Experience with DGCA in last two decades disappointing, say pilots

Agencies
September 15, 2020

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New Delhi, Sept 15: Pilot associations have told the Civil Aviation Ministry that their experience with the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) over the last two decades has been disappointing and that safety regulations are diluted to favour commercial considerations of airline operators in the country.

The Indian Pilots Guild (IPG) and the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) have sent their comments to the Ministry on the restructuring of DGCA.

"We have close to two decades of experience both interacting with and being regulated by DGCA. Our overall experience sadly has been disappointing. We have seen multiple iterations of important flight safety legislation being diluted to favour commercial considerations of airline operators in the country," the pilots told the ministry.

They added that at other times, DGCA has been over zealous in regulation, resulting in victimisation of pilots or cabin crew a lot more than achieving the intended flight safety objectives.

"Further, there are significant cases of regulation to protect airline interests, but rarely to protect the airline employees from mismanagement which is chronic in Air India at least. Many of these have been/are under challenge in courts of law throughout the country," they added.

Testing the crew for alcohol before a flight is an important flight safety requirement, which has been addressed adequately by the DGCA by asking for mandatory testing before a flight and removal from duty if found positive.

If a crew is found to be under the influence of alcohol, the airline is given no leeway to punish this individual administratively or allow any rehabilitation.

"The DGCA instead jumps in immediately to make an example of the individual through these draconian punishments. Other regulators handle this subject with a lot more empathy," the pilots added.

The service conditions between the airline operators and their employees with regard to resignation is an internal airline matter. That has not stopped the DGCA from coming up with regulations requiring pilots to give at least six months' notice before resigning from an airline. The same has been increased to one year now, which is under challenge in the Delhi High Court.

"It effectively forces a pilot to keep working in an airline while obviously unsatisfied. This has no bearing with the safety of the travelling public or arguably affects it negatively, a fact which has not deterred DGCA from abusing its oversight," the pilots said.

The pilots added that the DGCA is currently headed by an IAS officer. But the aviation industry is unique and highly technical and cannot be treated like a generic government department.

"At the helm of DGCA there must be a technocrat with relevant experience and qualifications. Without this crucial reform, no amount of restructuring will change the way DGCA operates," the pilots said.

Although the DGCA is an arm of the Civil Aviation Ministry, it must have complete operational independence to exercise objective oversight on civil aviation in India. It cannot be the judge, jury and executioner at the same time, the pilots said.

Any technical legislation proposed by the DGCA must be based on credible scientific research to be made available in the public domain. It is important to comply with the ICAO recommendations but at the same time, regulations must be tailored to the Indian aviation scenario, which is not possible by cherry picking other regulators, the pilots maintained.

Once a new legislation is issued by the DGCA, there must be a dedicated team to get it running smoothly and amend the regulations to address any unforeseen issues by closely working with all the affected stakeholders.

This team must actively seek feedback and review the on ground effectiveness ofthese regulation periodically to tackle emerging issues and keep legislation up to date, the pilots said.

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News Network
December 7,2025

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Since 1946, the United States has attempted 93 coups or “regime change” operations across the world — including two in Iran, US Special Envoy for Syria Tom Barrack has admitted.

Speaking to the UAE-based IMI Media Group, in remarks published by The National, Barrack said Washington tried twice to overthrow the Iranian government but failed both times. 

“For (Trump) then to be imputed with regime change — we had two regime changes in Iran already. Neither one worked. So I think wisely leave it to the region to solve,” said Barrack, who also serves as the US ambassador to Turkey.

His comments come six months after the US joined Israel in airstrikes against Iran during ongoing indirect nuclear negotiations between Tehran and Washington.

On June 13, Israel launched an attack on Iran that killed at least 1,064 people and hit civilian infrastructure. Days later, the United States targeted three nuclear facilities — Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan — in what Iran called a clear violation of international law. Iranian retaliation eventually forced a halt to the assault on June 24.

Barrack further claimed that US President Donald Trump and Foreign Secretary Marco Rubio are “not into regime change” and prefer a regional approach driven by Middle Eastern countries themselves. According to him, regional dialogue and non-interference by outside powers offer a more durable path forward.

He added that Washington is still open to an agreement with Tehran if Iranian authorities show “seriousness” and willingness to engage constructively.

However, Iran maintains the US has not shown readiness for meaningful talks. In an interview with Japan’s Kyodo News, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said negotiations could advance only if Washington acknowledges Iran’s right to peaceful nuclear energy and lifts unilateral sanctions.

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News Network
December 5,2025

Mangaluru: In a significant step to curb online hate and intimidation, Mangaluru City Police have registered a suo motu case against multiple Instagram accounts accused of circulating alleged provocative and threatening content.

While monitoring social media activity on Tuesday, Kankanady Town PSI Anitha Nikkam identified the Instagram handle ‘team_targetttt_900’ for posting a hate message alongside images of lethal weapons. Another account, ‘team_nagara_900’, allegedly shared a threatening post targeting activist Bharath Kumdelu, tagging additional pages such as KARAVALI-OFFICIAL.

Several other accounts — including ‘immu_bhai.fan’, ‘target_boy_900’, ‘kings_of_manglore’, ‘team_target_boys.900’, ‘arshad_mangalore’, ‘target_ka19_ullal’, ‘team_target__’, ‘troll_tigersz_900’, ‘tr_group_900’, and ‘team_target_900’ — are also under scrutiny for spreading similar inflammatory material, police said.

Authorities have urged citizens, especially young social media users, to report suspicious pages and avoid engaging with groups that glorify violence or threaten individuals. Online hate can quickly escalate into real-world harm, and police stress that sharing or promoting such content can attract legal consequences.

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News Network
November 24,2025

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Israeli forces have pushed over the Syrian frontier, erecting a checkpoint and stopping vehicles in the southwestern city of Quneitra, in yet another breach of the Arab country’s sovereignty.

The violation took place on Sunday, when the troops made their way across the border, setting up the outpost near the Ain al-Bayda junction in northern Quneitra, Syrian outlets reported.

According to the al-Ikhbariya paper, an Israeli detachment positioned itself at the junction, halting cars and conducting searches.

The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported that three Israeli military vehicles then moved further into the northern countryside, deploying between the town of Jubata al-Khashab and the villages of Ofaniya and Ain al-Bayda. The agency added that a separate Israeli unit mounted a new incursion in the central region, approaching the villages of Umm Batina and al-Ajraf.

Residents said such activities have surged in recent months, pointing to Israeli advances onto farmland, leveling of extensive forested areas, arrests, and spread of mobile checkpoints.

The Israeli regime began markedly increasing its military aggression against Syria last year.

The escalation coincided with increasingly ferocious onslaughts throughout the country by the so-called Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) Takfiri terrorist group, which the government of President Bashar al-Assad had confined to northwestern Syria. The HTS, however, managed to overthrow the government as the Israeli attacks would pummel the country’s civilian and defensive infrastructure.

Various reports have shown that, during the escalation, the regime conducted more than 1,000 airstrikes on the Syrian territory and over 400 ground raids into the south.

Following the collapse of the Assad government, Tel Aviv also widened its grip over the occupied Golan Heights by taking control of a demilitarized buffer zone, in defiance of a 1974 Disengagement Agreement. Earlier this month, senior Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, visited the buffer zone, prompting expressions of alarm on the part of the United Nations.

The United States, the regime’s biggest ally, has, meanwhile, been fraternizing the HTS head Abu Mohammed al-Jolani amid the widely reported prospect of rapprochement with Tel Aviv.

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