Editorials/Opinions Analysis For UPSC 16 June 2025

Content :

1. Fire on waters
2. Mind the gap
3. More ‘mind space’ for India in America’s imagination
4. India needs a sincere aircraft accident investigation

Fire on waters

Context: The MV Wan Hai 503 Fire Incident

• Date & Location: June 9, 2025; 44 nautical miles off Azhikkal coast, Kannur, Kerala.
• Cause: Multiple explosions onboard, leading to a dangerous fire.
• Cargo Risk: 140 out of 1,754 containers contained hazardous materials.
• Environmental & Safety Threat: Fire posed a severe threat to coastlines, life, and marine environment.

Relevance : GS 3 ( Disaster Management & Maritime Security )

Practice Question : India’s growing maritime footprint necessitates a robust response framework for onboard fires, salvage operations, and oil spills. Examine the challenges and suggest measures to enhance India’s maritime disaster preparedness.(250 Words)

Response & Rescue Efforts

• Initial Challenge: Rough monsoon seas and the vessel drifting towards the coast.
• Firefighting Coordination:
  • Indian Coast Guard initiated firefighting but tow rope initially snapped.
  • Indian Navy helicopter air-dropped a salvage team and passed a steel wire rope.
  • Ship towed 45 nautical miles away to deeper waters (~1 km depth).
• Current Status: Fire largely controlled; hot spots remain. Ship owner responsible for final salvage.

India’s Maritime Firefighting Capabilities

• Coast Guard Readiness:
  • Patrol vessels now routinely equipped with firefighting systems.
  • Firefighting has become a core mandate of the Coast Guard.

• Case Studies Demonstrating Capability:
  • VLCC New Diamond (2020): Carried 2.7 lakh tonnes of crude oil; massive fire off Colombo successfully extinguished by Indian Navy & Coast Guard.
  • Ships remained structurally intact even after week-long infernos, showing both operational and engineering resilience.

Persistent Risks in Maritime Zones

• Three Key Maritime Hazards:
  • Ship sinking: Loss of cargo, traffic disruption, environmental harm.
  • Onboard fires: Risk to human life and property, severe environmental implications.
  • Oil spills: Long-term marine pollution.

• High-Risk Vessels:
  • Gas carriers: Pose the highest explosion risk, especially at global choke points (e.g., Suez Canal, Strait of Malacca).

Way Forward

• Strengthen Salvage & Spill Response:
  • India needs to develop faster and more coordinated multi-agency frameworks for:
    • Salvaging sunken vessels.
    • Responding to oil spill emergencies.
• Training & Simulation: Simulated response drills should be expanded to improve preparedness.
• International Collaboration: Critical given global supply chain dependencies.

Conclusion

• The successful response to recent fires (Wan Hai 503, New Diamond) illustrates growing Indian capabilities in maritime firefighting.
• However, enhancing capacity for oil spills, salvage, and multi-agency coordination is essential to secure India’s 7,500 km coastline and protect maritime trade routes.

Mind the gap

India’s Ranking in the Global Gender Gap Index (2025)

• India ranks 131 out of 148 countries, down by two places from the previous year.
• Overall gender parity score: 64.1% — among the lowest in South Asia.
• The Index evaluates four dimensions:
  • Economic Participation and Opportunity
  • Educational Attainment
  • Health and Survival
  • Political Empowerment

Relevance : GS 1 ( Indian Society ) , GS 2 (Governance, Social Justice )

Practice Question : India’s rank in the Global Gender Gap Index reveals that political empowerment remains the weakest link in gender parity. Discuss the factors contributing to this gap and measures needed to address it.(250 Words)

Category-Wise Performance

Economic Participation and Opportunity

• +0.9% improvement in score.
• Estimated earned income parity rose from 28.6% to 29.9%.
• Labour force participation rate remains at 45.9% — India’s best till date.

Educational Attainment & Health and Survival

• Marginal positive shifts improved scores.
• Indicates better access to education and health outcomes for women.

