The US’ largest fuel pipeline paid $4.4 million to a gang of ransomware operators who breached into its computer systems recently. After the 7 May ransomware attack, the company took its pipeline system offline and supplies tightened across the US. Prices started rising and a number of US states declared an emergency.

In March 2021, the London-based Harris Federation suffered a ransomware attack and was forced to “temporarily” disable the devices and email systems of all the 50 secondary and primary academies it manages, resulting in over 37,000 students being unable to access their coursework and correspondence.

Bombardier, the Canadian plane manufacturer, suffered a data breach in February 2021. The stolen data of suppliers, customers and around 130 employees located in Costa Rica was leaked on the site operated by the Clop ransomware gang.

The globally renowned computer giant Acer suffered a ransomware attack and was asked to pay a record ransom of $50 million, by a cyber criminal group called REvil.

On 20 March 2021, the multinational IoT device manufacturer Sierra Wireless was hit by a ransomware attack against its internal IT systems and had to halt production at its manufacturing sites and the company was able to resume production after a week.

THE STAGES OF RANSOMWARE

1.     Infection: The victim’s machine is infected when/after a compromised website is accessed or when attachment is opened from a spam message.

2.     Data encryption: The victim’s files or devices are locked down via cryptographic keys that utilise the Public Key Infrastructure on either the infected machine or Command and Control server.

3.     Demand: A message demanding payment of a ransom for releasing the locked data or files is displayed by the ransomware software.

4.     Outcome: Which is based on the actions taken by the victim. Such as: In event the victim does not pay the ransom but is able to eliminate the ransomware and recover the locked data or files; another event when the victim pays the ransom through anonymous channels such as Bitcoin and, hopefully, receives the key to unlock the data or devices (not recommended though). If not the above two, then the event of non-payment of the ransom and subsequent destruction of the data or files; without a backup, the victim will suffer permanent loss.

IMPACT ON BUSINESSES

The impact of ransomware to an organisation is many-fold: Reputational damage, theft, financial losses, fines, and below the surface costs.

1.     Reputational damage: Taking a reputational hit may also affect the ability to attract the best talent, suppliers and investors. Losing trust of customers and stakeholders is one of the harmful impacts of the ransomware event as the overwhelming majority of people would not do business with a company that had been breached, especially in the event of failing to protect its customers’ data. This intangible loss will easily translate directly into a loss of business, as well as devaluation of the brand.

2.     Theft: Apart from monetary losses, stolen data can be worth far more to hackers, especially when sold on the Dark Web. For example, the 2015 ‘Hidden Data Economy’ report by Kaspersky Labs puts the value of login credentials to hotel loyalty programmes or online auction accounts at up to $1,400. Not to forget the intellectual property theft which may be equally or more damaging, with companies losing years of effort and R&D investment in trade secrets or copyrighted material also their competitive advantage.

3.     Financial losses: Ransomware costs businesses disproportionately when adjusted for organisational size. A casual stance on security could quite easily put you out of business.

4.     Fines: As if direct financial losses weren’t punishment enough, there is the prospect of monetary penalties for businesses that fail to comply with data protection legislation. The example of GDPR which in case of privacy breach attracts a fine of 2% to 4% of global turnover. And such regulation is forming shape globally which would threaten many growing businesses with insolvency.

SOME FAMOUS CASES OF RANSOMWARE ATTACKS

1. Ryuk, 2019 and 2020

2. SamSam, 2018

3. WannaCry, 2017

4. Petya, 2016

5. TeslaCrypt, 2015

6. CryptoLocker, 2013

7. AIDS Trojan or PC Cyborg, 1989

WHAT TO DO WHEN IT HAPPENS

In the event of ransomware attack, the victim must immediately engage incident response teams to limit the damage. A passive approach to ransomware poses a huge risk given the potential losses that may be incurred with a ransomware attack; both organisations and users must proactively plan to prevent and respond to ransomware attacks. The teams should immediately notify users and turn off infected devices. Additionally, a backup device should be deployed to run the network; train users on how to respond to a ransomware attack; continuously backup IoT data to back-end servers; prepare a backup of application and device configuration files.

SHOULD WE PAY?

