monetary and credit policy. While this itself signals a change in its approach to monetary control, what is more important is the shift in the thrust from changes in bank rate and cash reserve ratio to matters that are more substantive. Essentially, the central bank's concern is over the viability of commercial banks. RBI governor Bimal Jalan must be commended for making risk management a major priority of commercial bank operations. This is what should be, given the challenges of competitive banking. While one would have liked a serious effort towards reducing social lending, a beginning would appear to have been made with Mr Jalan voicing the demand for reducing the share of government securities in the portfolio of banks. The introduction of 20 per cent risk weight effective March 31,2000, for government guaranteed advances which go into default and 100 per cent a year later must be seen as a warning that banks would not perpetually be captive lenders to the government and its agencies. We have obviously come a long way from the September, 1994 accord between RBI and Union finance ministry on ad hoc treasury bills being phased out and now the government is being told that it must begin to look for resource support outside RBI and the banking sector. RBI has also declared that government guaranteed advances which have turned sticky will begin to be treated as non-performing assets as per existing prudential norms effective April 1, 2000. This is a virtual repudiation of the guarantee given by the government. Clearly, the government now has to exercise utmost care in choosing which agency or programme should get its support. It would appear that RBI has left its anxiety over the quality of banking practices and operations wholly dictate the mid-term review of credit policy by apparently refusing to respond to the present state of the Indian economy. Oddly, the Reserve Bank blames the government for tapping the banks far more than warranted by the expected grown of the real sector of the economy. It is, however, more optimistic on the growth of the economy than independent agencies. The growth in money supply and the inflationary pressures in the economy have weighted more with the central bank than the slowdown and weak recovery. In taking this stance, Mr Bimal Jalan is aligning himself with the heads of the central banks in the developed countries, who are known to be more concerned with containing inflation than spurring growth. The International Monetary Fund will, no doubt, like this identification. For its part, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) will be pleased with the latest measures to enhance the quality of risk management. For the banking sector itself, a major aspect of its globalisation would be the adoption of capital adequacy and provisioning norms on par with internationally accepted standards. The Indian banks will have to protect their bottomlines to win acceptance abroad. Enhancing capital adequacy ratio by 1 per cent from the next fiscal onwards is a necessary beginning towards that end. Added to this is the prescription of a higher risk weight on government and approved securities. A central bank that does not force the banking constituents into a regime of discipline runs the risk of losing its own credibility. Former Reserve Bank governor C Rangarajan had set the agenda for the central bank in M G Kutty memorial lecture in 1993 which generally advocated parity in terms of functions as well as powers between RBI and its counterparts in the developed countries. A major theme was that the nation's central bank should cease to be the captive banker to the government. His successor is now seeking to extend this agenda to the commercial banks. Logically, this is acceptable. But the Indian context can only take such a reform in slow phases and without upsetting the applecart of growth generally and poverty alleviation in particular. The Narasimham Committee had in its recommendations to the government in November, 1991, called for a substantial cut in the statutory liquidity ratio and cash reserve ratio and also a reduction in the directed credit or priority sector advances . Mr Bimal Jalan has not broached on either SLR or priority sector lending but sent signals to the policy makers that he expected initiatives in this regard. One can say the same also in respect of the Narasimham Committee's proposal for reduced government and RBI holding in public sector banks. Depending upon the state of economy, business people whether engaged in trading or industrial activity make their own guesses about the probable accent of the policy stance. The state of economy admittedly is in bad shape, as the performance of almost all sectors of the economy has somewhat deteriorated from the previous year's not so happy state of affairs. Industrial investment and output continued to be sluggish. The state of capital market, both its primary and secondary segments, is a matter of great concern. Exports do not reveal any signs of recovery. And the price scene appears to be uncomfortable. In this depressing scenario, only positive elements seem to be the relative stability in the exchange rate at its depreciated level as well as the comfortable levels of forex reserves. Has not Prof. Sayers, the authority on 'Dos' and 'Donts' of central banking, maintained that ''Discretion is the essence of central banking''? The exercise of these discretionary powers that require the RBI to deploy the monetary weapons in its armoury at a short notice as state of affairs undergo continual change. Then what is the point in spelling out the specific measures applicable to six month period on any given date? Influenced by these thoughts, Dr Jalan mentioned at the time of his policy statement for the first half of the year that structural measures would be usually announced in April and they would not be normally changed. However, Dr Jalan reserved the right to effect changes in bank rate, CRR, repo rate, access to refinance at any time. Then, what has remained for the customary statement to be issued in October? To quote him ''in general. October statement will be confined to a mid-year review of credit and monetary developments''. But this is not the reason enough for not effecting any change in policy when the capital market is in the doldrums and business confidence is low. The remarks of Dr Jalan that the prevailing situation warrants some amount of monetary lightening show that he is convinced about the necessity of improving the access and availability of credit or of reducing the cost of credit. Dr Jalan, in fact, has warned the he might resort to monetary tightening if price situation or external developments call for such measures. He has not resorted to such tightening lst that might affect the industrial recovery. Obviously, Dr Jalan is worried about the pace of monetary expansion at 18.3 per cent and its implications for price rise, even though he is aware that the price rise is confined only to food items. Monetary tightening cannot be of any help in this regard. On the other hand, his concern about the impact of cheaper credit on exchange rate is justified in the back drop of developments in the forex market in the recent test. Admittedly, RBI by itself cannot do much to revive the economy as monetary policy is only an enabling one. A reduction in interest rates is not likely to result in any significant increase in demand for credit. But incentive measures in inducing resource flow from banks to capital market could have been helpful. (INAV)

