10 years of MGNREGA

Challenges Facing New Education Policy in India : From EPW

The New Education Policy on the anvil should encourage academic talent and innovation to make the system of higher education more responsive to the needs of various stakeholders instead of just attempting to create a uniform standardised structure. To ensure this, political and bureaucratic interference in educational institutions, which has steadily eroded the quality of higher education in India, will have to be minimised, academic autonomy strengthened and diverse opinions taken into account while building a new policy framework.

The article is based on the author’s presentation made at the consultation meeting on “Linking Higher Education to Society” at the Institute of Advanced Studies, Shimla on 27–28 August 2015.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s trip to Silicon Valley in California, the United States (US) in September 2015 was about technology and attracting both talented Indians and investment in technology in India. It highlights the fact that the best go abroad, leaving the country short of talent. The gross enrolment ratio in the country has risen sharply in the last decade but industry complains that most students are unemployable. The President of India via video conferencing addressed students and faculty of institutions of higher learning in India and said, “India does not have even one truly outstanding institution among 700 universities and over 36,000 colleges.” He pointed to a “casual” approach to higher education and stressed the need to “improve academic management.”

Higher education has also come in for adverse comments from Amartya Sen, Narayana Murthy and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan. While none of them have experience of the ground-level problems plaguing higher education in India, their concerns are valid. If they remain unaddressed, “skilling India” and reaping “demographic dividend” will remain distant goals. Would the New Education Policy (NEP)on the anvil take up these challenges?

Interference and Autonomy

Sen expressed concern at the interference in top appointments in institutions. While the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML) director quit under pressure from the government, people with poor credentials but the right connections have been appointed in the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR), Censor Board of Film Certification, etc. Could the President be pointing to this aspect of academic management? Unlikely, since neither good institutions are built in a day nor do they decline within a year. The malaise afflicting our institutions of higher learning is old and needs to be identified if corrective measures are to be adopted in the NEP.

Political interference in top appointments is a crucial factor in the decline of institutions of higher learning, but this is not new. In 1952, A V Hill, the biological secretary of the Royal Society of the United Kingdom (UK), wrote to Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar who had just then been appointed the director general of the newly established Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). He expressed concern that the CSIR laboratories would drain universities of talented scientists, and asked who would then train the next generation? Bhatnagar replied that the universities are already in poor shape because their vice chancellors are political appointees (Kumar 2006). The implication is that the malaise goes back to the time of independence.

Often vice chancellors, directors and principals have been appointed for proximity to the powers that be and not their academic credentials. This makes them beholden to political bosses or in privately controlled institutions to the moneyed and that erodes their accountability to their academic peers. No wonder civil servants and army men have been appointed even though they lack academic imagination. The rot is now deeper, since there are persistent reports of money being the consideration for appointments.

The task of those at the top is seen as managing an institution rather than fostering creativity, or encouraging a questioning spirit. Such people aspire for more favours to rise in the system and, therefore, remain compliant with the wishes of their bosses rather than having the welfare of their institution as their priority. Vice chancellors have increasingly ceded ground to the bureaucrats of the University Grants Commission (UGC) and Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) rather than providing leadership, as was the case up to the early 1970s. This is as true of premier universities like the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) as of the lesser-known universities in the states.

David Gross, the Nobel laureate, pointing to the leadership crisis, argues that it is due to the mechanical nature of decisions. He says,

…most destructive and silly is the government’s policy towards early retirement. …People are forced to retire here at the age of 60 (65 in some institutes). It is extremely difficult to find people in their 60s, which is the optimal age at which people can assume scientific leadership.

He added, “Some people at 60 have been sleeping since they were 20. Some people will go on being productive into their 90s.” It may be added that many who were academically weak since they were 20, but politically active, got into positions of power in institutions of higher education, while the creative ones were largely marginalised.

The MHRD has held conclaves with the vice chancellors, but can original ideas be expected from those appointed for their capacity to comply? Ideas from the Western universities are being mechanically borrowed for implementation in India. Take the idea of the Meta University. Can it work when it is known that university departments in the same building hardly synergise each other? JNU conceived around the idea of interdisciplinarity has little to show for it. Here, life sciences are taught in several departments with minimal synergy and the same is true of economics taught in four centres. Does a change of rubric change the reality? Similarly, the choice based credit system (CBCS) and massive open online courses (MOOCS) have been introduced even though teachers have protested that these ideas are not workable in the Indian situation.

Compliant leadership also surrounds itself with pliable others to push the agenda dictated from the outside. A vast number of senior academics in the decision-making bodies, like executive councils of various universities, rarely oppose questionable decisions of those at the top, since they also have learnt the value of compliance for rising in the system. No wonder, universities and colleges are run down and do not cater to their primary task of nurturing talent, and though society blames academics for this situation, it does not see the root of the problem.

Academic leaders often make their institutions playgrounds for caste, regional, political and community politics. Appointments are often made for reasons of such affiliations and/or by charging money (corruption), making academic merit secondary. Even when “good” academics are chosen, they understand that to survive, they have to cater to sectional interests. As the number of such appointments increases, decline of institutions is inevitable. The Allahabad University in the 1950s became the arena for the play between the Brahmin, Kayastha and Baniya groups and merit became secondary. In such a situation, many question the very idea of “merit” and see in it a design to exclude some.