There cannot be a straight answer to whether to pay threat actors. It is pertinent that companies balance the potential near-term benefit of decrypting data, which is not always guaranteed, against the risk of legal and reputational exposure for making a payment to a prohibited person or entity, not to mention the risk of increased targeting by threat actors once a payment has been made. Waiting will only complicate the situation. Thus, the only simple answer to the question is that companies should have a plan in place before an attack ever occurs.

LESSONS LEARNT & WAY AHEAD

Data stolen and leaked on publicly available websites could provide targeting attackers with victim data that could inform or guide future disruptive attacks. Cyber security awareness plays an important role in preventing cyber-attacks. A tailored (ransomware threats) educational framework as well as a tool which mimicked ransomware attacks proved to be playing a pivotal role in reducing ransomware infections. Moreover, technical countermeasures of verifying applications’ trustworthiness when calling a crypto library or minimising attack surface by limiting end-users privilege has proved effective in preventing ransomware attacks.

CONCLUSIONS

Alarmed by the impunity with which ransomware operators are disrupting critical infrastructure world over, the US government has formed a Ransomware Task Force (RTF). It convened in early 2021 with participants from governments, software firms, cyber security vendors, non-profit and academic institutions from across the world.

The task force is synthesising best practices across sectors, identifying solutions in all steps of the ransomware kill chain, targeting gaps in solution applications, and engaging with stakeholders across industries to coalesce around a diverse set of ideas and solutions.

India too needs to develop a comprehensive anti-ransomware strategy post haste, otherwise coming days would see large-scale disruptions in various critical sectors ranging from manufacturing, public transport, power grids to healthcare and education. Many would pay exorbitant sums in ransom as the gangs have evolved their tactics to double and triple extortion by leveraging the data stolen in such attacks.

Brijesh Singh, IPS, is an author and IG Maharashtra. Khushbu Jain is an advocate practising before the Supreme Court and a founding partner of law firm Ark Legal. They can be contacted Twitter: @brijeshbsingh and @advocatekhushbu. The views expressed are personal.

Alarmed by the impunity with which ransomware operators are disrupting critical infrastructure world over, the US government has formed a Ransomware Task Force. It convened in early 2021 with participants from governments, software firms, cyber security vendors, non-profit and academic institutions from across the world. The task force is synthesising best practices across sectors, identifying solutions in all steps of the ransomware kill chain, targeting gaps in solution applications, and engaging with stakeholders across industries to coalesce around a diverse set of ideas and solutions.

Is the tide turning against China, finally? Are questions being asked about the origins of Covid-19 and is pressure mounting on the US government in particular about holding China accountable for the spread of the virus that has crippled the world? Equally importantly, will pressure now mount on China to disclose everything about the virus so that a treatment can be found, or the best way to contain it? After over a year’s silence on the Chinese communist regime’s direct involvement in the spread of the virus worldwide, legacy media in the United States seems to have started asking the right questions: where, when and how did the virus emerge? In this context, it does not come as a surprise that the US may have known all along that Covid-19 may not be a natural virus. A Wall Street Journal report on Sunday disclosed a US intelligence report that says that way back in November 2019, much before China admitted the existence of the virus, three researchers working in China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), fell ill with a mysterious illness and had to seek hospital care, thus suggesting that the virus may have escaped from the laboratory, even if not deliberately leaked. Interestingly, the face of America’s fightback against Covid-19, Dr Anthony Fauci too has suddenly made an about-turn about the origin of the virus. A year ago, in May 2020, Dr Fauci was clear that the virus was natural and did not result from a laboratory leak. In an interview to the National Geographic, he had said that “If you look at the evolution of the virus in bats…[it] could not have been artificially or deliberately manipulated.” The very same Dr Fauci said in early May 2021 that “I am not convinced about that (if the virus originated naturally), I think we should continue to investigate what went on in China until we continue to find out to the best of our ability what happened… So, you know, that’s the reason why I said I’m perfectly in favor of any investigation that looks into the origin of the virus.” Dr Fauci’s change of heart could have had to do with the fact that he is countering serious allegations that the National Institutes of Health under him funded a “gain of function” research on bat coronaviruses at the WIV. Even though he denies he did it, only an independent investigation into the origin of the virus will exonerate him of all the charges hurled at him. So it’s hoped that the formidable Dr Fauci will use his influence with the Joe Biden administration to push for an independent probe into the origin of the virus.

