Question : India’s Low Air Safety Oversight Score

(a) whether it is a fact that the Air Passengers Association of India has expressed concern over India''s low air safety oversight score which is lower than that of Myanmar, Bangladesh, Maldives, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and North Korea in the Asia Pacific region;

(b) if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether it is also true that the report prepared by the International Civil Association Organisation (ICAO) shows that the only countries that rank below India are Papua, New Guinea, Timor-Leste,
Vanuatu, etc.;

(d) the measures taken by the Government of India to improve air safety in the country; and

(e) when was the latest ICAO Safety Audit conducted in India and what were the major findings?

The Minister of State in the Ministry of CIVIL AVIATION
(Shri Jayant Sinha)

(a) & (b) No such information is available with the Ministry.;

(c) The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) requires the contracting States to establish and implement an effective State oversight system taking into account eight critical elements (CEs). Under its Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP), Continuous Monitoring Approach (CMA), ICAO conducts regular, mandatory, systematic and harmonized safety audits of all the contracting States to ensure that the states are fulfilling their obligation of safety oversight under the Chicago Convention and meet the eight critical elements of the Safety Oversight System.

The results of the audit are indicated in terms of the Effective Implementation which has been defined as :

Effective Implementation(EI) : A measure of the State''s safety oversight capability, calculated for each critical element, each audit area or as an overall measure. The EI is expressed as a percentage. A high EI shows that the State''s safety oversight capability is robust and meets the ICAO Standards while a low EI is indicative of poor safety oversight capability.

ICAO conducted an Audit of India in November 2015 and November 2017 wherein the Effective Implementation (EI) was 57.44%. The fall in EI was mainly due to Lack of regulation and oversight on Air Traffic Controllers which are required to be licensed by ICAO and low EI in areas of Accident Investigation and Aerodromes.;

(d) & (e) On the basis of the observation made by the ICAO in their audit report, this Ministry has decided that the regulation and oversight of Air Traffic Controllers shall be done by DGCA.
Also, based on the recent audit conducted by ICAO in November 2018 covering areas of Legislation, Organisation, Air Navigation Services, Aerodromes and Accident Investigation, the Effective Implementation (EI) has risen approximately to 73.6%.