Daily News Compilation (HINDU) for 2nd June

Radically reforming higher education

Author points out to the problems in higher education of our country which can be worked out:

• politicisation of public institutions, 
• a perceived lack of regulation of faculty and 
• the desirability of creating knowledge as opposed to disseminating it.

1. Regulation of the faculty

a form of regulation of the faculty does exist: college lecturers are required to teach for around 16 hours a week.

Problem with this regulation : This must amount to at least three times the global average. It is anybody’s guess what the quality of these lectures is, given that young teachers have no time to prepare for them.

Solution : tutorials should be instituted to complement lectures. This is not just to ensure that students have a second chance to comprehend difficult ideas, but to encourage them to actually communicate what they have learnt.

2.  Lack of faculty accountability

Solution: Student evaluation of courses publicly displayed is the surest way of instilling accountability among faculty. It should also be taken into account when a lecturer comes up for promotion.

3. Lack of Knowledge Creation

Problem : we are largely consumers rather than producers. This is related to our approach to knowledge creation. A few years ago, the UGC instituted a form of research evaluation based on a points system. This approach to governing knowledge creation is subsumed under the metric Academic Performance Indicator (API), a quantitative summary of a lecturer’s output. Research itself is scored on the basis of a ranking of journals in which it is published. This system of governing is objective but is not giving the desirable results.

Solution:

• research ought to be assessed on its own merits rather than on the basis of the journal in which it was published. 
• The long-standing practice in India had been to have research peer-reviewed and these reports considered by a committee of experts. There should be a return to this practice as it is superior to the points-based system which prejudges content and quality. 
• Finally, in issuing a guideline for assessing research, the UGC must focus exclusively on the researcher’s contribution to knowledge and cease privileging “foreign” publications over “Indian” ones and “international” conferences over “national” ones.

Obama to unveil historic climate change plan

U.S. President Barack Obama will unveil a plan on June 2 that will cut carbon pollution from power plants and promote cap-and-trade, undertaking the most significant action on climate change in American history.

The proposed regulations Obama will launch at the White House on Monday could cut carbon pollution by as much as 25 per cent from about 1,600 power plants in operation today, according to those claiming familiarity with the plan.

They will put America on course to meet its international climate goal, and put U.S. diplomats in a better position to leverage climate commitments from big polluters such as China and India, Obama said in a speech to West Point graduates this week.

Melting glaciers, more rain to swell Himalayan rivers

Jaitley aims to cut expenditure

The Finance Ministry’s budget team has some broad guiding principles already:

• It includes steps to ensure rise in revenues without burdening taxpayers
• Greater efficiency in government expenditure to reduce fiscal deficit
• Revive the manufacturing sector

The UPA government’s interim budget had estimated:

• Interest payments on borrowings for its past expenditure will exhaust 43.3 per cent of the tax collections in 2014-15.
• Subsidies were estimated at 26 per cent of tax collections.
• Interest Payments and Subsidies along with pensions to account for 80 per cent of the Centre’s net tax revenues
• Leaving barely 20 per cent for governance and development.

Given this legacy, Mr. Jaitley will have to push revenues and control expenditure.

China says U.S., Japan ‘singing notes in chorus’

WAR OF WORDS between US and China at Shangri-La Dialogue, Singapore
U.S. Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said China had, “undertaken destabilising, unilateral actions asserting its claims in the South China Sea”

Japanese PM Shinzo Abe also hit out at China over the disputes. He decided to

• Support Vietnam and the Philippines on their territorial disputes with China
• To supply naval patrol vessels to both countries
• To boost its security presence in the region

“They were corroborating and colluding and using the opportunities to speak first at the Shangri-La Dialogue to take the initiative to provoke and challenge China,” he told the meeting.

A top Chinese Army General on Sunday slammed the US and Japan for “provoking” China.
GyaanShangri-La Dialogue: 

The Shangri-La Dialogue (SLD) is a "Track One" inter-governmental security forum held annually by an independent think tank, the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) which is attended by defense ministers, permanent heads of ministries and military chiefs of 28 Asia-Pacific states.
The summit serves to cultivate a sense of community among the most important policymakers in the defence and security community in the region.
Government delegations have made the best out of the meeting by holding bilateral meetings with other delegations on the sidelines of the conference.

