Important news article
Science section And FAQ
The Hindu
Table of Contents
Sun’s coronal magnetic field
measured
Is there a case for issuing
immunity certificates?
How can ‘tabletop’ airports
be safer?
Pakistan map and border
disputes
Why are Confucius Institutes
under the scanner?
SCIENCE section
Sun’s coronal magnetic field measured
This
can help solve several puzzles about the solar atmosphere
Shubashree Desikan
The Sun is our closest star and we have been
studying it for a long time. Yet, it has many associated puzzles that are
unexplained. A significant advance has been made by an international team of
solar physicists led by those from Peking University, China, and National
Center for Atmospheric Research of the U.S. The group has measured the global
magnetic field of the sun’s corona, or outer atmosphere, for the very first
time. This research has been published in the journal Science.
Hot corona puzzle
There are two main puzzles about the Sun which
this advancement will help address. First is the coronal heating problem.
Though the core of the Sun is at a temperature of about 15 million degrees, its
outer layer, the photosphere is a mere 5700 degrees hot.
However, its corona or outer atmosphere, which
stretches up to several million kilometres beyond its surface, is much, much
hotter than the surface. It is at a temperature of one million degrees or more.
What causes the atmosphere of the Sun (corona) to heat up again, though the
surface (photosphere) is cooler than the interior. That is the question which
has baffled solar physicists. Popular attempts to explain this puzzle invoke
the magnetic field of the corona. Hence the present work will help understand
and verify these theories better.
Solar eruptions
The other set of questions concerns the
mechanisms of eruptions of the Sun, such as solar flares and coronal mass
ejections. These are driven by magnetic reconnections happening in the sun’s
corona.
“Magnetic reconnection is a process where
oppositely polarity magnetic field lines connect and some of the magnetic
energy is converted to heat energy and also kinetic energy which leads to the
generation of heating, solar flares, solar jets, etc,” says Tanmoy Samanta, a
postdoctoral research fellow working at George Mason University, and Johns
Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory of the U.S. He is one of the
authors of the paper.
The team used a technique known as coronal
seismology or magnetoseismology to measure the coronal magnetic field which has
been known for a few decades. This method requires the measurement of the
properties of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves and the density of the corona
simultaneously.
“In the past, these techniques were occasionally
used in small regions of the corona, or some coronal loops due to limitations
of our instruments/and proper data analysis techniques,” explains Dr. Samanta,
in an email to The Hindu.
Sharp instrument
The team used the improved measurements of the
Coronal Multi-channel Polarimeter (CoMP) and advanced data analysis to measure
the coronal magnetic field. CoMP is an instrument operated by High Altitude
Observatory, of the U.S. It is located at Mauna Loa Solar Observatory, near the
summit of that volcano on the big island of Hawaii.
It is very important to measure the corneal magnetic fields
regularly since the solar corona is highly dynamic and varies within seconds to
a minute time scale. [While photospheric magnetic fields are measured regularly
from space] “the measurement of global coronal magnetic fields was missing in
the past since the coronal magnetic fields are very weak. We plan to regularly
measure coronal magnetic fields using our sophisticated techniques to
understand the physical processes of the highly dynamic corona,” says Dr.
Samanta.
Studying P. vivax malaria
The
method infects liver cells with mosquito-bred parasites
Aswathi Pacha
The parasite Plasmodium vivax, responsible for
7.5 million malaria cases worldwide, remains understudied. Not much is known
about its dormant stage in the liver. An international team has developed a
system to breed these parasites in the lab and then infect cultured human liver
cells with it. This can help establish a robust liver stage assay in P.
vivax-endemic regions such as India.
Mosquitoes inject the sporozoite (spore-like)
stage of the parasite into the skin when they bite, and the sporozoites travel
to the liver. “Imagine some 50 parasites enter our liver, each infect one liver
cell or hepatocyte and multiply enormously to 10,000 or more. These can then
move out and infect blood cells,” explains Varadharajan Sundaramurthy, from
National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), one of the corresponding
authors of the work published in Malaria Journal.