In fact, it was the World Health Organization that should have helmed the probe—a proper probe and not the Chinese-dictated one that the earlier one was, led by 17 Chinese scientists and 17 international scientist whose names were vetted by Beijing. But then the last one year has dealt a body-blow to WHO’s credibility for the way it did Beijing’s bidding in trying to deflect attention from China’s role in the spread of the pandemic. Even now, when WHO expands its list of anti-Covid-19 vaccines for emergency use, it approves China’s Sinopharm, about whose efficacy serious questions exist, but not India’s Covaxin, one of the most potent vaccines in the market. Apprehensions are that by the time Covaxin gets its approval, China’s vaccine would have flooded the poorer countries in spite of its dubious quality, but not provide them with adequate protection against the virus, thus endangering the health of large swathes of people. Can a world body behaving like China’s handmaid ever be trusted to conduct an independent probe? India had an opportunity to push for such a probe when it was elected chairman of WHO’s executive board exactly a year ago on 22 May 2020, and it would have had the support of the developing world in this, but it wasted it. Even as India gave up the chair on Monday, it will continue to be a member of the executive board until 2023. Will it be too much to expect India to take the lead against China in the next two years? Also, at a time when External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar is visiting the US, it is hoped that he will impress upon Secretary of State Antony Blinken that action against China should go beyond lip service.

The fundamental premise of any probe against China will have to take into account Beijing’s propensity to deny everything it is accused of. The suspicion that the Communist regime is not averse to using a pathogen as a political and economic tool also needs to be addressed, if the world wants to secure its own future. Else, who knows what will come from China next? Without a fair and independent probe, China will get away with genocide. For once nations will have to raise themselves above Beijing’s influential reach within their governments, and ignore the lure of cheap supply chains while putting pressure on China to open up for a probe.

The achievements of the Modi government in the last one year should be seen as its deft handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, matured tackling of the India-China stand-off along the borders, creating international alliances, and getting some crucial legislation passed despite the short sessions of the Parliament. One should also not forget the bhoomi puja for the grand Ram Temple at Ayodhya on 5 August 2020.

Here I do not wish to add the achievements from the past few years such as the impact in terms of development and the larger integration of Jammu and Kashmir after Article 370 was scrapped in August 2019. This also ushered in a truly democratic election with wider participation of the local population. The same stands true for the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) that granted citizenship to persecuted religious minorities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who came to India on or before December 2014. This included Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians.

Incremental additions in the progressive march are happening despite hiccups and one can easily list them as achievements. But the government should also be known for momentous decisions. One such is the bhoomi puja for the proposed Ram Temple. Although the matter was resolved through a judicial process, the government facilitated the process through due diligence. August 5, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi performed the bhoomi puja at Ayodhya, was a rare moment in history. That it happened amicably showed the syncretic culture of India and the wishes of everyone that the temple dedicated to dharma, so vital for constitutional principles, be established.

Most of Modi’s governance in 2020 was focused on containing Covid-19, a new pandemic with no known antidote. Some messengers of doom had already predicted that India would have at least 30 crore cases and a very large number of deaths. The entire world was worried. But Narendra Modi emerged as the saviour and ordered a lockdown. Imagine an entire nation of 135 crore people coming to a standstill but with not a single scarcity anywhere. There was no hoarding, no black marketing and people had easy access to every item of daily use.

The period of lockdown was used to strengthen medical infrastructure by enabling the massive production of PPE kits, hand gloves, masks, sanitizers and creating Covid-19 facilities in make-shift hospitals. The recovery rate despite the pandemic was very high and the country was able to stave off the first wave without a high casualty figure. Even the United States with the best healthcare facilities and a population of merely 33 crore, as opposed to India’s 135 crore, could not do better. India’s efforts were lauded the world over.

To ensure that the adverse impact of the economic shutdown did not reach the poor, the Union Government gave free ration to 80 crore poor people from April to November 2020 incurring a cost of Rs 1.5 crore. Again, in April 2021, the Prime Minister announced 5 kg of free ration for 80 crore people for the month of May and June incurring a cost of Rs 26,000 crore. Transferring money directly into the accounts of poor farmers under the PM Kisan scheme that was launched in 2018 should also be seen as an effort to mitigate the sufferings of the agricultural community. Farmers of West Bengal also benefited from the scheme on release of the installment on 14 May 2021.