Recognise the contribution of women to development
By : Arun Vinayak

What will be the status of women in the next millennium, hardly a year away? What is happening to them the world over at present does not bode well for the fair sex All over the world women provide more than 60 per cent of energy required for production but in return get less than 40percent of that energy. Experiences of and surveys conducted by, Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) or voluntary organisations have shown this to be true.

These have also revealed that male domination in society has resulted in 75 per cent of women in developing countries living in poor conditions. They also have low social status. About 70 per cent of the children in these countries also live under the same conditions.

These data helps activists working for equal rights for women and men in traditional societies of the South or the developing countries of the world.

Magasasay award winner, Dr Rajnikant Arole of the Comprehensive Rural Health Project (CRHP) at Jamkhed in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra, says that despite constitutional provisions and a number of laws for protection of women and children granting them civil and human rights, the reality is far from giving them equal rights.

These are some of the issues that will come up in mid-November before the International Conference on woman and child being organised at Loni by the Association of Agricultural Medicine and Rural Health in India (AAMRHI) and CRHP.

The focus is on health, empowerment, right, and development issues of the world, particularly of the developing countries.

Traditional societies in developing countries have seen to it that women remain inferior to men. Though this half of the world's population serves humanity as a whole, women have no rights on the farm, on property and on money.

The fate of the proposed 30 percent reservation for women in parliament and legislature, amply brings this cut.

Besides, the experience of the last more than five years of reservation for women in panchayat raj institutions, have been no better. If some women have functioned and carried out their duties in these institutions on an equal footing with men, they are only exceptions.

The fate of the female child is no better. Her troubles begin before birth.

Sonography, amniocentesis and other ''modern'' techniques are used to foresee and forestall her birth.

Even if she survives these obstacles, she is faced with female infanticide after birth, which is regularly undertaken in Northern India, especially in states like Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

After this, if the female child still pulls on, she will get the worst of nourishment, the worst of education and the worst of work at home and outside.

On reaching puberty, she is expected to start producing a child even before she becomes an adult. If she fails to produce a male child, she is discarded.

The man then picks up another partner for himself, irrespective of the fact that this is illegal. But the law itself is implemented by men. The legal definition of law is ''man includes woman.''

Children as a whole, in developing countries have by and large become bonded labour engaged in ''delicate'' work such as embroidery, carpet making, bangle-making, and match factories.

In the brick-making industry incidents have come to the notice of ngo's, that children are packed into prison-like cell for their lodging, given subsistence nourishment and made to work from dawn to dusk in making bricks.