The problem is compounded by the feudal culture prevailing in most institutions of higher learning. Obeisance to those above and compliance from those below is expected, thus marginalising excellence if not demoralising it. So, challenging orthodoxy and dissenting are becoming rarer even though that is a prerequisite for originality.

Narayana Murthy’s lament is linked to this. He said at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, “There has not been a single invention from India in the last 60 years that became a household name globally….” In the same vein, Raghuram Rajan lamented that a whole generation of economists has been lost. These are corollaries of nurturing sycophancy and suppression of dissent in academia.

Attitudes filter down into teaching and the learning processes of students who mostly learn by rote while questioning little. Exams test the capacity to mechanically reproduce what is mugged up. Richard Thane, an exchange student from the US, highlighted this fact in an article where he described his brief stint at the prestigious St Stephens College in Delhi University. He wrote:

In 2007 I was a student at St Stephen’s College for seven months as part of a study abroad programme offered by my home institution, Brown University. … What is remarkable is that all students in India know what I am talking about. … A real education being one that challenges the intellect and questions paradigms, not one of rote memorisation and conformity. … … my entire study abroad experience in India, from an academic standpoint, was an enormous disappointment. … Yet amongst my fellow Indian education alumni, I mostly hear a deafening silence when it comes to action (2013).

One can only imagine the situation in other lesser institutions.

Exams and degrees have become a passport to a job. If real understanding is not the goal, it can be more easily fulfilled through cheating; even classes need not be attended. Consequently, corruption has seeped into exams as the Vyapam and now the even bigger Dental and Medical Admission Test (DMAT) scam point to. The iconic picture from Bihar of rampant cheating points to its scale. The rapid penetration of private sector in education is correlated with growing irregularities, like question paper leakage, etc.

In premier institutions, such as the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), the curriculum leaves students little time for critiquing content and that minimises questioning. To get into the IITs, students attend coaching schools (like in Kota) with a focus on exam skills. Consequently, many fail after joining the IIT. Murthy has been criticised by C N R Rao for his statement at the IISc for not doing enough to promote innovation in Indian institutions.

Teachers and the System

The problem of learning is compounded by the fact that most teachers also learnt by rote and they reproduce that in the classroom. The shortage of faculty aggravates this crisis. According to the MHRD, around 40% of the faculty posts are vacant in the central universities and medical and engineering colleges. Often, overworked, part-time and ad hoc teachers, lacking in skills, carry the burden and teaching suffers. Research guidance has deteriorated not only because of lack of competence among many academics but also because of the pressure of numbers. Some to be popular and others due to compulsion guide 20 to 25 students at a time.

While teachers are to blame, they face a perverse incentive system devised by the academic bureaucracy, lacking in academic imagination. “Reforms” have been introduced since the 1980s to improve standards. First, teachers were required to have an MPhil degree for promotion. Next it became mandatory for the teachers to undertake the refresher and orientation courses conducted by the UGC. This was followed by the requirement of qualifying in the National Eligibility Test/State Level Eligibility Test (NET/ SLET) for selection and then a PhD became essential for appointment and promotions to certain positions. Finally, with the Sixth Pay Commission came the mechanical Academic Performance Index (API) for recruitment and promotions.

The idea underlying these requirements has been that “standards can be achieved by standardization.” But a teaching job has a large qualitative element that cannot be evaluated the way an office or a factory job can, where productivity can be assessed by “time and motion studies.” Points under the API can be mechanically earned without an improvement in quality. Peter Higgs, the Nobel laureate, wrote that for 15 years in his annual report he had stated that he had no publication. He concluded that in a present-day university he would not have got a job. It is true that few are or will be Nobel laureates but there is a lesson in this for nurturing talent.

Today, many academics play the game cynically to earn points for promotion. Contact with students has been devalued since that gets few points. Poor quality dissertations, journals and conferences enable academics to collect points. Those playing the numbers game are accumulating points mechanically while genuine academics fail to do so for their promotion; mediocrity gets privileged over talent.

Ahistorical Perspective and Privatisation

The NEP must refer to the ground realities. A historical view is essential because the problems have not appeared overnight. Reports like the Ambani–Birla Report (1999) or the Knowledge Commission Report (2007) lacked a historical understanding of the evolution of the Indian system of higher education and did not address the ground realities of the system. They implicitly assumed that the system is flawed because of its public sector character and suggested its betterment and expansion through privatisation. The pressure from the World Trade Organization (WTO) is also in the same direction and concerned people worry about the commitments there.

One way to push the interest of the private sector is to engineer the decline of public sector institutions. To accomplish this, the autonomy of central universities and IIMs is sought to be curbed via amending the acts under which they were established, and a common syllabi is being imposed on universities and colleges so that the CBCS can be enforced. This will make the already largely mechanical teaching even more so. The UGC tried imposing a model syllabi in 2002 as well. This was resisted by certain departments in some universities, but many adopted them since these became the prerequisite to getting grants from the UGC under the Special Assistance Programme (SAP) and Career Advancement Scheme (CAS).

The government schools were set on a path of decline in the 1970s so that private sector schools could prosper. The recent Allahabad High Court judgment asking government functionaries to send their wards to government schools has the potential of being a game changer. The experiments imposed on the Delhi University since 2010 have sent the best university of the country into a tailspin.