Just when India had started celebrating and numerous festivals, election rallies, social gatherings and a buoyant movement of people were taking place, we were hit by another Covid-19 storm. We all contributed to this. If we had given heed to the various warnings from the Centre and had exercised restraint, the situation could have been different.

The Kumbh festival in Haridwar, which critics dubbed as a ‘super-spreader’, was only one among the many events. The Prime Minister had to intervene and request Hindu religious seers to make the festival symbolic. Several warnings were sent to the state government to follow Covid protocols. The festival came to an abrupt end.

There are three events I can highlight to show how people ignored social distancing blatantly. These are the funerals of Shia leader Kalbe Sadiq in Lucknow on 24 November 2020, renowned Islamic scholar and former General Secretary of All India Muslim Personal Law Board Wali Rahmani in Patna on 3 April 2021 and Islamic leader Qazi Md Qadri in Badayun on 10 May 2021. One just needs to look at the images of the gathering to know whether they were super-spreaders or not. One also cannot forget the farmers’ agitation that was the biggest super-spreader since farmers came in groups to the protest sites at the Delhi borders and left for their villages carrying the disease. Thousands had joined these gatherings from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh.

The elections for five states can also be faulted. But we need to question the collective conscience rather than put blame on one or other institutions. No party wanted the elections to be postponed and once the campaigns started, it was difficult to control the situation. When the Parliament’s Budget Session was curtailed, the prime reason was to enable elected representatives to campaign in these elections. The Prime Minister, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP President JP Nadda did cancel their meetings during the last leg of the election campaign in West Bengal but others continued.

Also, the country witnessed the biggest movement of people based on cell phone location data. The movement of people in crowded local trains such as in Mumbai and the density of population in Asia’s biggest slums such as Dharavi in Mumbai, and elsewhere also contributed to the spread. Most marketplaces in many parts of India were crowded and people were walking without masks. India was waiting for an explosion to happen.

People died not due to the pandemic as much as they did because of the failure of the response system and an inadequate health infrastructure. Imagine so many people falling ill at the same time and many needing oxygen, ventilators and critical medicines. The casualties went up to an unimaginable level.

Yet the Modi government worked on a war footing to bring the situation under control. The government was in emergency mode. Air Force helicopters were pressed into service to airlift cryogenic tankers from foreign countries. Naval ships were deployed to transport tankers and medical supplies from distant lands. Oxygen supplies from industries were diverted to hospital use. The Railways ran Oxygen Expresses, non-signal special trains running from industrial hubs to states with a scarcity of oxygen, to ensure that the supply line was not disrupted.

The country’s lack of preparedness was for all to see. The Supreme Court observed that in the 70 years after Independence, we had failed to create an adequate health infrastructure to give the response that was needed. The Modi government sent various missives to state governments to strictly implement Covid protocol and instruct that the states should not lower their guards. But all these fell on deaf ears. Some state governments had dismantled the structures that were created in 2020.

In the words of Dr Devi Shetty of Narayana Healthcare, the Modi government moved heaven and earth to make things possible. No country in the world could have managed the crisis better, he said. No one had imagined that the demand for oxygen would increase ten-fold from 900 MT daily to 9000 MT daily. The DRDO and other Central institutions swung into action and emergency beds were created. The Railways earmarked 70,000 Covid bed facilities all across the country. The DRDO helped set up 500 oxygen PSA plants in the country using its own design. PM-CARES was used to buy lakhs of oxygen concentrators and procure more than 1.5 lakh units of the oxycare system developed by the DRDO. The DRDO has also developed a 2DG drug that reduces dependence on outside oxygen supply and helps in faster recovery.

The biggest achievement in the fight against Covid was to encourage the R&D of the indigenous Covaxin vaccine. With it, India joined the elite club of a few countries in the world to have its own Covid vaccine. The Prime Minister took a personal interest in also ensuring that there were no bottlenecks in the faster production of Serum Institute’s Covishield. India supplied vaccines to several countries and the UN Peacekeeping force. The tremendous goodwill earned thus helped India get help from across the world when it witnessed the second wave.