Silent parasite
As the number is very low in the liver, our
immune system barely notices it. “The parasite can remain in the liver in a
dormant stage and relapse later. So there is an urgent need to find drugs for
P. vivax which will kill both the blood and liver stages,” he adds.
Improved method
Susanta Kumar Ghosh, who recently retired from
ICMR-National Institute of Malaria Research, Bengaluru Centre, and is one of
the corresponding authors, developed an improved method for breeding Anopheles
stephensi mosquitoes in the lab. The females were fed with blood collected from
Indian patients with the P. vivax infection. Two weeks later, the mature
sporozoites were taken from the mosquitoes’ salivary glands, added to cultured
liver cells (multiple human hepatocyte platforms) and studied. This approach
can be used to further study the liver stage.
“Another complication is the emergence of drug-resistant malaria
parasites. Certain malaria-endemic countries have even abandoned chloroquine
for P. vivax treatment. Fortunately chloroquine is still effective in India.
But the currently used anti-relapse drug, Primaquine, has many undesirable
side-effects, especially in patients with a genetic defect called G6PD
deficiency. Moreover, it takes 14 days to administer this drug for radical cure...
there is an urgent need for development of a new class of drugs,” adds Dr.
Ghosh. The researchers add this assay could also be used to test if a specific
anti-malarial drug would work for an individual.
Is there a case for issuing immunity certificates?
While
degree of protection conferred by natural infection is not known, no cases of
true reinfection have been documented
Many unknowns: Terms
such as immunity passports may not have relevance as we do not know about
specific immune responses and duration of protection.Getty ImagesBrasilNut1
R. Prasad
As on August 7, of the over 19 million novel
coronavirus cases across the world, more than 11.5 million people have
recovered from COVID-19. While the quantum and duration of protection conferred
by natural infection is still not known, not a single case of true reinfection
or reactivation has been documented anywhere in the world seven months after
the outbreak. As a result, there is growing clamour for a rethink on “immunity
passport” to be handed out to those who have recovered from COVID-19 for the purpose
of travel or work without restrictions of quarantine.
In a letter to the WHO Director-General Tedros
A. Ghebreyesus, Dr. Abdul Ghafur, Infectious Diseases consultant at Apollo
Hospitals, Chennai, says: “If reinfections were a significant problem, by now,
we would have had hundreds orthousands of cases of reinfection at the global
level.” Till such time effective vaccines become available, people who have
recovered from COVID-19 should be permitted to travel without restrictions, he
says.
“We need to look at COVID-19 with a sense of
balance and not hysteria. With all the experience available now from millions
of confirmed cases across the world, and with not a single proven case of
reinfection, there is a clear case for ‘immunity passports’ with some restrictions,”
says virologist Dr. Shahid Jameel, CEO of Wellcome Trust/DBT India Alliance in
an email to The Hindu.
Case-by-case basis
Dr. Giridhara Babu, epidemiologist at the
Public Health Foundation of India, Bengaluru, in an email to The Hindu, says:
“The permission to travel or work should be decided on a case-by-case basis,
according to the principles of ethics while dealing with a pandemic. However,
terms such as immunity passports may not have relevance, as we do not know
anything about specific kinds of immune responses and the duration of
protection in people.”
There is currently not enough evidence about
the effectiveness of antibody-mediated immunity to guarantee the accuracy of an
‘immunity passport’ or ‘risk-free certificate’. “We need an unbiased, reliable
point-of-care test providing clear proof of immunity against infection,” Dr.
Babu says.
If vaccine-induced immunity can protect
people, should protection conferred by natural infection be treated
differently? True, the amount and duration of protection conferred by natural
infection is still not clear, but are scientists and policy-makers treating
protection offered by a vaccine differently from protection conferred by
natural infection?
Dr. Jameel stresses the well-known aspect of
protection when he says: “Immune protection after infection/disease is always
much more robust than most vaccines, and definitely [more robust than] most
COVID-19 vaccines in development.” Some of the vaccines undergoing clinical
trials are mostly directed at a single or a couple of proteins (spike) of the
virus. But vaccines under trial that use the inactivated coronaviruses would
expose the immune system to a whole range of viral proteins, much like natural
infection and can produce immune responses comparable to natural infection.
However, it is not known if people who have
experienced asymptomatic infection would show robust immune responses like
those who have recovered from moderate or severe disease.
