Sovereignty rules

The US Supreme Court's latest ruling, allowing the Trump administration to resume deporting migrants to third countries, signals more than just a technical shift in immigration policy – it reflects the political heartbeat of an America that has decisively chosen hardline border control as its defining issue.

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The findings of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) following its special audit of aircraft maintenance practices at the country's two busiest airports – Delhi and Mumbai – serve as a timely and troubling reminder of the cracks widening beneath the surface of the nation's booming aviation sector. In the wake of this month's Air India tragedy that claimed 271 lives, the DGCA has unearthed what can only be described as systemic neglect. Defects on aircraft were not just present – they were seen to reappear multiple times, pointing to incomplete repairs and a casual approach to airworthiness. The regulator stopped short of naming the airlines or detailing the specific faults, but the implication is unmistakable: India's busiest air hubs are not doing enough to ensure that planes are safe when they leave the tarmac. That maintenance engineers skipped prescribed safety precautions and left work orders unfulfilled makes this audit outcome all the more alarming. Aircraft maintenance is not a field where corners can be cut or shortcuts taken. Each unchecked defect carries risk, and when these accumulate – as appears to have happened here – they can endanger not just equipment but human lives. Equally unsettling is the discovery that in one case, airport authorities failed to conduct required surveys despite fresh construction near the airport. That lapse has chilling resonance in the shadow of the Air India crash, which saw a plane slam into a structure on the airport perimeter. Whether negligence, oversight, or complacency is to blame, such disregard for situational hazards amounts to an open invitation to disaster. This is not merely a technical matter for airlines or the DGCA to resolve behind closed doors. The rapid growth of India's air travel market, now the world's th