The Centre had already earmarked Rs 35,000 crore in its budget for vaccination and announced that there would be no dearth of money to vaccinate people. In the initial phases, it announced free vaccination for all in the age group of 45 years and above after the drive for healthcare and frontline workers that began on 16 January. From 1 May this expanded to the population between 18-44 years. By 21 May, more than 19.32 crore people had been vaccinated cumulatively, out of a population of 135 crore. This is more than half the 33 crore population of the US.

Trials are now in progress for the age group of 2-18 years. We may soon see vaccination drives being carried out in school premises for children. Knowing fully well that the country needs faster and adequate vaccination for everyone, the government has already decided to ramp up production and the target is to achieve 2 billion vaccine doses between August and December.

One cannot but also praise the Prime Minister for the deft handling of the situation on the borders facing China. While the Chinese had no qualms in becoming aggressive when India is facing an unprecedented crisis, the Indian Government ensured that there was no let up in our guards after the border stand-off at Galwan where our brave soldiers gave a befitting reply to China’s aggression.

The Chinese have not fully disengaged despite agreeing to do so. India has refused to compromise and has shown maturity by taking logical and measured steps. Our troops are vaccinated and are on full alert. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said this month that India-China relations are at a crossroads and which way it goes will depend on China. He clarified that bilateral relations with China would not improve unless the border situation improved. The disengagement process that had started early this year has not been completed, he pointed out.

In the meantime, India has joined the Quad which is a strategic alliance of four countries—India, Japan, Australia and the United States—“to keep Indo-Pacific region free, open and accessible, diverse and thriving”. That China has warned Bangladesh against joining this alliance shows the importance of Quad.

Back home, the government has been trying to push various reforms despite Covid-19 and curtailed sessions of the Parliament in 2020 and 2021. Amidst the pandemic, the curtailed Monsoon Session in 2020 was to take place from 14 September to 1 October. However, this was shortened further and the session adjourned sine die on 23 September after completing only ten sittings spread over ten days. Similarly, the Parliament’s Budget Session in 2021 that began on 29 January and was to continue till 8 April was adjourned sine die on 25 March. The reason was to enable members to participate in campaigns for the Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala, Assam and West Bengal.

Even during the curtailed sessions, the government brought out legislation to bring changes. In 2020 it brought an Act to reduce the salary, allowance and pension of MPs and ministers by 30 percent, the Epidemic Diseases Act to curb unprecedented violence during the pandemic and for the protection of healthcare workers, and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code to give relief to companies affected by Covid. In 2021, there was legislation on mines and minerals for faster growth, on port modernization, for insurance to raise FDI to 74 percent and bills for reforms in the social and health sectors.

The Modi government did not allow life to come to a standstill. All essential services were brought to the people. Goods trains, trucks and other essentials transport were running. The average speed of construction of national highways at 29.81 km per day was the highest ever in 2020-21. The government had already decided to complete all ongoing projects sanctioned up to 2015-16.

The Modi government’s commitment to nation building could be seen in the conceptualization of creating modern building structures to house various ministries of the government in a stretch of 3.2 km from the Rashtrapati Bhawan to India Gate. The idea was consolidation and saving the government’s wasteful expenses in the old buildings that defy modern demands.

The construction of the new Parliament building at the estimated cost of Rs 862 crore has already commenced in January after due allocation of money and the tendering process. The building is slated to be complete by 2022 to enable the country to celebrate 75 years of India’s Independence in the new Parliament. Bidding goodbye to the colonial hangover, this new building is going to be India’s pride that would stand the test of time for 200-250 years and remind coming generations of the strength of India’s democracy and the values that guide our progress.

The actions of the Modi government showed in enough measures that while we must work on our weaknesses and build our muscles by tightening the sinews of our country, India must not stop. We are not the same country that had pledged gold in 1991 to not to default on international payment obligation. We are strong. And the determination and ambition of the nation is to find fulfilment in the desire for action. Lives must be saved and those who are living must live a life of action and fulfilment. This is the Modi motto.

The writer is convener of the Media Relations Department of the BJP and represents the party as a spokesperson on TV debates. He has authored the book ‘Narendra Modi: The Game Changer’. The views expressed are personal.