Camel race is another ''occupation'' where children are made to race with camels. Heavy betting is done on these races but in this process the children often get dragged or trampled upon by the camels.

Another stark reality of the situation is that the number of street children and child prostitutes inthe South are increasing by leaps and bounds. Right across from Rio in Brazil to Bangkok in Thailand and Manila in the Philippines.

Poverty coupled with the careless attitude of man, myths of traditional societies has resulted in more children and large families.

These children are abandoned by their parents in the streets to fend for themselves.

However, there are employers of child labour who appear to be benevolent, for e.g the hotel industry. Many employers, particularly in urban centres, allow their child labour to go to evening schools and educate themselves for better jobs. But these are rare cases.

The question then is what do the men do?

Here again the experience is that men normally undertake ''supervisory'' jobs over women in the field. They thus create only about ten to 20 per cent energy during a day.

Besides, they normally work for themselves only.

Women on the other hand work both on the farm and at home. They are never allowed to acquire skills, as these would make them equal with men.

Where such skills are acquired, like in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, 50 per cent of the women, have moved out of their house, farms and neighbourhood and have started earning more.

The acquisition of skills has resulted in improved education, smaller size of families and better economic well-being. The move towards equal partners in life is a dominant feature.

Generally speaking, women and children have to face violence and oppression of the worst kind in the workplace. Added to this is the fact that, any war, conflict, communal violence and the like means that women and children would be molested, abused, raped and killed, as they are the most vulnerable. They are not thought of as human beings.

The fallout of wars in Europe, Africa and in Afghanistan is well-known. Communal and ethnic violence has plagued India in this last decade of the current millennium. The sati in Rajasthan with societal support and willful ignorance of the law, bride burning for not bringing in dowry or ''appropriate'' dowry almost all over the country and husbands deserting their wives like plastic dolls crushed, after ''enjoyment'', are a few instances that come to mind.

There have been changes in the attitudes in men towards acknowledging the inputs of women in development and the rights of children towards education and dignity. However, the process is too slow to overcome the exploitation and oppression of hundreds of years. The urgent requirements for rapid social change to bring men and women on an equal socio-economic and political footing means better nutrition and education for women. This also is true of the female child.

NGOs have in the last few years concentrated their efforts in imparting non-formal education, training in skills for economic self-reliance in women and providing information for political uplift of women, especially with regard to panchayat raj institutions.

However, empowerment of women has to move from urban centers to the rural areas where it is most required and where the vast humanity of exploited men and women reside and survive as ''the silenced majority''.

The activists of these NGO's will have to intervene quicker on questions of property rights of women both on the farms and at home. Legal and practical skills have to be given to women so that they could confront the male population to give them equal rights as a partner in development.

Such education and information transforms and improves the quality of life and limits population growth. The NGO's also have to make men more sensitive to this issue of equal rights for one half of the population.

On the other hand women have to realise that power and equal rights are not served on a platter. Since political independence of the developing countries, the process of which began in the middle of the current century, the efforts of giving equal rights to women have depended largely on pleas.

A large section of women in the South appear to be content with their status. Activists will have to counter this in bringing awareness in women that their status in society is of second class citizens. This will also entail spreading the message and working towards eradication of poverty. Thus 70 per cent of the population will have to move away from survival to living.

The priorities before the international conference at Loni will be to find out ways and means to establish a network, through which information and solutions could reach persons concerned.

This dispersal of information and knowledge will enable women to empower themselves. The most important of these objectives will be to hasten the pace of the eradication of poverty which affects health.

The women has a crucial role to play in maintaining the health and hygiene of the community. If she suffers, which she does, it is because of lack of education and nourishment, the future generation also suffers. No less a person than the renowned nutritionist and child specialist, Dr Jonas Saak has pointed out that the inability of the current generation of the socio-economically poorer sections of society to keep pace with development, was the end result of generations of malnutrition and inadequate nourishment.

