Can’t keep waiting for stealth fighter, India tells Russia

The Indian “perspective multirole fighter” is to be based on the under development Russian FGFA called PAK-FA or Sukhoi T-50 (above), which undertook its first flight-test in January 2010, but will be tweaked to IAF’s requirements. (Getty Images photo)

Ahead of President Vladimir Putin's visit here early next month, India has told Russia to come back with a plan to substantially reduce the delivery timeframe for the stealth fifth-generation fighter aircraft (FGFA) if it wants to seal the futuristic project by next year. 

The plan till now was that India would begin inducting the stealth fighters only 94 months — at the earliest — after the two countries inked the final design and R&D contract, which itself has already been delayed by over two years by now. 

"Russia has now been told that India cannot wait for a decade to get the FGFA. The delivery schedules should be compressed instead of IAF waiting for the FGFA till 2024-2025. The Russians will probably respond during Putin's visit," a defence ministry source said on Monday.

 

As was first reported by TOI, India is already upset with Russia for not giving its experts "full technological access" to the FGFA project despite being an equal funding partner. The final design contract, which is yet to be inked after missing the mid-2012 deadline, envisages the two countries chipping in with $5.5 billion each towards designing, infrastructure build-up, prototype development and flight testing. 

With the 127 single-seat FGFA that IAF wants costing extra, India will spend around $25 billion on the entire project. India had already spent $295 million on it after inking the preliminary design contract with Russia in December 2010. 

The Indian "perspective multirole fighter" is to be based on the under development Russian FGFA called PAK-FA or Sukhoi T-50, which undertook its first flight-test in January 2010, but will be tweaked to IAF's requirements.

The delivery of aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya by Russia to India was delayed by several years. 

As per the initial plan, with Indian scientists and experts also being based in Russia, the Ozar facility of Hindustan Aeronautics in Nashik was to get three FGFA prototypes in 2014, 2017 and 2019 for test-flying by IAF pilots. The final production was to begin only around 2022. All these timelines, of course, have gone awry with the final design contract yet to be sealed.

With IAF down to just 34 fighter squadrons, when at least 44 are required, alarm bells have finally begun to clang loudly in the Indian defence establishment over the long delays in all its three fighter induction projects. 

The indigenous Tejas light combat aircraft, first approved in 1983, for instance, will get final operational clearance only by mid-2015. But IAF will get what it actually wants, the four Tejas Mark-II squadrons, from 2022 onwards.

Vladimir Putin, who was the Russian prime minister then, walks near a new Russian fighter jet Sukhoi T-50, after its flight in Zhukovksy, outside Moscow on June 17, 2010. (Getty Images photo)

Negotiations for the almost $20 billion MMRCA (medium multirole combat aircraft) project for 126 Rafale fighters, too, are stuck with France yet to accept full responsibility for the 108 of the jets to be produced in India. "MoD wants at least two of the three projects (FGFA, LCA and MMRCA) to be speeded up," said a source.

Two Indian-origin men jailed in Fiji for graft

Two Indian-origin men, Mahendra Patel and Dhirendra Pratap, were sentenced to one year and six months in jail respectively over corruption charges by a court in Fiji Monday.

Patel was former chairman of the Post Fiji, the national postal service of Fiji, Fiji Live reported.

One more official of the Post Fiji, Peni Mau, has also been convicted and sentenced for corruption.

Patel, 71, now heads Motibhai and Company Limited, one of Fiji's most well-established and diversified business houses.

Is Chennai averse to accepting Montessori system of education?

Chennai is a city of contradictions -- it's a fact that's borne out in the diverse systems of schooling that it effortlessly gathers into its fold.

There are the conventional schools of every size and shape that throb with the effort of making children ace the mandatory board exams. And there are the handful which stand apart, set their own standards and have a niche following that swears by the success of the alternative approach.

Maria Montessori introduced the city to her system of schooling, which believes in giving the child the freedom to explore, about 75 years ago. For those who feel school is a place where one experiences the wholeness of life, there are schools that follow philosopher J Krishnamurti's ideas.

The School, founded in 1973 by J Krishnamurti, and Good Earth, founded on the same principles in 1993, focus on the education of the human being. The School's vision statement says that "knowledge and intellectual capacity alone are not sufficient to meet life's challenges. Learning to enquire, to observe oneself, to relate with other people and the earth is the core intention of the school."