It is becoming evident that Covid immunisation would become an integral part of daily life and therefore it is essential that citizens must at the earliest get themselves vaccinated, even if the vaccine does not provide cent percent protection. In fact, in the future, for anyone to travel, not only internationally but also within the country, it would be a prerequisite to either undergo a Covid test or at least carry a document showing that the vaccines have been administered.

It is something similar to what is required to travel to most African countries where authorities insist that the passengers should be carrying a yellow fever vaccination certificate. Nearly four decades ago, travelers to India too had to face quarantine if certain types of vaccines were not shown on the medical card that was essential to carry along with the passport if the passenger was coming in from certain earmarked counties.

As far as Covid goes, the pandemic has taken the whole world in its sweep and therefore the vaccines or the proof of their being administered is going to be a must for travelers. Within India, the bureaucrats who frame the rules would also make it mandatory for anyone buying a train or bus ticket to produce the relevant document on demand by authorities while crossing the borders. Thus, like the Adhaar card, the certificate or the proof thereof would be required while undertaking any kind of journey.

It goes without saying that in the name of Covid, corruption would increase and poor migrants who travel to far parts of the country to make both ends meet would be bearing the brunt of unscrupulous elements. Therefore, the authorities must ensure that the rules that are finalized are realistic and not meant for the files to save the bureaucrats, rather than helping the ordinary citizen. The babus have a habit of putting all their negative energies into implementing actions instead of seeing the matter in a proper perspective.

It is going to be a monumental task for the Centre and the states to get so many people vaccinated, and the way things unfold, many may obtain certificates on payment of a bribe, without being actually vaccinated. These things must be looked into thoroughly to avoid any kind of harassment which was taking place even when the lockdown had been relaxed for so many months. Instead of checking people for wearing masks in market places, teams would hide in roadside corners and catch hold of unsuspecting people, not so much to fine them, but to extract money from them.

The Covid vaccine is important but it is necessary that people take precautions on their own by wearing masks and maintaining safe distances – a task difficult to do in an overpopulated country. Other than that, it is necessary to stay hydrated by consuming plenty of water or liquids. The fourth cardinal rule is to keep the house properly ventilated for at least a few hours. Covid has come to stay for the time being and shall continue to impact our lives till such time when a permanent remedy for it is discovered by medical scientists.

The foundation of modern Indian higher education was laid in 1781 when people of creditable reputation from the city of Calcutta approached the then Governor General, Warren Hastings, and implored him to establish institutions of higher learning. After a long wait of 36 years ultimately they themselves became the crusaders. They set up Hindu College in 1817 which subsequently ignited aspirations in the heart of other leaders who set up a number of other colleges in the next 40 years in places like Poona, Bombay, Agra, Patna, Madras, etc. It was only in 1857 that the government decided to set up three universities in the port cities of Calcutta, Bombay and Madras. Unlike the present day, these universities were the places of testing the value of knowledge imparted through different colleges. It was only in 1914 when for the first time Calcutta University, under the visionary leadership of Sir Asutosh Mookherjee, set up the university departments for teaching and research. Though he had to face a tough time implementing this independent decision of his, he could successfully do it because of the support from his fellow colleagues who agreed to teach at lower wages. It was his courage and vision that marked the beginning of the era of research in the university system.

It was the sheer hard work and passion of the teachers which produced noteworthy research work during the period of 1920-45. But shortly thereafter a downward trend became apparent due to a number of factors. Prominent amongst them, which outshined the progression of higher standards of research, were persistent expansion of higher education, scarcity of resources, opening of other opportunities and switching of talented workforce to other lucrative professions. Efforts were made to some extent to remedy these constraints by giving preferential treatment to national laboratories and research institutes compared to that of the universities, but with little success. The importance of the university system was very well expressed by Dr Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar, who while presiding over the Annual meeting of the National Institute of Sciences at Allahabad on 4th January, 1949 said that, “Ultimately we have to depend on the universities for an even and constant flow of scientific workers and leaders imbued with zeal and zest for research.”

The Education Commission (1964-66) while taking note of the precarious condition of research underscored the significance of investment in the development of research by considering it a fundamental national goal since it considered research as an essential element for the sustenance of high quality teaching and learning. The commission noted that the expenditure on research in the university system was abysmally low (0.3% of the GNP) and that the per capita expenditure in education and research was one-thirtieth of England’s. The Commission expressed its concern on the indifferent attitude of the dispensation which took little interest and provided hardly any encouragement even to the most outstanding scientists. The Commission remained unequivocal in its support for research since it believed that teaching and learning could not be improved in the absence of research.

