Even as the near mash-up between an Air India aircraft and a chopper belonging to the President?s entourage is being investigated, the US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) has threatened to downgrade India to Category II, in context to its aviation safety record. This is an assessment that can neither be denied nor ignored.

The aviation industry has been boasting that India has not had any major accidents in about a decade. However, there is no denying that near misses have gone up alarmingly in recent times. Clearly, a disaster is waiting to happen. Perhaps, as a fall out of the FAA notice and the public outcry, the ministry has put together a plan of action in conformity with relevant Annexes to the 1944 Chicago Convention for submission to the International Civil Aviation Authority and FAA. But this will not suffice to demonstrate the government?s commitment to safety in the air.

I feel that through the past years, the level of air safety has remained static at a basic level, far from matching the exponential increase in the numbers of aircraft flying in Indian skies. For worst-case ramifications of this chalta hai attitude, consider the unfortunate mid-air collision over Charkhi Dadri between the departing Saudia 747-100 with the inbound Kazakhstan Air Line Ilyushin 76, about seven minutes after take off from the IGI Airport on November 12, 1996. Killing 349 people, this crash was caused directly by a lack of shared language skills (English) between the pilots and ATC, Delhi. The accident report led to many improvements worldwide, as ICAO amended many standards.

But despite Charkhi-Dadri and the innumerable near misses that have gone unreported, there has been no serious attempt to set things right in India. Not only is there a marked reluctance to bring into force a legal regime to implement the Chicago Convention and its Annexes, the number of vacancies in the safety apparatus of Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is glaring and there is an acute shortage of Air Traffic Controllers (ATCs). The controllers have a difficult job, requiring a high degree of training, accuracy, alertness and experience to enable aircraft to land and takeoff safely. Why does India lack qualified ATCs? Is lack of training or an absence of meaningful career advancement avenues to blame? Has this translated into long working hours and resultant fatigue? Are there other reasons?

DGCA, the licensor and regulator for civil aviation in India, is subordinate to the civil aviation ministry. And therein lies the problem. A regulator that is answerable to a ministry is often plagued by the inability to act independently and take critical decisions.

The apparent conflict of interest between DGCA and the ministry has been widely noted. For example, the preliminary accident investigation report of a recent domestic air accident involving a private airline could not be released for long months after submission to DGCA because ministerial approval was not forthcoming.

Unlike India, developed countries have independent and autonomous air safety regulators. But even the Naresh Chandra committee report titled the

Future of Civil Aviation in India has recommended continuance of the present flawed system.

It is imperative that the government establishes an independent regulator of civil aviation. As of now, we have doggedly refused to ratify the Montreal Convention of 1999, and instead opted to continue with the antiquated international carrier liability regime defined in the 1929 Warsaw Convention and its 1955 amendment, which offers about Rs 4 lakh in case of death caused during international flights.

Could it be that airline owners/operators are loath to pay enhanced insurance premiums if carrier liability is brought up to international standards? The government must set up a statutory committee empowered to produce an implementable roadmap for civil aviation security in India. One hopes that the FAA notice may trigger such a healthy development.

The author is a former representative of India to Inernational Civil Aviation Organisation & chairman, International Foundation for Aviation & Development