At Good Earth, "the intention is to provide an atmosphere free of authority and fear which enables the child to grow and flower in goodness."

There is a large fan following for the ideals espoused by the two schools, but only few can partake, as the schools keep a low teacher-student ratio of around 1:10.

"The Krishnamurti schools are extremely fortunate in that one of the central pillars is an invitation to teachers, students and parents to 'question everything'. When this happens consistently, something changes in the institution. It is not possible to do things only the way they are being done in a large number of schools. This approach may be the reason for a somewhat different atmosphere," G Gautama, former principal of The School KFI and director of The Chennai Education Centre, KFI, said when asked about the uniqueness of the school.

While the Krishnamurti schools have a deep philosophy, the teaching-learning methodologies are left to the individual teacher. The Montessori system, experts said, offers more structure.

Abacus Montessori in Perungudi, Navadisha Montessori School in Velachery, Patashala in Nungambakkam and Sishya in Adyar have helped spread the word about Montessori education among parents and converted their children into brand ambassadors of the system. However, it wasn't always an easy road. Maria Montessori brought her system of schooling to Madras, as Chennai was then called, 75 years ago. The Besant Arundale School followed it early on, and Bal Bharathi and Guindy School, the management of which later formed Rishi Valley School, were run on Montessori's ideals.

"But when we began Abacus Montessori in 1987 it was like starting all over again. We weren't even sure whether we should use Montessori in the name, though we wanted to acknowledge the system," said founder principal Amukta Mohapatra. Now, there are at least 15 schools following the Montessori system of education.

The schools do not just facilitate learning. They take pains to help parents understand the basic philosophy behind the Montessori system of education. "If the parents are given a clear picture and if they are convinced they stop comparing their children with others and give them time and space to learn on their own terms," said Jayashree Radhakrishnan, founder principal of Vruksha Montessori School in Alwarpet.

Despite the demand, many Montessori schools don't want to grow. State regulations hold them back, and those that do are able to expand do so only with the help of the parents who are convinced that nothing but a Montessori environment will do for their child.

Most Montessori schools follow their unique methods only up to Class 8 because state government norms require all students to take the board exams to qualify for higher education. From Class 9 onwards, these schools make the transition to blackboard teaching to help children face exams. Most are affiliated to the Council for Indian School Certificate Examinations or Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education.

"By the time they come to Class 9 the children are able to make their own choice of subjects and do well in the boards too," Radhakrishnan said.

At the end of their time in school, the children's cherished possession is the conduct certificate. "They don't reduce the child to one word (good) like other schools do while issuing conduct certificates. We get a detailed report of how our personality has developed, our potential and what has helped mould us," said R Sivaguru, an alumnus of Good Earth who treasures his CC and has kept it safe 15 years after he left of school.

At Rampal's Ashram, Weapons and Commando Uniforms Found in Lockers

 

From arrested guru Rampal's ashram in Haryana, the police have found weapons, cash, bullet-proof jackets and commando uniforms stashed in lockers.

63-year-old Rampal was on Sunday taken to his "Satlok ashram" in Hisar for the first time since his arrest last Wednesday, and questioned about the cache of weapons, which include four .315 bore rifles, five .12 bore guns and some cartridges. Bullet-proof vehicles were also found, the police said.

The self-styled 'godman' was taken around the complex as lockers and cupboards were opened in the presence of a magistrate.

Senior police officer AK Rao said Rampal was questioned on the bullet-proof jackets and commando uniforms. He was asked whether he and his followers - who call themselves 'Baba's commandos' - were preparing for an offensive against the police. "It could be that or it could also be the fact that they were apprehensive about some threat (police action)," Mr Rao said.

Rampal was arrested in a raid on his ashram after a 12-day stand-off between thousands of his followers and policemen. The Punjab and Haryana High Court had ordered his arrest after he repeatedly ignored summons in a murder case.

He was sent to police custody for five days.

Rampal has skipped court hearings over 40 times.

Searches on his 12-acre ashram complex have revealed that the guru had a fleet of luxury cars, a swimming pool, flat-screen TVs, split air-conditioners, massage tables and gym equipment that included high-end treadmills.

Rampal, a former engineer who describes himself as an incarnation of the 15th-century mystic poet Kabir and has lakhs of followers, lived in a five-storey house in one part of the ashram complex.

Before being arrested, Rampal ensured that most rooms and areas of his luxury home were sealed with plywood and had locks on the doors.

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