Andhra Pradesh hoping for special category status

N. Chandrababu Naidu, made a strong bid for the special package and financial assistance to the fledgling Seemandhra comprising 13 districts.
The special category status requires discussion in the Planning Commission followed by the National Development Council. The proposal includes a six-point development package, comprising tax and industrial incentives as offered to Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.
The A.P. Reorganisation Bill already provides for a special development package for the backward regions of the successor State, particularly the seven districts of Rayalaseema and north coastal Andhra. This is proposed on the lines of the KBK (Koraput-Bolangir-Kalahandi) special plan in Odisha.

The special category status proposed for a period of five years is expected to put the State’s finances on a firmer footing.
Fiscal measures like tax incentives are intended to promote industrialisation and economic growth in both the States. The special package includes expansion of physical and social infrastructure in the backward regions. It proposes setting up of a AIIMS type super speciality hospital cum teaching institute and National Institute of Disaster Management in the successor State besides tribal university one each in both the states.

Other infrastructure projects proposed are

• New major port at Durgarajapatnam, Nellore
• IOC/HPCL crude oil refinery
• Vizag-Chennai Industrial corridor
• new railway zone
• metro rail facility in Vizag and Vijaywada-Guntur-Tenali-Mangalagiri Urban Development Authority.

Sri Lanka arrests 33 Indian fishermen

A day after the 45-day ban on trawling in Tamil Nadu ended, 33 Indian fishermen were arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy on charges of poaching.
It is the first instance of Indian fishermen allegedly engaging in bottom-trawling on the Sri Lankan side of the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) after the second round of talks between fishermen of both countries.
Leaders of fishermen from the two countries could not reach a consensus at the May 12 meeting in Colombo.
Although Indian fishermen agreed to stop using pair-trawling and purse seine nets — which are banned in Sri Lanka — they asked for three years’ time to phase out trawling.
Sri Lankan fishermen say that allowing bottom-trawling any longer would further endanger marine resources, causing permanent damage.
The Palk Bay conflict has been a challenging issue in bilateral relations. At the recent meeting between Prime Minister Narendra MOdi Manmohan Singh and President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Gyaan
Bottom Trawling
Bottom trawling is trawling (towing a trawl, which is a fishing net) along the sea floor. It is also referred to as "dragging". The scientific community divides bottom trawling into benthic trawling and demersal trawling. 

Benthic trawling is towing a net at the very bottom of the ocean and demersal trawling is towing a net just above the benthic zone. Bottom trawling can be contrasted with midwater trawling (also known as pelagic trawling), where a net is towed higher in the water column. Midwater trawling catches pelagic fish such as anchovies, tuna, and mackerel, whereas bottom trawling targets both bottom-living fish (groundfish) and semi-pelagic species such as cod, squid, shrimp, and rockfish. Trawling is done by a trawler, which can be a small open boat with only 30 hp (22 kW) or a large factory trawler with 10,000 hp (7,500 kW). Bottom trawling can be carried out by one trawler or by two trawlers fishing cooperatively (pair trawling).

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Seine fishing

Seine fishing (or seine-haul fishing) is a method of fishing that employs a seine or dragnet. A seine is a fishing net that hangs vertically in the water with its bottom edge held down by weights and its top edge buoyed by floats. Seine nets can be deployed from the shore as a beach seine, or from a boat.

Boats deploying seine nets are known as seiners. There are two main types of seine net deployed from seiners: purse seines and Danish seines.

A common type of seine is a purse seine, named such because along the bottom are a number of rings. A line (referred to as a purse-line) passes through all the rings, and when pulled, draws the rings close to one another, preventing the fish from "sounding", or swimming down to escape the net. This operation is similar to a traditional style purse, which has a drawstring. The purse seine is a preferred technique for capturing fish species which school, or aggregate, close to the surface: such as sardines, mackerel, anchovies, herring, certain species of tuna (schooling); and salmon soon before they swim up rivers and streams to spawn (aggregation). Boats equipped with purse seines are called purse seiners.

Use of Purse seines are regulated by many countries. In Sri Lanka, using this type of nets within a radius of 7 kilometers offshore is illegal.[6] However it can be used in deep sea after obtaining permission from authorities. Purse seine fishing can have negative impacts on fish stocks because it can involve the bycatch of non-target species and it can put too much pressure on fish stocks.