Privatisation leads to an increase in resource availability but often also to a demand to cut public funding for education. It leads to a change in the mindset which is not suited to a good public education system and leads to its further decline. The existing problems and sharp practices are getting aggravated. The private sector is best suited to deal with the short-term issues and that reinforces narrowness of conception, which is counterproductive.

Education is characterised as a merit good, has externalities and scale economies and there is asymmetric information. These are situations of market failure and privatisation is not the solution but that is being ignored. The result is capitation fees in admissions, charging money for teacher training, recruitment of poor quality teachers, coaching and tuition instead of classroom teaching, cheating in examinations and fake degrees. These problems existed earlier also but they are getting aggravated. Further, demand for raising fees is growing, costs are rising, equity is getting diluted and emphasis is shifting from basic to applied subjects.

Conclusions

Many of the changes introduced in higher education in the last two decades may appear rational—but that is so only in the short run. A little reflection will show that in the long run they will have disastrous effects. With the increasing sway of the private sector over policy, the short run has come to dominate. However, success in one’s business is no guarantee of clarity about the needs of the students or of educational institutions. Higher education is about long-term accountability to society, independent of both market considerations and immediate political exigencies.

Critics point to the rundown nature of education and the public has accepted that it is because the teachers shirk work and are the problem. This decline in the status of academics has enabled the politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen to intervene even though they neither understand the ground realities nor accept their own role in running the system down. Reports are that the NEP will be drafted by a committee consisting of bureaucrats who are likely to have only a limited view of problems of education in the country.

In brief, if talent is to be nurtured, the NEP must overhaul higher education based on the ground realities and a holistic perspective. For this, diverse academic voices need to be heard rather than only of those at the top and who have been the problem and whose agenda may not be real reform.

References

Kumar, Deepak (2006): Science and the Raj: A Study of British India, 2nd ed, Oxford University Press India.

Richard, Thane (2013): “Academic Excellence and St Stephen’s College: A Response by Thane  Richard,” Kafila, 30 April, http://kafila.org/2013/04/30/academic-excellence-and-st-stephens-college....

- See more at: http://www.epw.in/journal/2015/52/commentary/challenges-facing-new-education-policy-india.html#sthash.mVFkgTbn.dpuf

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About Monsoons

Over the years many mysteries of the monsoons have been unravelled but still much remains to be done. The theories regarding the monsoons are generally divided into following two broad categories:

1. Classical Theory, and

2. Modem Theories.

1. Classical Theory:
Although monsoons are mentioned in our old scriptures like the Rig Veda and in the writings of several Greek and Buddhist scholars, the credit for first scientific studies of the monsoon winds goes to the Arabs. Near about the tenth century, Al Masudi, an Arab explorer from Baghdad, gave an account of the reversal of ocean currents and the monsoon winds over the north Indian Ocean. Date of commencement of monsoons at several places was reported by Sidi Ali in 1554 A.D.

In 1686 the famous Englishman Sir Edmund Hailey explained the monsoon as resulting from thermal contrasts between continents and oceans due to their differential heating. Accordingly, Hailey conceived summer and winter monsoons depending upon the
season.

(a) Summer Monsoon:
In summer the sun shines vertically over the Tropic of Cancer resulting in high temperature and low pressure in Central Asia while the pressure is still sufficiently high over Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal. This induces air flow from sea to land and brings heavy rainfall to India and her neighbouring countries.

(b) Winter Monsoon:
In winter the sun shines vertically over the Tropic of Capricorn. The north western part of India grows colder than Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal and the flow of the monsoon is reversed (Fig. 5.1).

Hailey’s ideas are basically the same as those involved in land and sea breezes except that in the case of the monsoon day and night are replaced by summer and winter, and the narrow coastal strip and adjacent sea are replaced by large portions of continents and oceans.

2. Modern Theories:

Hailey’s classical theory based on differential heating of land and water as the main driving force of the monsoon winds dominated the scene for about three centuries. However, the monsoons do not develop equally everywhere and the thermal concept of Hailey fails to explain the intricacies of the monsoons. Besides differential heating, the development of monsoon
is influenced by the shape of the continents, orography, and the conditions of air circulation in the upper troposphere.

Therefore, Hailey’s theory has lost much of its significance and modern theories based on air masses and jet streams are becoming more relevant. Although Hailey’s ideas have not yet been out-rightly rejected, studies during the last five decades have thrown much light on the genesis of the monsoons.

During these years, Flohn, Thompson, Stephenson, Frost, M.T. Yin, Hwang, Takahashi, E. Palmen, C. Newton and Indian meteorologists including P. Koteswaram, Krishnan, Raman, Ramanathan, Krishna Murti, Rama Rattan, Ramaswami, Anant Krishnan,etc. have contributed a lot to the study of the monsoon winds.

Air Mass Theory:
The southeast trade winds in the southern hemisphere and the northeast trade winds in the northern hemisphere meet each other near the equator. The meeting place of these winds is known as the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ).

Satellite imagery reveals that this is the region of ascending air, maximum clouds and heavy rainfall. The location of ITCZ  shifts north and south of equator with the change of season. In the summer season, the sun shines vertically over the Tropic of Cancer and the ITCZ shifts northwards.

The southeast trade winds of the southern hemisphere cross the equator and start flowing from southwest to northeast direction under the influence of coriolis force (Fig. 5.2). These displaced trade winds are called south-west monsoons when they blow over the Indian sub-continent. The front where the south-west monsoons meet the north-east trade winds is known as the Monsoon Front.