Issuing ‘immunity certificates’ to people who
have recovered can be an ethical minefield. “As public health professionals, we
do not generally prefer immunity to be induced by natural infection compared
with vaccines. It seems logical, but there are multiple challenges. There might
be long-term health complications in those who had COVID-19, whereas the
vaccine will have minimal or no adverse health consequences. Also, agreeing to
this will go against public health principles; if accepted, there is a danger
that similar arguments will be made for other vaccine-preventable diseases for
which we have a universal immunisation programme,” says Dr. Babu.
Public health risk
There is also a public health risk of issuing
immunity certificates — people whose livelihoods have been affected would be
encouraged to adopt risky behaviour so as to get infected rather than taking
precautions to stay protected. This would lead to a sharp increase in cases
across the country, with huge numbers requiring hospitalisation. Such a
situation would lead to testing capabilities getting overwhelmed, crumbling of
the health-care systems and increased deaths.
Antibody tests
The next ethical quagmire would be whether to
give such certificates to people who have had asymptomatic infection based on
antibody tests. “Antibody tests do not quantify the amount of antibodies and
[it is] still hard to say what is protection. A bigger problem is that with
already a testing deficit, people will get unnecessary tests [done] and create
an access problem. In such situations, it is the poor and vulnerable who won’t
have access, while the rich will get tested,” says Dr Jameel.
Another problem with antibody tests is unreliability. Also, not
everyone infected produces antibodies, and not everyone who has antibodies has
developed them specifically against SARS-CoV-2. There is emerging initial
evidence in support of T cell-mediated immune responses, for which biomarkers
will be different as they are not antibodies. An immunity passport will further
divide the society with different ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’.
Flying high, flying straight
How long can Andean condor birds soar without
flapping?
At 15 kg, Andean condors (Vultur gryphus) are the world’s
heaviest soaring birds, with a wingspan of 10 feet. Condors spend 99% of all
flight time in soaring/gliding flight. The ability to soar for hours with
minimal flapping was seen in birds that were not adults. Documenting every
single wingbeat of the birds, researchers have found that and Andean condors
can sustain soaring for long hours without flapping their wings. Studying
individual wingbeats for over 216 hours of flight, researchers found that they
flap their wings for only 1% of their flight time. Even this flapping was
specifically during take-off and when close to the ground; over 75% of flapping
flight was associated with take-offs. Writing in the journal Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences, a team led by E.L.C. Shepard from Swansea
University, U.K., notes that one bird flew for over five hours without
flapping, covering a distance of about 172 km. It is predicted that condors can
soar long distances by flapping for about 2 seconds per kilometre. Since
flapping imposes an economic cost, the overall flight effort of condors is
constrained by the requirements for take-off. Even the wandering albatross
(Diomedia exulans), which weighs about 9.4 kg and flaps minimally, spends
1.2-14.5% of its flight (outside take-off) in slow, flapping flight, they
write. Currents of warm rising air and streams of air pushed upward by ground
features help these birds soar. Ability to ride air currents allows them to
travel long distances with minimal exertion.
FAQ
How can ‘tabletop’ airports be safer?
Could
the overrun at Kozhikode airport be averted? What are the measures that need to
be in place?
MURALI N. KRISHNASWAMY
The story so far: On August 7, a Boeing 737 of
Air India Express (the low cost subsidiary of national carrier Air India) on a
special ‘Vande Bharat’ repatriation flight from Dubai to Kozhikode overshot the
runway. There were ‘174 passengers, 10 infants, 2 pilots and 4 cabin crew on
board’. In what was its second attempt, flight IX-1344 touched down on runway
10 of Calicut International Airport at 7.40 p.m., went past the runway end and
safety area, and fell into a valley. The fuselage split in the impact. Both
pilots lost their lives; there were casualties and injuries of varying degrees
among passengers. There was no fire on board. The Digital Flight Data Recorder
and Cockpit Voice Recorder have been recovered. The accident has once again
turned the spotlight on operations to what are called ‘tabletop airports’ in
India.
What is a ‘tabletop airport’ and how many are
there in India?
As the name suggests, it is an airport located
and built on top of a plateau or hilly surface, with one or both ends of the
runway overlooking a drop. The airports in the country which would count as
“tabletops”, are namely Lengpui (Mizoram), Shimla and Kullu (Himachal Pradesh),
Pakyong (Sikkim), Mangaluru (Karnataka), Kozhikode and Kannur (both Kerala).