No time frame can be set to overocme the problems of women and children. But a beginning can be made by establishing a network and use of information technology to create awareness about the need to improve the status of this important but neglected section of society. (PTI Feature)

Economy through fleet harmonisation
By: D. K. Arora

An airline's successful operation depends on the composition of its fleet. The trend today is towards aircraft families with identical technical features of each type of aircraft. An airline like Swissair has begun harmonising its fleet leading the wayinto the next century. All of Swissair's aircraft, for example, will be Airbus products by the year 2006.

When it comes to flight schedules, safety, punctuality, check-in speed, seat comfort, in-flight food and beverage quality, baggage delivery and frequent-flyer programmes, the airline has played a key role in defining the standards the world expects as a matter of course. Its short-haul feet consisting of Airbus A319s, A320s, and A321s, deployed on the European routes, is the first step in that direction. The three versions of the A320 family are technically identical and can be flown by the same pilot corps. This translates into reduced technical maintenance costs and additional savings in terms of cockpit crews, as they can be deployed in a more flexible manner and require less conversion training.

The varying passenger capacity of the three A320 family models allows the right aircraft to be deployed -- at short notice - on the right route depending on booking figures. Irregularities can also be ironed out by the Operation Control without delaying passengers. This concept saves the airlines an estimated Swiss franc 30 million every year. The airline has begun to renew its long-haul fleet harmonisation by extending the concept of aircraft families that was successfully introduced in the short-haul sector. Initially, eight Airbus A310-300s, deployed on medium-and long haul routes, will be replaced by nine new Airbus A330-200s. Beginning in the year 2000, a further six A330-200 will be introduced. As of 2002, nine Airbus A340-600s will join the fleet. These aircraft will first replace the five ageing Boeing 747s and, later, all MD-11s.

Once the fleet renewal is complete, the airlines will acquire a high degree of synergy. Swissair began deploying a new fleet of aircraft on its European route network in February, 1995. The new models embody the latest generation of aircraft design technology. They are less noisy and produce a significantly lower amount of pollutant emissions than the aircraft they replaced.

The airlines takes credit for a major breakthrough in reducing nitrogen oxides (NOx) when it provided powerplant construction with emission targets for a new engine to power its European fleet. The result was the CFM56-5B power plant. It emits much lower amounts of NOx than previous generations of aircraft engines. In fact, it was the first airline in the world to deploy this new power plant technology. What is more, these new engines are half as quiet as the engines on the MD-81.

Airbus A330-200 has been introduced for first time by any airlines on the Delhi route. Youngest in the family, this modern aircraft, promises utmost comfort and operational reliability. In all the three classes, the aircraft is equipped with lumbar support, headrest and swivel ears, power outlets for laptops and telephones. The criteria for choosing Airbus are largely ecological in nature. Both A330 and A340 produce less noise than their predecessors while providing better climb power. This enables the aircraft to attain a higher altitude more rapidly after takeoff. The new aircraft also burn upto one-third less fuel than their predecessors.

A pilot who is licensed to fly a short-haul Airbus A320 can complete his conversion training for the new long-haul A330 in a mere nine days. From an A330 to A340 requires only two days. And conversion training from A340 to A330 can be completed in only one day. The same cannot be said about conversion training for a "non-family" aircraft type such as the Boeing 747 or MD-11. Here a pilot would have to sit in a classfoom and simulator for a approximately eight weeks, removing them from active duty for a much longer period.

The same can be said for instructors. The family concept also provides greater flexibility in crew planning, as new pilots can be alternately deployed on the A320 and A330. Combining short-haul and long-haul flights also enhances crew members' quality of life. The family concept also pays off in terms of maintenance where spare stores need not stock a large array of aircraft-type specific, a fact that ties up less capital. The training of maintenance specialists is also less capital-intensive, since the mechanics are allowed to focus on fewer aircraft types.

Long-haul airlines passengers truly want time to fly. The inflight entertainment system on the new aircraft provides a screen for every seat and offers a range of films, information, games, tax-free shopping and digital-quality music. Satellite telephones provide passengers with connections anywhere in the world. There are laptop computer electrical power outlets for each First and Business class passenger, while the economy class has two central recharging stations. Passengers will also enjoy the special headphones designed to reduce ambient noise.- CNF