In the month of July the ITCZ shifts to 20°- 25° N latitude and is located in the Indo-Gangetic Plain and the south-west monsoons blow from the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal (Fig. 5.3). The ITCZ in this position is often called the Monsoon Trough.

H. Flohn of the German Weather Bureau, while rejecting the classical theory of origin of monsoons suggested that the tropical monsoon of tropical Asia is simply a modification of the planetary winds of the tropics. He thinks of the thermal low of northern India and the accompanying monsoon as simply an unusually great northward displacement of the Northern Inter-TropicalConvergence Zone (NITCZ). The seasonal shift of the ITCZ has given the concept of Northern Inter- Tropical Convergence Zone (NITCZ) in summer (July) and Southern Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (SITCZ) in winter (Jan.). The fact that the NITCZ is drawn to about 30° latitude may be associated with the unusually high temperature over north India.

According to this interpretation the main westerly current of the monsoon is simply the expanded equatorial westerlies which lie embedded in the great mass of tropical easterlies or the trade winds. NITCZ is the zone of clouds and heavy
rainfall.

Jet Stream Theory: 
Jet stream is a band of fast moving air from west to east usually found in the middle latitudes in the upper troposphere at a height of about 12 km. The wind speeds in a westerly jet stream are commonly 150 to 300 km p.h. with extreme values reaching 400 km p.h. Jet stream is the latest theory regarding the origin of the monsoons and has earned world wide acclaim from the meteorologists.

M.T. Yin (1949), while discussing the origin of the monsoons expressed the opinion that the burst of monsoon depends upon the upper air circulation. The low latitude upper air trough shifts from 90° E to 80° E longitude in response to the northward shift of the western jet stream in summer. The southern jet becomes active and heavy rainfall is caused by south-west monsoons.

Yin’s ideas are well recognised by Pierre Pedelaborde (1963), in his book entitled ‘The Monsoon’. The map, showing the seasonal shift of the westerly jet stream, has been reproduced in figure 5.4. It shows that in winter the western jet stream flows along the southern slopes of the Himalayas but in summer it shifts northwards, rather dramatically, and flows along the northern edge of the Tibet Plateau. The periodic movements of the Jet stream are often indicators of the onset and subsequent withdrawal of the monsoon.

P. Koteswaram (1952), put forward his ideas about the monsoon winds based on his studies of upper air circulation. He has tried to establish a relationship between the monsoons and the atmospheric conditions prevailing over Tibet Plateau.Tibet is an ellipsoidal plateau at an altitude of about 4,000 m above sea level with an area of about 4.5 million sq km.
This plateau is surrounded by mountain ranges which rise 6,000 – 8,000 m above sea level. It gets heated in summer and is 2°C to3°C warmer than the air over the adjoining regions.

Koteswaram, supported by Flohn, feels that because the Tibet Plateau is a source of heat for the atmosphere, it generates an area of rising air. During its ascent the air spreads outwards and gradually sinks over the equatorial part of the Indian Ocean.

At this stage, the ascending air is deflected to the right by the earth’s rotation and moves in an anti-clockwise direction leading to anticyclonic conditions in the upper troposphere over Tibet around 300-200 mb (9 to 12 km). It finally approaches the west coast of India as a return current from a south-westerly direction and is termed as equatorial westerlies (Fig. 5.5).It picks up moisture from the Indian Ocean and causes copious rainfall in India and adjoining countries.

The south-west monsoon in southern Asia is overlain by strong upper easterlies with a pronounced jet at 100 to 200 mb.These easterly winds, which often record speeds exceeding 100 knot are known as the Easterly Jet Stream of the tropics.

The Easterly Jet Stream was first inferred by P. Koteswaram and P.R. Krishna in 1952 and aroused considerable interest among tropical meteorologists. A careful study of the jets would suggest that the core of the easterly jet is at 13 km (150 mb) while that of the westerly jet is at 9 km. Over India, the axis of the strongest winds in the easterly jet may extend from the southern tip of the peninsula to about 20° N latitude. In this jet stream wind speeds exceeding 100 knot may be recorded.

Figure 5.6 shows the axis of the easterly jet at 12 km (200 mb). The figure shows that there is the subtropical westerly jet to the north of the Himalayas besides the easterly jet over the peninsular India. It has already been made clear in Fig. 5.4 that the westerly jet stream is located along the southern slopes of the Himalayas in winter but it suddenly shifts to the north with the onset of the monsoon.

The periodic movements of the sub-tropical jet stream provide a useful indication of the onset and subsequent withdrawal of the monsoon. In fact, northward movement of the subtropical jet is the first indication of the onset of the monsoon over India.

Recent observations have revealed that the intensity and duration of heating of Tibet Plateau has a direct bearing on the amount of rainfall in India by the monsoons. When the summer temperature of air over Tibet remains high for a sufficiently long time, it helps in strengthening the easterly jet and results in heavy rainfall in India.

The easterly jet does not come into existence if the snow over the Tibet Plateau does not melt. This hampers the occurrence of rainfall in India. Therefore, any year of thick and widespread snow over Tibet will be followed by a year of weak monsoon and less rainfall.