A retired aviation official says there is no
such term as a ‘tabletop airport’ in any International Civil Aviation
Organisation (ICAO) technical document. But India’s statutory aviation body,
the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), refers to these airports in
this manner by way of highlighting safety measures during operations to these
runways. The official adds that there are not many differences between a
‘normal’ airport and a ‘tabletop’ airport.
Why are these airports drawing attention now?
While there have been some aviation incidents
at these airports, it was the accident in Mangaluru on May 22, 2010, that
highlighted operational risks. Here, an Air India Express flight again, from
Dubai to Mangaluru, overran the runway while landing on runway 24. Flight
IX-812 hit an antenna and then went down a steep embankment after which there
was a fire. Of the 160 passengers and 6 crew, 158 lost their lives. The case
focused attention on the nature of operations to such airports, especially
their shorter runways.
Kozhikode has two runways of 2,700 metres in
length. It was 2,860 metres but ‘shortened’ to accommodate a safety feature
called RESA, or Runway End Safety Area (of 240 metres), which is a means “to
limit the consequences when there is an aircraft overrun during landing, a
rejected take-off, or even undershoots the landing area”. In “tabletop” airport
operations, the ICAO says a RESA of 90 metres is mandatory, while 240 metres is
recommendatory. The runways are Instrument Landing System (ILS) CAT 1 enabled and
the airport has a range of visual aids which include simple approach lighting.
In addition, all obstacles are lit. Both runways have Required Navigation
Performance approach.
The retired official says there have been Code
E aircraft (based on wingspan) operations to Kozhikode airport. Kannur and
Mangaluru too have had widebody aircraft operations. The largest aircraft at
Kozhikode (and at any tabletop airport so far) has been Air India’s 423-seater
Boeing ‘jumbo’ 747, operating on the Kozhikode-Jeddah sector.
What were the recommendations made after the
Mangaluru crash?
In its report on the crash, the court of Air
Marshal B.N. Gokhale, former Vice-Chief of Air Staff, Indian Air Force (and its
team of aviation expert assessors) made a series of recommendations in a
191-page document of October 2010. These were addressed to the airline operator
(Air India and Air India Express). To the Airports Authority of India, it
pointed out issues like “avoidance of the downward slope in the overshoot area
particularly on ‘tabletop’ runways; the need for a ground arresting system for
aircraft — such a facility is maintained at almost all airfields of the Indian
Air Force’; a visual reference system to alert the pilot (while landing) of the
remaining distance to be covered; location of the ATC tower, approach and area
radars; the role of the Rescue and Fire Fighting service, aerodrome risk
assessment and, finally, recommendations for the DGCA.
Is there any ICAO document on operations?
The retired official says there is an ICAO
document 9981 for airports, which also serves as a guideline for compatibility
study of the operation of larger aircraft in a comparatively smaller aerodrome.
The issue of growth versus aviation services is a worldwide issue requiring the
development of small aerodromes for the use of bigger aircraft in a safe
manner, especially as demand for air services grows from existing airports. In
this document, the elements to be assessed include aerodrome infrastructure and
its ground handling capabilities, and aeroplane characteristics. Each element
is assessed technically to see whether these are compatible for new types of
aircraft proposed to be operated in such aerodromes. Thereafter, a proper
safety assessment is done to assess the risk associated with the operation of
higher category of aircraft. Risk mitigation measures are suggested in order to
bring those risks within “tolerable limits”. Such a compatibility study and
safety assessment report will be scrutinised by the regulatory aviation
authorities and if found satisfactory, the no objection certificate for
operation of such higher category aircraft is issued.
When a need was felt to upgrade services at
Kozhikode, the airport undertook a runway recarpeting and strengthening
exercise between 2015 and 2017.
Could safety measures be better in terms of
the ground infrastructure?
While RESA is in vogue, the term EMAS has been
tossed up, which is mandatory at all international airports in the United
States. Called Engineered Materials Arrestor/Arresting System, it is made of
engineered lightweight and crushable cellular cement/concrete.
Used at the runway ends, it acts as a safety
barrier and successfully stops an aircraft overrun Its retarding effect
increases as one moves away from the runway edge. In demonstrations in the
West, it ensured good aircraft safety. It must be noted that these are laid in
easily replaceable blocks in the overrun area. The material is engineered
specifically for the airport it is to be used, says the retired official. It is
said to be ideal for use in ‘tabletop’ airports. About 75m of EMAS can serve
the purpose of 240m of RESA without causing any damage to the aircraft.