The government took note of declining trends both in enrolment in basic sciences and scientific research during the period 2000-04. This was the time when the overall pace of scientific development was being fast-tracked in the outside world and the developed economies continued to attract brilliant students in their programs. It became a subject of such great concern that the Government of India took two major initiatives in 2005 to promote science education and research. First, it set up a task force for the promotion of Basic Scientific Research in universities (BSR) which recommended a committed additional grant of Rs. 600 crore per annum to the university system. Second, on the recommendation of the Scientific Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, the government decided to establish as many as seven Indian Institutes of Science Education & Research (IISERs) during the period of 2006-16 to promote education in basic sciences and research. Most of these institutions which are directly supported by the ministry seem to be doing fairly well.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has been the major source of nurturing research insofar as the university system is concerned. The most notable contribution of the UGC has been in terms of providing common research facilities and services for the universities by establishing and maintaining as many as seven such institutions. Three of them are singularly devoted to promoting research in frontier domains of knowledge. They are Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune, Inter-University Accelerator Centre (IUAC), New Delhi and UGC-DAE Consortium of Scientific Research, Indore with its branch centers at Mumbai and Kolkata. These Centres have created world-class facilities for carrying out research in areas such as astronomy, astrophysics, science and computing in Laser Interferometric Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), Ion Accelerator, Material Sciences, etc. They have been truly playing a catalytic role in raising the standards of university research as these facilities are heavily used by both the faculty and the Doctoral and Postdoctoral scholars. But somehow these Centres are now gradually experiencing the crunch of resources resulting in a noticeable slowdown.

The UGC has also promoted international research collaboration with a number of leading countries like America, England, Israel, Germany, Norway, Australia, and New Zealand, to name a few. The UGC was the nodal agency in the implementation of these projects wherein it had committed a matching grant of 5 million USD with America for five years, 5.5 million pounds with England in two phases under UKIERI, and 2.5 million USD with Israel. This was a breathtaking initiative wherein the joint research projects were developed by the partnering institutions from both the sides in areas of mutual concerns like renewable energy, sustainable development, climate change, community health, environment, cyber security, etc. The UGC had provided wonderful opportunities to Indian researchers to carry out joint research with their counterparts from abroad. Most of these initiatives now seem to have been phased out.

With its limited resources, the UGC has done a commendable job by introducing a number of other schemes from early times at the levels of both institution and individual faculty. Of them, the prominent ones have been the Special Assistance Program (SAP), Centre of Excellence in a Particular Area of Study (CEPA), major and minor research projects, Universities with Potential for Excellence (UPE), Colleges with Potential for Excellence (CPE), Basic Scientific Research (BSR), Establishment of Chairs, etc. In addition, UGC has been financing a number of fellowships at different levels including the ones for women and different social groups. There were over two dozen such schemes, out of a total of about twelve dozen, which were contributing as great enablers for research. But some of these important initiatives with an impetus on research either have been phased out or put on hold facing a resource crunch.

It is apparent that the university system is passing through a difficult phase. Unlike western universities, Indian universities are not accustomed to mobilizing resources from other sources for a variety of reasons, some beyond their power. There are a few exceptions wherein some faculty members are able to mobilize grants from other funding organizations but that is only like a drop in the ocean. The culture of philanthropic initiatives that used to substantiate the fiscal position appears to have completely dried up. There are of course instances of corporate houses giving donations to foreign institutions, with the hope of getting good value for their money, but rarely to an Indian one. The fact remains that Indian universities are solely dependent upon meagre internal recoveries and maintenance grants from the central and provincial governments. The amount of development and research grants that they receive from the central government is incredibly insufficient.

Though universities have been recognised as the fountainheads for societal development, somehow Indian universities have been sidestepped in preference to standalone research establishments and premier institutions. This has been, among others, the foremost reason for their underperformance in research. The university system has been passing through a difficult phase because of the paucity of resources and incessant pressure to perform both nationally and globally. A large number of schemes that were introduced to invigorate the system either have been shut down or their funding is on a gradual decline.