Thomson (1951), Flohn, (1960) and Stephenson (1965) have expressed more or less similar views But Flohn’s concept is widely accepted. These ideas can be explained by considering the winter and the summer conditions over large parts of Asia.

Winter:
This is the season of outblowing surface winds but aloft the westerly airflow dominates. The upper westerlies are split into two distinct currents by the topographical obstacle of the Tibet Plateau, one flowing to the north and the other to the south of the plateau. The two branches reunite off the east coast of China (Fig. 5.7).

The southern branch over northern India corresponds with a strong latitudinal thermal gradient which, along with other factors, is responsible for the development of southerly jet. The southern branch is stronger, with an average speed of about 240 km p.h. at 200 mb compared with 70 to 90 km p.h. of the northern branch.

Air subsiding beneath this upper westerly current gives dry out blowing northerly winds from the subtropical anticyclone over northwestern India and Pakistan. The surface winds blow from northwest over most parts of northern India.

The upper jet is responsible for steering of the western depressions from the Mediterranean Sea. Some of the depressions continue eastwards, redeveloping in the zone of jet stream confluence about 30° N, 105° E beyond the area of subsidence in the immediate lee of Tibet.

Summer:
With the beginning of summer in the month of March, the upper westerlies start their northward march, but whereas the northerly jet strengthens and begins to extend across central China and into Japan, the southerly branch remains positioned south of Tibet, although weakening in intensity.

The weather over northern India becomes hot, dry and squally due to larger incoming solar radiation. By the end of May the southern jet begins to break and later it is diverted to the north of Tibet Plateau. Over India, the Equatorial Trough pushes northwards with the weakening of the upper westerlies south of Tibet, but the burst of the monsoon does not take place until the upper-air circulation has switched to its summer pattern (Fig. 5.8). The low level changes are related to the high level easterly jet stream over southern Asia about 15° N latitude.

T.N. Krishnamurti used data of the upper atmosphere to calculate the patterns of divergence and convergence at 200 mb for the period of June-August, 1967. He observed an area of strong divergence at 200 mb over northern India and Tibet, which coincides with the upper-level divergence associated with the easterly jet.

Similarly he found a northerly component to the flow from this region which represents the upper branch of the Hadley cell.
These happenings are closely related to the Indian monsoon. S. Rama Rattan opined that the development of monsoon winds is deeply connected with the jet stream in addition to the differential heating of land and sea.

The upper air circulation in summer has anticyclonic pattern between 40° N and 20° S whereas cyclonic conditions prevail at the surface. Western and eastern jets flow to the north and south of the Himalayas respectively. The eastern jet becomes powerful and is stationed at 15° N latitude. This results in more active south-west monsoon and heavy rainfall is caused.Raman and Ramanathan while discussing the tropical easterly jet stream suggested that the easterly winds become very active in the upper troposphere after the beginning of the rainy season. The latent heat produced due to cloud cover results into inversion of temperature and causes rainfall.

Ananth Krishnan is of the opinion that the south-west monsoons are deeply influenced by the subtropical cyclones in the upper troposphere between 20° and 25° N latitudes. These winds start developing in the beginning of the summer season and shift to 30° N about 5-6 weeks later.

Besides intensive heat between 20° and 40° N latitudes gives further strength to the south-west monsoons. S. Parthasarthy in his essay on ‘Trying to solve the Monsoon Riddle’ expressed the view that the monsoons are influenced by the north-east trade winds. A weak north-east trade wind results in weak monsoon and leads to drought conditions.

The Indian monsoons, particularly the south-west monsoons, have generated a lot of interest among the meteorologists all over the world. Concerted efforts on data collection and of intensive studies of monsoon regimes by various meteorological services and organisations from different nations have been made during the last four decades.

Much has been done but much more is yet to be done. The first attempt was done during International India Ocean Expedition (IIOE) from 1962 to 1965. It was organised jointly by the International Council of Scientific Unions. (ICSU), Scientific Committee on Ocean Research (SCOR) and UNESCO with World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) joining the meteorology programme.

Special oceonographic and atmospheric studies were carried out with the aid of research vessels, instrumented aircrafts, rockets as well as special upsonde and dropsonde soundings. Two more experiments were conducted, jointly, by India and the former USSR in 1973 and 1977, with limited participation from other countries.

These experiments are known as the Indo-Soviet Monsoon Experiment (ISMEX) and Monsoon-77 respectively. It was observed from these experiments that there is a specific zone off the coast of Kenya where the monsoons from the southern hemisphere crossed the equator on their way to India.

It was also observed that the fluctuations in the intensity of low-level across the equator resulted in the fluctuations of rainfall over Maharashtra. Upper air observations over the Bay of Bengal were also made in 1977.

More intensive data collection effort was made under the aegis of another international experiment—the Monsoon Experiment in 1979. It is popularly known as MONEX-1979. It was organised jointly by Global Atmospheric Research Programme (GARP) of the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU) and the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) under their World Weather Watch (WWW) programme.

It is so far the largest scientific effort made to extend the frontiers of our knowledge of the monsoons by the international scientific community. As many as 45 countries pooled their talents and resources under the aegis of the United Nations for this great venture.

Some idea of the dimensions of this experiment may be had from the fact that in May 1979 as many as 52 research ships were deployed over the tropical oceans between 10° N and 10° S latitudes. Besides 104 aircraft missions were successfully completed over different parts of the Pacific, the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean.