How are operations from a pilot’s point of
view?
A senior airline commander, who is also an
instructor and check pilot, says that in reality, there is no specific training
that can be given for ‘table top’ runways. However, airlines conduct route
checks for short runways. He says that one needs to understand that the landing
technique and precautions taken are the same for all runways except that there
is no scope for error on short and/or ‘tabletop’ runways. As aircraft accident
data show, “runaway overshoots” (excursion) occur as often on non-‘tabletop’
runways. But in such cases, the aircraft, for obvious reasons, has a much
better probability of surviving. However, an overrun by even a few metres can
turn catastrophic for ‘tabletop’ runway landings.
During pilot training, the emphasis is on
aiming for 1,000 ft from the beginning of the runway and landing within the
touchdown zone. Pilots are also trained to execute a go around if they do not
make contact within the touchdown zone. Now, the senior commander says, there
is a lot of emphasis on this aspect and pilots are asked to have this uppermost
in mind while operating on a short or ‘tabletop’ runway . Further, Crew
Resource Management is a mandatory training for all pilots following the
recommendations made after the Mangaluru crash, which include classroom and
simulator training. Here, the senior commander says, emphasis is placed on
training the copilot to ask the commander to initiate a go around in case of an
unstable approach or if the aircraft has not touched down within touchdown
zone. He or she is even trained to take over as a last ditch measure in case the
commander does not heed the copilot’s safety advice to initiate a go around.
Other than this, classroom training and simulator training are provided to
explain various types of optical illusions including those caused by ‘tabletop’
runways. There is a lot of training done on the simulator for landing in low
visibility, heavy rain and winds. This happens during initial induction
training and every six months thereafter. As the monsoon is a major factor in
Indian aviation, monsoon training is given during initial command training
before release. The senior commander adds that certain restrictions are placed
before releasing the pilot in command for monsoon operations. Such
comprehensive training helps in any landing on any runway and can especially be
life saver in ‘tabletop’ operations. The DGCA has mandated a Monsoon Minimum
Equipment List as far as aircraft operations are concerned. Here it is
mandatory that aircraft devices used in braking or slowing such as brakes and
reversers are completely operational.
What is the role of the air traffic control?
The ATC only has jurisdiction to provide the
pilots with weather conditions including visibility, rain and winds. The
minimum visibility is already prescribed, says the senior commander. The ATC
will not give clearance to commence approach if visibility is below this
minima, but if the visibility meets the requirements then the ATC cannot stop
the pilot. The pilot commences approach when visibility is within minima and
descends towards the runway to land. At a point called Decision Height, or DH
(normally around 200 ft) in case of ILS, and at a point called Minimum Descent
Altitude, or MDA, in case of a non precision approach, the pilot must be aware
of the runway environment in order to make a safe landing. If he has not, then
he has to initiate a go around, circle and return for another attempt at
landing. Many a time, the runway cannot be seen even when reported visibility
conditions meet the requirements as the conditions measurable on ground by the
meteorological department are not the same as the instantaneous condition on
the approach path. Only a pilot can observe this.
So essentially, after a point, the ATC has a
limited role, says the senior commander.
If the declared visibility meets the
prescribed minima, there is nothing wrong in the pilot attempting an approach.
But trying to come in below DH and MDA, if the runway is still not visible is
illegal, says the senior commander. No pilot does that, he adds.
One needs to understand, he says, that in
heavy rain, even if the runway is visible in time, sometimes due to sudden
burst of heavy rain during the final touchdown, it is very difficult for the
flight crew to fine tune their judgement of flare height. This may even cause a
pilot to land beyond the touchdown zone. Finally, he says, all airline
companies ask their pilots to divert in case of a thunderstorm and in their
opinion if the weather is unsafe even if it meets the minima. But if there is
only rain and no thunderstorm seen on aircraft radar then a pilot will attempt
an approach and take decision at DH/MDA.
What must Indian aviation do?