Political Empowerment (Major Weakness)

• Drop in female representation:
  • Parliament: From 14.7% (2024) to 13.8% (2025).
  • Ministerial roles: From 6.5% to 5.6%.
• Consecutive yearly decline, pulling down India’s overall ranking.

Women’s Reservation Bill (2023)

• Passed after 27 years since its first introduction in 1996.
• One-third reservation for women in Parliament and State Assemblies.
• Implementation delayed till 2029 — pending Census and delimitation.
• Symbolic legislative win, but actual representation postponed.

Core Issues Highlighted

• Political parties can voluntarily nominate more women candidates even before the law is enforced.
• Symbolic gestures not enough — genuine political will needed to correct gender imbalance.
• Women’s under-representation reflects structural and cultural inertia, not lack of competence or interest.

Way Forward

• Consolidate gains in education, health, and employment.
• Accelerate action on political empowerment through:
  • Timely implementation of reservation.
  • Party-level reforms and quotas.
  • Leadership training and electoral support for women.
• Treat gender parity as a national development goal, not just an index to improve.
• Enable inclusive policymaking by ensuring more women in decision-making roles.

Conclusion

India’s drop in the Gender Gap Index is a reminder that political empowerment is the weakest link. Bridging this gap demands urgent institutional reforms, political courage, and grassroots participation of women, well before 2029.

More ‘mind space’ for India in America’s imagination

Core Argument

• India remains underrepresented in elite American academic, intellectual, and philanthropic imagination — not due to lack of merit, but due to persistent perceptual and narrative gaps.
• There is no flagship academic fellowship (like Schwarzman Scholars for China) for India — a symbolic and structural omission.

Relevance : GS 2 ( International Relations ) , GS 1 (Culture ) , Essay Paper

Practice Question : Despite being a strategic partner of the U.S., India remains underrepresented in Western academic and intellectual discourse. Analyze the causes and suggest ways India can project its global narrative effectively.(250 Words)

Schwarzman Scholars vs. India

• Schwarzman Scholars (est. 2016) at Tsinghua University was modelled on the Rhodes Scholarship to create China-aware global leaders.
• India lacks a similar platform to immerse international youth in its democratic, strategic, and civilizational context.
• The imbalance reflects decades of intellectual privileging of China over India.

Historical Context: ‘Scratches on the Mind’

• Harold R. Isaacs’ 1958 study revealed deep-rooted biases in American views:
  • China: revolutionary, seductive, dangerous, promising.
  • India: filtered through colonial lenses — mystical, chaotic, marginal.
• These stereotypes persist in academic and policymaking circles, leading to India’s underrepresentation in syllabi and fellowships, despite increasing global relevance.

Strategic Narrative Gap

• During the Cold War:
  • China: ideological battleground and later economic partner.
  • India: non-aligned, democratic but strategically ambiguous, didn’t fit into Western geopolitical templates.
• China actively marketed its rise, while India remained modest, bureaucratic, and reactive in narrative-building.

Institutional Deficit

• China’s rise was supported by state-funded soft power investments (e.g., Confucius Institutes, think tanks).
• India lacks an equivalent: its premier institutions (IITs, IIMs, Ashoka, Krea) have not yet developed the global strategic pull and policy linkage required.
• Absence of a Schwarzman-style fellowship is both a symptom and cause of India’s limited intellectual visibility in the West.

India-Focused Research in the U.S.

• China Studies is well-funded and institutionalised.
• India Studies is fragmented, often reduced to South Asian/Postcolonial Studies — with a focus on religion, anthropology, or classics, not on contemporary strategic and policy relevance.

Consequences of Absence

• American students and leaders are not being trained to understand modern India — leading to diplomatic gaffes (e.g., Trump’s mediation talk).
• India still appears as “India-Pakistan” rather than as a strategic entity in its own right.

The Way Forward

• Establish a flagship global fellowship (India Scholars Programme?) that:
  • Has state and private backing.
  • Combines academic excellence, international prestige, and strategic training.
  • Attracts both Indian and foreign youth.
• India must develop institutions with global connectivity, autonomy, and vision — beyond IITs/IIMs.