The great MONEX was designed to have three components considering the seasonal characteristics of the monsoon:

(i) Winter Monex from 1 December 1978 to 5 March 1979 to cover the eastern Indian Ocean and the Pacific along with the land areas adjoining Malaysia and Indonesia.

(ii) Summer Monex from 1 May to 31 August 1979 covering the eastern coast of Africa, the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal along with adjacent landmasses. It also covered the Indian Ocean between 10° N to 10° S latitudes.

(iii) A West African Monsoon Experiment (WAMEX) over western and central parts of Africa from 1 May to 31 August 1979.International MONEX Management Centres (IMMC) was set up in Kuala Lumpur and New Delhi to supervise the winter and slimmer components of the experiment.

MONEX-1979 suffered some setback due to abnormal behaviour of the monsoons in that year. None of the cold surges was intense in China Sea during the winter MONEX. A strong anticyclone developed in the Arabian Sea in summer of 1979. The southwest monsoon was deflected southwards before touching the Kerala coast under the influence of this anticyclone and started blowing parallel to the coast.

Consequently the onset of southwest monsoon over Kerala was delayed by 12 days. Moreover, July was characterized by several weak or break- monsoon occurrences and there was only one monsoon depression.

Therefore, 1979 was not a normal monsoon year and MONEX failed to study the normal behavior of the monsoons. But the vagaries of the monsoon are proverbial and in a scientific and analytical understanding of the monsoons, a study of anomalies is perhaps more important. It is in this context that MONEX-1979 assumes un-paralled significance.

Teleconnections, the Southern Oscillation and the El Nino:
Recent studies have revealed that there seems to be a link between meteorological events which are separated by long distances and large intervals of time. They are called meteorological teleconnections. The one which has aroused considerable
interest among the meteorologists is the difference between an El Nino and the Southern Oscillation. El Nino (EN) is a narrow warm current which appears off the coast of Peru in December. In Spanish, it means The Child Christ because it appears around Christmas. In some years this warm current is more intense than usual.

The El Nino phenomena, which influence the Indian monsoon, reveal that when the surface temperature goes up in the southernPacific Ocean, India receives deficient rainfall. However, there had been some years during which the El Nino phenomena did not occur, but India still got deficient rainfall, and conversely, India received sufficient rainfall during an El Nino year.

A study of the last one hundred years of the Indian monsoons shows that out of 43 deficient monsoon years, 19 were associated with an El Nino. On the other hand, there were 6 El Nino years which were also years of good monsoon rain. Thus, although there is a tendency for poor monsoons to be associated with an El Nino, there is no one-to-one correspondence.

Southern Oscillation (S.O.) is the name ascribed to the curious phenomena of sea-saw pattern of meteorological changes observed between the Pacific and Indian oceans. This great discovery was made by Sir Gilbert Walker in 1920.

While working as the head of the Indian Meteorological service, he noticed that when the pressure was high over equatorial south Pacific, it was low over the equatorial south Indian Ocean and vice versa. The pattern of low and high pressures over the Indian and Pacific Oceans (S.O.) gives rise to vertical circulation along the equator with its rising limb over low pressure area and descending limb over high pressure area.

This is known as Walker Circulation. The location of low pressure and hence the rising limb over Indian Ocean is considered to be conductive to good monsoon rainfall in India. In other words when there is low pressure over the Indian Ocean in winter months, the chances are that the coming monsoon will be good and will bring sufficient rainfall.

Its shifting eastward from its normal position, such as in El Nino years, reduces monsoon rainfall in India. Due to the close association between an El Nino (E.N.) and the Southern Oscillation (S.O.), the two are jointly referred to as an ENSO event. Some of the predictors used by Sir Gilbert Walker are still used in long-range forecasting of the monsoon rainfall.

The main difficulty with the Southern Oscillation is that its periodicity is not fixed and its period varies from two to five years. Different indices have been used to measure the intensity of the Southern Oscillation, but the most frequentlyused is the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI).

This is the difference in pressure between Tahiti (17°45’S, 149°30’W) in French Polynesia, representing the Pacific Ocean and Port Darwin (12°30’S, 131°E), in northern Australia representing the Indian Ocean. The positive and negative values of the SOI i.e. Tahiti minus the Port Darwin pressure are pointers towards good or bad rainfall in India (see the following table)Scientists of India Meteorological Department (IMD) joined an international study programme called the Tropical Oceans and Global Atmosphere (TOGA) in 1985. This is an interesting and ambitious programme.which investigates both teleconnections effects and the internal variability. As a follow up to TOGA, the climate variability (CLIVAR) was set up in January 1995,to develop an internationally operational climate forecasting system.

Positive SOI:

(i) Tahiti pressure greater than that of Port Darwin

(ii) Pressure high over east Pacific and low over Indian Ocean.

(iii) Low rainfall over eastern Pacific and prospects of good monsoon rain over India and Indian Ocean.
Negative SOI:

(i) Port Darwin pressure exceeds that of Tahiti.

(ii) Pressures high over Indian Ocean and low over east Pacific.

(iii) Low rainfall or poor monsoon over Indian Ocean and higher than usual rain over east Pacific.

Another major programme is the Indian Middle Atmospheric Programme (IMAP) initiated by the Department of Space. This programme has been launched to augment the existing weather prediction scheme. This is expected to improve scientific understanding of climatic changes that take place in Indian tropical region and the area along the Tropic of Cancer when the monsoon winds 
descend.