Aviation safety expert Captain Mohan Ranganathan says India
needs to move away from the culture where, after every fatal incident,
officials say runways will conform to ICAO standards, the investigation will
identify the accident cause, and steps will be taken to rectify the
deficiencies. He says if the government is serious it needs to declare
Kozhikode as a Code 3C airport, for only narrow body aircraft; ban landings on
runway 10 during the monsoons; ensure that all runway condition standards are
enforced; ensure approach and landing accident training for pilots is enforced
strictly and, finally, be transparent and safety-oriented and not look at
commercial interests.
Pakistan map and border disputes
Why
has Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan announced a new political map? What are
the claims? What do they mean?
Kallol Bhattacherjee
The story so far: On August 4, Pakistan Prime
Minister Imran Khan announced a new political map of Pakistan (picture). With
this, Pakistan became the third country to launch a new political map after
India and Nepal did the same in November 2019 and May 2020, respectively. India
had reiterated its territorial claims in Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh with the
new map; this triggered a reaction from Nepal which contested Indian claims in
the Kalapani region of Pithoragarh district. The territorial claims of Pakistan
are, however, of a far greater extent and challenge many of the past
understandings and treaties.
What are the features of the new map?
The new political map of Pakistan has claimed
the entire region of Jammu and Kashmir stretching all the way to the edge of
Ladakh. The map also claims Junagarh and Manavadar, a former princely State and
territory, respectively, that are part of present-day Gujarat. It leaves out a
claim line at the eastern end of J&K indicating Pakistan’s willingness to
make China a third party in the Kashmir issue. This clearly runs counter to the
Simla Agreement which treated Kashmir as a bilateral matter. At the launch of
the map, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said the border in that area will
be fixed after resolving the Kashmir issue. Pakistan also claimed the entire
territory and water bodies that fall in the Sir Creek region in the westernmost
part of India.
How different is it from previous ones?
A similar map has been part of school
textbooks of Pakistan for many years which highlights the territorial
aspiration of Pakistan over the northern part of the subcontinent. The document
also maintains bits of reality on the ground as it shows the Line of Control in
Kashmir in a red-dotted line.
What will be the impact of this cartographical
warfare?
The map is likely to lead to changes in
Pakistan’s position on territorial disputes with India. By demanding the entire
Jammu and Kashmir region, Mr. Khan is changing the main features of Pakistan’s
Kashmir discourse as it includes the Jammu region prominently. The inclusion of
Junagarh and Manavadar opens fundamental issues of territorial sovereignty of
India. Manavadar, a princely territory, joined India on February 15, 1948 and
Indian troops marched into Junagarh in September that year incorporating it into
Indian territory. By normalising Islamabad’s claims over these former princely
territories, Pakistan is most likely to assert its rights over the former
princely State of Hyderabad as well. The map may be used to provide legal cover
for some of Islamabad’s territorial ambitions, especially in Kashmir and Sir
Creek.
What does Pakistan plan to gain by this
exercise?
Sir Creek is a collection of water bodies that
extend from the Arabian Sea deep inside the territory of Kutch and is rich in
biodiversity and mangrove forests. India’s position on Sir Creek is based on
the Kutch arbitration case of 1966-69. The new map can be used to reassert
Pakistan’s claims regarding the Rann which it had lost in the arbitration
conducted in Geneva. India’s position regarding Sir Creek is based on the fact
that the arbitration had granted the entire Rann and its marshy areas to India
while leaving the solid land across the Rann to Pakistan. By demanding the
demarcation to shift towards the eastern bank, Pakistan appears to be going
back also on the spirit of the Rann of Kutch arbitration where the overwhelming
evidence of maps supported India’s claims over the Rann and its marshlands.
Are there any claims on its western borders?
The map is silent about territorial claims in
the west and northwest of Pakistan. It indicates Islamabad’s acceptance of the
Durand Line as the border with Afghanistan.The reality on the ground however
shows problems that continue to haunt Pakistan on that front as well where law
and order has been difficult to maintain because of free movement of armed
fighters. A deadly clash between Afghan civilians and Pakistani troops led to
the loss of at least 20 Afghan lives during the last Eid ul Azha holidays when
Afghans wanted to cross to the other side of the traditional Pakhtoon territory
which is part of Pakistan’s Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa province. The resultant
situation has placed Afghan and Pakistani troops in a confrontational position.
Will the map trigger a diplomatic battle?