Reclaiming the Narrative

• India must project its story confidently and strategically.
• Merely exporting yoga and cuisine is not enough to shape perception or policy.
• Global leadership in the 21st century requires compelling storytelling, intellectual presence, and cultural engagement.
• Strategic silence breeds invisibility; the narrative must be assertive and coherent.

Conclusion

• To shift from being a “studied-at-a-distance” country to a thought leader, India must claim space in Western intellectual ecosystems.
• A Schwarzman-style programme in India would signal that India seeks to be known and understood on its own terms, not just as a counterbalance to China.
• The “scratches on the mind” can be healed — but only with vision, voice, and strategic presence in the arenas where future leaders are formed.

India needs a sincere aircraft accident investigation

Core Argument

• Despite having the statutory Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), India lacks independent, credible, and transparent aircraft accident investigations.
• The system protects institutions over people, and pilot error is often used as a scapegoat for broader systemic failures.

Relevance : GS 2 (Governance ), GS 3 (Internal Security) , GS 4 ( Ethics in Governance)

Practice Question : India’s civil aviation accident investigation suffers from structural conflict of interest and lack of institutional transparency. Critically analyze and suggest reforms to ensure credible accident investigations.(250 Words)

Structural Conflict of Interest

• The AAIB is not truly independent; it functions under the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA), which:
  • Regulates aviation via DGCA,
  • Oversees airlines,
  • Appoints heads of DGCA and AAIB.
• This creates a conflict of interest: those responsible for oversight are also investigating failures.
• In contrast, railway accidents are probed independently (e.g., by Commissioner of Railway Safety or judicial authorities).

Recent Safety Lapses

• The June 12, 2025 Ahmedabad accident, recent helicopter crashes, flying school incidents, and weather-related emergencies signal a broader safety crisis.
• India’s aviation growth is outpacing its safety framework.
• Ground-handling failures (e.g., Çelebi permit cancellation) point to regulatory and operational vulnerabilities.

Superficial Investigations and Buried Truths

• The 1997 Air Marshal J.K. Seth Committee exposed systemic flaws but was sidelined due to its inconvenient truths.
• Accident reports often contain internal contradictions or omissions:
  • E.g., weather discrepancies (2001), overloading (IC491, 1993), and data denial (IX611, 2018).
• There’s a pattern of obscuring the truth rather than reforming the system.

Misuse of AAIB Reports

• Per Aircraft (Investigation of Accidents and Incidents) Rules, 2017:
  • Reports are for learning and prevention, not blame.
• But law enforcement and courts misuse AAIB reports as evidence for prosecution.
  • Leads to legal distortions and pilots being unfairly blamed.

Convenient Blame on Pilots

• Pilot error is often the default conclusion because:
  • It simplifies legal processes,
  • Aids in quick insurance payouts,
  • Protects airlines, maintenance crews, and ATC from scrutiny.
• Dead pilots become scapegoats, shielding deeper system failures.

Institutional Protection over Accountability

• MoCA retains absolute control over:
  • Policy, Regulation, Investigation, and Appointments.
• This centralisation suppresses transparency and erodes public trust.
• Kozhikode air crash (2020) killed 21 people; investigation recommendations remain unimplemented — no accountability, only silence.

Key Reforms Proposed

1. Make AAIB and DGCA fully independent, accountable to Parliament.
2. Ban parallel committees that dilute AAIB’s role.
3. Prohibit legal use of AAIB reports unless independently validated.
4. Amend Aircraft Rule 19(3) to protect pilots from punitive action unless gross negligence is proven.
5. Appoint an independent aviation ombudsman to audit past investigations.

Final Message

• India has the talent and tools, but not the institutional courage to pursue truth in aviation accident probes.
• Without truth, transparency, and systemic reform, India’s aviation leadership claims ring hollow.
• A sincere, independent investigation mechanism must be India’s tribute to lives lost — both in crashes and in the silence that follows.

Disclaimer : The views and opinions expressed here are based on the original article published in THE HINDU and do not reflect the official stance of Legacy IAS Academy. This content is provided solely for educational and discussion purposes.