After the severe drought of 1987, parametric and power regression models have been developed to forecast monsoon rainfall by utilising signals from 15 parameters. Some of the parameters are global while others are regional. These parameters are divided into four broad categories, viz. (a) temperature, (b) pressure (c) wind pattern and (d) snow cover and are listed 
below:

(a) Temperature related parameters:

1. El Nino in current year 
2. El Nino in previous year
3. Northern India (March) 
4. East coast of India (March)
5. Central India (May) 
6. Northern hemisphere (Jan. and Feb.)

(b) Wind related parameters:

7. 500 hPa (1 hecta pascal, equals 1 mb) ridge (April)
8. 50 hPa ridge-trough extent (Jan. and Feb.)
9. 10 hPa (30 km) westerly wind (Jan.)

(c) Pressure anomaly (SOI): 
10. Tahiti-Darwin (Spring) 11. Darwin (Spring)
12. South America, Argentina (April) 13. Indian Ocean Equatorial (Jan.-May)

(d) Snow cover related parameters: 
14. Himalayan (Jan.- March) 15. Eurasian (Previous December)

It was observed in late eighties that whenever more than 50% parameters showed favourable signals, the monsoon rainfall in India was normal and when 70% or more parameters were favourable, the monsoon rainfall was above normal.

Somewhat similar set of predictors for monsoon was suggested by H.N. Srivastava and S.S. Singh in 1994 while discussing long range weather forecasting techniques.

One more parameter, viz., surface pressure anomaly of north-eastern hemisphere was also added later on, thus making a total of 16 parameters. These 16 parameters have been used by the IMD to develop the power regression model. Although this model has been accurately forecasting rainfall in India since 1989, it is far from being an elaborate and foolproof model.

A model capable of forecasting area specific rainfall is yet to be built. The study of data flowing from MONEX, TOGA and other experiments is continuing and our meteorologists are hopeful of discovering more parameters which may help in developing better models capable of predicting rainfall more accurately.

Practice WorkBooks: Material to Download

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(It will cover the following subjects: History, Polity, Physical geography, Human and Economic Geography, Economy, Science and technology and Environment. Each paper consists of 75 questions, with articles on following topics mentioned below.)
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Contents:
1. INTERNAL SECURITY MANAGEMENT: CHALLENGES AND POLICY OPTIONS By V P Malik: Former Army Chief
2. Environmental Policies
3. Culture of India
4. Disaster management in India, Articles on following-
-Disaster Risk to Resilience
-Paradigm Shift in Managing Disaster
-Community Based Disaster Management
-Application of Science and Technology in Disaster Management
5. 'Programmes & Policies', and Articles on:
-Inclusive Development
-Rural Development
-Agriculture
-Food Security & Nutrition
-Education
-Health and Family Welfare
(This has been compiled from various sources which include India Year Book, Economic Survey, Yojana, Concerned Ministry Report, and www.pib.nic.in)
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Download Link:
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B0U6QSYp-dxafk1nX2c0Sy03VHM0U2JEYlpuUWRLZjJpMFp3U0tTY28wVVJuYnNfdVNEQ1U&usp=drive_web
File Size: 18.9 MB

Source : Team work for CSE 2015 a Facebook group

Special Thanks to Praful Bhardwaj  

4th February is marked as world cancer day.

Cancer [1] is a class of diseases characterized by out-of-control cell growth.

Normally, a cell in the body follows an orderly path of growth, division, and death. It is also possible that growth of a cell becomes uncontrolled and it never dies. Reason behind the uncontrolled growth is damages or mutations to DNA which in turn result in damage to the genes involved in cell division. The uncontrolled growth of cells form lumps or masses of tissues called tumors. Tumors can grow and interfere with the digestive, nervous, and circulatory systems, and they can release hormones that alter body function. These tumors spread to other parts of the body and grow, invade and destroy other healthy tissues.

Carcinogens are a class of substances that are directly responsible for damaging DNA, promoting or aiding cancer. Tobacco, asbestos, arsenic, radiation such as gamma and X-rays, and compounds in car exhaust fumes are all examples of carcinogens. When our bodies are exposed to carcinogens, free radicals are formed that try to steal electrons from other molecules in the body. Theses free radicals damage cells and affect their ability to function normally.

In India, each year [2], 10 lakhs (14 million worldwide) cases of cancer are detected (53%-women and 47%-men) and 7 lakhs (8 million worldwide) die of cancer. In 66% cases cancer is detected in advanced stage in our country. Breast, cervical (highest) and stomach cancers are responsible for the majority of cancer deaths among women in India, while lung, oral (highest) and stomach cancers are the leading causes of cancer death in Indian men [3].

Among the causes of cancer, stressed life, hereditary (genetic), wrong food and wrong diet habits and tobacco consumption are main [4].

Solution to the cause “Stressed Life”

In the run of accumulating luxuries in life, we have got work pressure and hence, stressful mind as gifts. Stress alone has not been found to cause cancer, but stress that lasts a long time may affect a person’s overall health and ability to cope with cancer. The best way of handling this problem is practicing yoga, pranayam and meditation. Gym may give you a strong body but in order to insure a disease-free and stress-free life everyone should also practice yoga, pranayam and meditation.

