Freedom Link

 Ever since the dawn of the 21st century India has been expanding its influence in 'hard power' & 'soft power' through maritime domain. India has been blessed with 7500 km long coast line. This represents opportunities in connectivity and blue economy. However it poses challenges of maritime security. One example of such challenge is 2008 Mumbai Attacks. In this context, a credible maritime strategy is needed. Need for credible maritime doctrine: National Security. Relations with maritime neighbors such as Maldives, Sri Lanka, Seychelles. Energy security to prevent disruption to critical imports like oil. Maritime trade as nearly 70% of India's trade is through shipping. Countering China's aggressive presence (eg. string of pearls.) Preventing disputes such as fishermen dispute with Sri Lanka. Challenges in framing credible maritime strategy: Chinese influence: 9 dash line, warships, string of pearls Limited partnership: in organizations like RCEP, APEC, A...

Prior to the pandemic, Ministry of Education brought an initiative called UDISE+ (Unified District Information System for Education Plus). Under this initiative the ministry focused on infrastructure development in schools and educational institutions. Physical infrastructure such as school buildings, toilets, water supply, library, play grounds were developed but enough attention was not paid on digital infrastructure like internet connection, access to basic digital devices such as computers. Ever since the pandemic has hit us all, every sector has been affected but the education sector has been affected the most. The pandemic has totally shifted the mode of education to online (virtual) format. Even though the internet has been a huge help and is being seen as a silver lining but let's not forget the fact that not everybody is able to access it.  A huge percentage of students and even teachers are missing from the online education platform and this is due to the increased digita...