The scheme of BSR is such a case in point. There was a strong sense of realisation in 2005 that there had been a steady decline in the quantity and quality of scientific research in the country due to inadequate infrastructural facilities, insufficient funding and lack of sufficient number of committed scientific workforce. The MHRD took note of the situation and set up a task force in May 2005, comprising renowned scientists like Prof. M.M. Sharma and Prof. Goverdhan Mehta, to strengthen the basic scientific research in universities. The task force had several rounds of discussion with eminent scientists like Prof. C.N.R. Rao. After making a proper assessment of the current status of scientific research and determining the areas of concern, the task force made as many as nine recommendations including earmarked funding of Rs. 600 crore per annum for the improvement of scientific research in universities.

The BSR was a very laudable initiative for the promotion of basic scientific research in universities. The then Additional Secretary of the MHRD, Sudeep Banerjee, took a personal interest and did a commendable job in the overall operationalisation of the scheme. He not only ensured an additional allocation of Rs. 600 crore but also persuaded the members of the same task force to act as an Empowered Committee for the implementation of its recommendations. The commitment of the members of the Empowered Committee and unstinting support of the MHRD made a very substantial difference to the results. It was a very unique way of moving forward by ensuring that teaching and research go hand-in-hand, the one reinforcing the other. The entire initiative was based on the premise that no teacher can be efficient unless he or she is meaningfully engaged in research. But when a scheme like this is abandoned midway for the want of resources then the great gains of such a reform and all efforts put in by eminent experts come to naught.

It will be highly regressive if Indian universities are allowed to slip at a time when basic scientific research is incredibly important to seek answers to fundamental questions now confronting humanity, and more so when the new policy has envisaged the development of research-intensive universities as one of the three categories of institutions of higher learning. The bottom line is that in times such as these the university system requires a special package to rejuvenate basic scientific research besides ensuring the continuity of consequential schemes before it gets pushed to the limit.

The author is former Chairman, UGC. The views expressed are personal.

Not a day passes when one does not hear of friends, acquaintances and relatives succumbing to this deadly pandemic that has come to haunt the country for the second time. Unlike the first wave, the second wave is more lethal and appears to be never-ending. Frontline workers, mostly doctors and paramedical staff, have been caught unawares and have been doing their best given the limitations, some unanticipated and some due to the lack of vision of the authorities.

In the past one month, I have personally lost at least 20 of my associates, who were not only close to me during various stages of my life, but were fellow travelers as well. The feeling of helplessness has come to dominate virtually every mind and with deaths taking place on such a rapid scale, families are scurrying for what they consider to be a safe environment. The shortage of oxygen has reflected how those entrusted with the charge of managing the epidemic have failed us. Every international TV channel has featured India’s growing casualty rate during primetime and our own electronic media too has been over playing the depressing news on a daily basis. Newspapers, who have been starved of advertisements in the past year, have suddenly found a new lease of life, ironically through obituary advertisements, placed mostly by the rich and the famous. The Times of India, the largest circulated daily in the NCR, has been on occasions carrying two Obituary pages, something which has never happened in the past. All this is adding to the panic and fear that has gripped the people. Medical experts have been expressing their opinion on a daily basis; AIIMS director Dr Randeep Guleria, for instance, is on national TV the whole time, trying to educate people regarding various theories, some unfounded and some real.

While all this is happening, the economy has gone into the red zone. It is not uncommon to run into small children and their parents helplessly looking for food since they have no way of fending for themselves in these difficult times. Even in residential colonies, women and children ring call bells asking for food or financial help. However, unscrupulous people continue to make money, taking advantage of the situation. The authorities in their eagerness to enforce the lockdown seem to have forgotten that there were smokers and alcoholics, who would find it difficult to give up their habits overnight. As a consequence, cigarettes and alcohol are being sold in the black market at exorbitant rates all over the NCR.

India indeed is passing through a very critical phase. Although the government has advised vaccination for those above the age of 18, many have not been able to get themselves vaccinated because of multiple reasons. The need of the hour is better coordination between the various agencies of the government as also between the Centre and the states. This is a collective fight and should be viewed that way. Of course, once things are under control, accountability for the failure to plan ahead should be fixed.