The unambiguous election mandate to Narendra Modi could be seen as validation of the direction he took during his first term in office, and a mandate for the next five years to gather velocity and bring unfinished agendas to consummation. Indian civil aviation, whose distress is implicit in one airline that has no buyers, another that has been grounded, and a cut-throat airfare war, with the cost of operation well above the revenue from sale of tickets. Decidedly, the achievements in civil aviation during the last five years have been unremarkable, while the potential for attainable, laudable objectives in the next five years is substantial.
All the noises being made about reforms and progress would thus indicate a need to start early. The beginning, however, has been a bit dismaying. Hardeep Puri, the new Civil Aviation Minister, is a former bureaucrat (the civil aviation community would have preferred to have a professional airman!), but he is also Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, and Minister of State in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. How much of his time would he be able to devote to grasping and then cracking the challenges that boggle civil aviation is a matter of conjecture. Possibly, the other two jobs will leave him about a third of his time to civil aviation affairs.
Then, there is the matter of Arun Kumar, another IAS generalist, being given the additional charge of Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) after the previous incumbent finished his tenure on May 31. The DGCA’s job is in addition to his post as an additional secretary in the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) and thus would have the benefit of his divided attention only.
Inarguably, the top-most inadequacy that afflicts our aviation industry is infrastructure. Catchphrases like ‘hawai chappal to hawai jahaz’ have caught people’s fancy, but in reality, achievements predicated on Udey Desh Ka Aam Nagarik (UDAN) have been non-descript — the majority of the routes bid for and allocated for regional connectivity have not even debuted.
17/07/19 Gp Capt (Retd) AK Sachdev/Deccan Herald
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All the noises being made about reforms and progress would thus indicate a need to start early. The beginning, however, has been a bit dismaying. Hardeep Puri, the new Civil Aviation Minister, is a former bureaucrat (the civil aviation community would have preferred to have a professional airman!), but he is also Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, and Minister of State in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. How much of his time would he be able to devote to grasping and then cracking the challenges that boggle civil aviation is a matter of conjecture. Possibly, the other two jobs will leave him about a third of his time to civil aviation affairs.
Then, there is the matter of Arun Kumar, another IAS generalist, being given the additional charge of Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) after the previous incumbent finished his tenure on May 31. The DGCA’s job is in addition to his post as an additional secretary in the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) and thus would have the benefit of his divided attention only.
Inarguably, the top-most inadequacy that afflicts our aviation industry is infrastructure. Catchphrases like ‘hawai chappal to hawai jahaz’ have caught people’s fancy, but in reality, achievements predicated on Udey Desh Ka Aam Nagarik (UDAN) have been non-descript — the majority of the routes bid for and allocated for regional connectivity have not even debuted.
17/07/19 Gp Capt (Retd) AK Sachdev/Deccan Herald
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