Solution to the cause “Hereditary”

According to famous cancer specialist and author of several books written on various diseases, Andreas Moritz [5], genes do not undergo genetic mutation without any external reason. So, behavior of cancerous genes can also be changed if their external environment got change. This external environment includes our eating habits, cleanness of blood, working of liver, digestion of food etc. So, we can say that cancer can be controlled, even if it is hereditary, by making the external environment good. It is also applicable to all other type of hereditary diseases.

Solution to the cause “Wrong Food and Wrong Diet Habits”

According to T. Collin Campbell [6], former senior science adviser of the American Institute for Cancer Research and author of the famous book, “The China Study”, [7]: “For a cancer patient, I will not suggest to take any type of allopathy based (surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy etc.) cancer treatments available in the market. I will rather suggest to take a diet which is full of fruits and raw vegetables. Along with the food, I will also suggest to drink sufficient water, take sufficient sunlight and proper exercises.”

He also tells that, animal protein increases the possibility of cancer in the body. For example, non-vegetarian food. According to him, diet of a patient of any disease should be 90% plant based and for a healthy person the percentage should be at least 60%.

Solution to the cause “Tobacco Consumption”

Tobacco consumption includes smoking and chewing tobacco. Tobacco consumption is the biggest cause for cancer deaths (30%) in India. The best way to quit tobacco is, your firm determination. Pranayam also helps to weaken the urge for tobacco. This video [8] may also help in quitting tobacco.

According to the book How to Return from Hospital Alive, written by famous memory master Biswaroop Roy Choudhary, for most of the people cancer cells are always present in their body in its inactive form. But following reasons may increase the possibility of turning these cancer cells to active state: (i) Consumption of medicines for long time for the diseases such as diabetes, cholesterol, blood pressure or taking birth control pills for long time. (ii) Exposure to radiations during several tests such X-ray, mammography, ultrasound, MRI, CT Scan etc. The author advices to avoid such tests as much as possible (opposite to present trend where doctors first tell to go for tests. Obviously, earning more money by prescribing unnecessary tests is the prime reason). The book also reveals health and food conspiracies (involving pharma companies, doctors, food and beverage companies) running around us.

Chemotherapy is one of the popular treatment for cancer. But according to Dr. Andreas Moritz [9], success rate in chemotherapy is only 3%. Further Dr. Peter Glidden [10], author of the book “The MD Emperor Has No Clothes” and owner of the websiteFireYourMDNow.com, adds that in spite of very less success rate, chemotherapy is very popular because of money factor. At the same time, there are so many side effects of chemotherapy which may finally lead to death of the patient. In the video [11], it is explained that how the tumor of cancer grows and how it spreads into the body. It also explains the side effects of chemotherapy in the body. Cancer patients who are planning to take chemotherapy, please do some more research before going for it and do not believe on doctors blindly.

According to Ayurveda, turmeric [12] and cow urine [13][14] are identified as medicines to cure cancer. The main reason is presence of the chemical “curcumene” in both. In [12], the famous MD Anderson Cancer Center, one of the comprehensive cancer center in United States, confirms the presence of curcumene in turmeric. [13] and [14] are US patents taken to use cow urine as anti-cancer agent and as other medical use. In the video [5], Dr. Andreas Moritz has explained that how curcumene helps in inhibiting the growth of cancer tumor in the body.

For the cow urine, cow must be indigenous (desi) cow, not jersey and the cow should be going for grazing regularly. For your information, in India, most of cows are jersey or hybrid. For the production of milk in large scale, we have grown jersey cows and sent desi cows to slaughter houses or exported them to foreign countries. But, the fact [15] is that milk of desi cows is good for health while milk of jersey cow may lead your body to risk of diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases. In video [16], the great patriot and social scientistShri Rajiv Dikshit has explained the importance of cow urine and turmeric for cancer patients and given direction on how to consume them.  Some other medicines are also available in Ayurveda for cancer but until our diet pattern is not as per the prescription of Ayurveda, no medicine will give good results.

Conclusion: The way cases of cancer are increasing in the world, it is going to be a big threat for human race. But, cancer can easily be controlled by doing some simple changes in our life style. Some of the major cancer risk factors that can be controlled are: tobacco and alcohol use, diet (vegetarian), physical activity, exposure to radiations. In case of detection of cancer, be careful while going for allopathy based treatments. Finally, remember that a “touch” spreads “love” not “cancer”. Give more love to a cancer patient.

References:

[1] http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/info/cancer-oncology/

[2]http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/7-lakh-Indians-died-of-cancer-last-year-WHO/articleshow/27317742.cms

[3] http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/243547.php

[4] http://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancercauses/

[5] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXIIreujNyo

[6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._Colin_Campbell

[7] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfsT-qYeqGM

[8] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2hWr5NRkmY

[9] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzdiMBtOjwE

[10] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_Fzwj4Zpxs

[11] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKIRWY-LMYc

[12] http://www2.mdanderson.org/cancerwise/2011/01/turmeric-adds-spice-to-your-health.html

[13] http://www.google.co.in/patents/US6410059

[14] http://www.google.com/patents/US6896907

[15]http://www.outlookindia.com/news/article/Indian-Cow-Buffalo-Breeds-Give-Healthier-Milk-Report/725938

[16] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3F3sZPI1rEw 

- written by  Mukesh Giluka, IIT Hyderabad