Morning Brief: CBI Chargesheets Ex-ISRO Chief; NITI Aayog Wants MCI To Go; Monsoon 3% Above Normal

NITI’S REPORT

NITI Aayog has submitted its report outlining the broad contours of reforms in the medical profession. It has also put out a draft bill to replace the Indian Medical Council Act of 1956 for public comments.

The report rightly recommends some radical reforms. Here’s a brief summary:

• Get rid of the process of election of regulators by the regulated. Appoint them through search-cum-selection committee in a transparent manner.
• Replace IMC with National Medical Commission (NMC) which will have four independent bodies under its supervision to carry out four functions: regulation of UG medical education, regulation of PG education, accreditation and assessment of institutions and regulation of the practice of the profession.
• End input based (inspection based) regime where an institute must conform to certain standards before starting operation. Rather, have an outcomes-based system which rates the institutions on their performance.
• NEET for UG; A common
  licentiate examination after UG to get a licence to practice and for registration in the Indian medical register. This will also act as a NEET for admission to PG courses.
• No fee regulation for private medical colleges. Though, fees for a maximum of 40 percent seats in any college can be regulated. Give full freedom for colleges to set fees for the rest of the seats.
• Lift the current ban on ‘for-profit’ institutes to open medical colleges.

AUTONOMY

The new minister for Human Resource Development (HRD), Prakash Javadekar, is now on the same page as the Prime Minister’s Office on the IIM bill. The latter was of the view that the government shouldn’t have a role in appointing the chairman of the Board of Governors (BoG) at IIMs but former minister Smriti Irani refused to relent.

The new minister has now accepted the PMO’s suggestion to empower the IIMs to appoint their own chairman. In exchange, the PMO has accepted the Ministry’s reasons for not diluting the clauses which empower the President to review any of IIM’s work.

The bill will soon land up on the Cabinet’s desk for approval.

TRACKING MONSOON

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), so far India has recorded three percent excess rainfall this monsoon. North-west and central India have received 10 percent and 15 percent more rain, respectively, as compared to the long-period average (LPA), while the southern peninsula has recorded a deficit of two percent.

The shortfall is higher in eastern and north-eastern regions, at 16 percent. Ninety-two percent of the country has received normal to excess rainfall.

ANTRIX DEAL

The Central Bureau of Investigation has named former ISRO Chairman G. Madhavan Nair and other senior officials in its chargesheet filed yesterday in the Antrix-Devas deal case for allegedly facilitating a wrongful gain of Rs 578 crore to Devas Multimedia Private Limited. The CBI has pressed conspiracy, cheating and corruption charges against the accused.

According to The Hindu report, the agency alleges that while the deal for the lease of S-Band transponders was decided in principle between Antrix and Devas in January 2005, the then Antrix Executive Director signed it six months later after Mr Chandrasekhar and Mr Vishwanathan became the majority stakeholders in Devas.

POLICY THROUGH COURTS

The Delhi High court has directed a panel appointed by the central government to come up with a policy to govern all cab services nationwide. The committee will submit its report in three months. However, this report will be non-binding in nature. The court felt ‘an urgent need to have a seamless and uniform policy for taxi services in the country.’

But in the false hope of creating a level playing field for all taxi operators, the court is messing with the market mechanisms. It should know better.

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SWARAJYA SPECIAL

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BOOK LAUNCH

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