While launching the map, Mr. Khan described it as a document
that depicts the aspiration of the people of Pakistan. However, by describing
it as the new political map of Pakistan that will be showcased to the world,
Mr. Khan has indicated that the map will eventually trigger diplomatic battles
with India as it negates previous understandings. In Delhi, the Ministry of
External Affairs said Pakistan’s new political map is an exercise in “political
absurdity”.
Why
are Confucius Institutes under the scanner?
[INDIA-CHINA relation]
How
will it impact Beijing’s global soft power efforts? Will the Indian
government’s review hamper ties?
Ananth Krishnan
The story so far: On July 29, India’s Ministry
of Education (previously the Ministry of Human Resource Development) sent a
letter to several institutions seeking information about the activities of
their Confucius Institutes (CIs) and Chinese language training centres. This
was said to be part of a review of work being done by higher education
institutions in partnership with foreign entities. The move has brought the
spotlight to China’s CI programme, a key pillar of Beijing’s global soft power
effort, and raised questions about the future of India-China cooperation in the
education space.
What are Confucius Institutes (CI)?
Starting with a CI in Seoul in 2004, China’s
National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (NOCFL), known as
Hanban, has established 550 CIs and 1,172 Confucius Classrooms (CCs) housed in
foreign institutions, in 162 countries. The Hanban is under the Ministry of
Education. As the Hanban explains on its website, following the experience of
the British Council, Alliance Française and Germany’s Goethe-Institut, China
began “establishing non-profit public institutions which aim to promote Chinese
language and culture in foreign countries”. These were named CIs.
What is the presence of CIs in India?
India is reviewing the presence of CIs in
seven universities, in addition to 54 MoUs on inter-school cooperation
involving China, which is not connected to the CI programme. The Hanban website
lists three CIs in India (University of Mumbai, Vellore Institute of Technology
and Lovely Professional University) and three CCs (School of Chinese Language
Kolkata, Bharathiar University, and K.R. Mangalam University) but in some of
these cases, it is understood that plans did not materialise.
How have CIs been viewed around the world?
The CI arrangement has generated debate in the
West, where some universities have closed the institutes amid concern over the
influence of the Chinese government on host institutions, which receive funding
for running the CIs. Closures of some CIs have been reported in the United
States, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Sweden. In January, the
CI in the University of Maryland, the first in the U.S., closed down, citing
new U.S. rules, referring to the 2018 National Defense Authorisation Act,
barring universities receiving certain government assistance from also
accepting Chinese funding. Faced with this backlash, China is now rebranding
the programme. According to a recent directive from the Ministry of Education
reported by the South China Morning Post, the Hanban has been renamed as a
Center for Language Education and Cooperation, with suggestions that the
Confucius Institute brand may even be dropped. While the closures in the West
have made news, these cases still represent a minority. Most of the 550 CIs and
more than 1,000 CCs around the world are still active, with a presence spanning
Africa, Central Asia, Latin America, and across Asia, including in India’s
neighbourhood in Pakistan (seven), Nepal (four), Sri Lanka (four) and Bangladesh
(three), according to Hanban’s figures.
What does the CI review mean for India-China
relations?
On August 6, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) suggested
the government was merely following guidelines established in 2009 requiring
Indian institutions entering into such agreements “supported/sponsored by an
autonomous foreign organisation, including any Confucius Centre” to seek the
MEA’s approval. In a statement on August 4, the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi
pointed out that CIs and CCs had already been in India for more than 10 years
and called on India “to avoid politicising normal cooperation”. Even prior to
the June 15 India-China border clash, Indian authorities had viewed the CI
arrangement somewhat warily and as treading a fine line with regard to its
rules for how foreign educational institutions can operate in India, but the
government has at the same time worked with Hanban in other areas, for
instance, signing an agreement in 2012 to train 300 Indian teachers in Mandarin
with a view towards encouraging the study of Mandarin in Central Board of
Secondary Education schools. Along with the new move to review CIs, Mandarin
has been dropped from the list of foreign languages that can be taught in
schools in the new National Education Policy. If the messaging from Delhi is
that it cannot be business as usual with China after the border clash, less
clear are the long-term objectives. De-emphasising learning Mandarin, experts
say, is neither likely to impact China’s stance on the border, nor help India
in developing the expertise and resources it needs in dealing with China.
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