New Delhi, Jan 12
India must change its mindset and seek creative ways to build a
knowledge-based society that is on par with the best in the world,
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said here Friday, while receiving the
recommendations of the National Knowledge Commission.
"We have to invest in capabilities of our people at every level of
the knowledge pyramid. We have to strengthen the base and energise
the apex of our social and knowledge pyramid," the prime minister
said.
"While the government has to find the financial resources creating
thinking must come from all sides," he said after receiving the
78-page report from commission chairman Sam Pitroda and its other
members.
The commission, constituted last year by Manmohan Singh, presented
some radical recommendations for reform, which, it says, has the
potential to fundamentally transform the country's knowledge sector
and make it truly cutting edge.
The overriding theme of the recommendations will be to create an
"inclusive" society where access to knowledge will be the
centrepiece of the reform.
"We hope that the work we have done during our first year will be of
value to the government and will find the enthusiasm and support of
the administration in its implementation," says the report.
"We also hope our recommendations will get the attention they
deserve, create necessary public discussion, debate and dialogue to
generate a favourable public opinion. We say this with particular
emphasis on 550 million people below 25 who hold in their hands the
destiny of not just India but the world as well."
The prime minister particularly expressed interest in the panel's
suggestions on creation of a knowledge network connecting all
universities and research institutions and creation of national
portals on all languages.
During the function at Panchvati, the conference centre at prime
minister's official residence at 7, Race Course Road, Manmohan Singh
also launched two portals to address the issues related with energy
and water.
According to the commission, its report has been guided by how
knowledge will impact the lives of ordinary people of India -
farmers, students, scientists, industry.
Six of the ten recommendations made by the commission deal with
access at a time when pressure on admission to schools and
universities has become a highly politicised subject.
"We have done so consciously in keeping with the government's
philosophy of building an inclusive society. The emerging knowledge
society and associated opportunities present a set of new
imperatives and new challenges for our industry, economy, government
and society," Pitroda, who led India's telecom revolution in the mid
and late 1980s said in the foreword.
"Our future prosperity depends upon the policies, programmes and
people that foster continuous generation and application of
knowledge and pursuit of learning," he said.
He said a wide range of subjects had been addressed including reform
of higher education, overhaul of public libraries, transformation of
vocational education, re-engineering of government processes and
making e-governance citizen-centric.
"We have taken particular care to keep the entire process
democratic, transparent and participative," he said.
According to commission members, the report to the nation will
become an annual exercise, but it also came amid some controversial
comments by the commission's deputy chairman P.M. Bhargava.
He said he was not consulted on the recommendations on higher
education. He has also expressed doubt over the eventual
effectiveness of the recommendations on the proposed knowledge
commission.
But Pitroda sought to play down such criticism saying the
functioning of the new knowledge commission had been transparent and
democratic. "Is it news that there are disagreements? I don't think
so," Pitroda told IANS.
The Chicago-based tech evangelist said he was somewhat reminded of
the days when he introduced reforms in the country's telecom sector.
"People then thought I was crazy to want to turn India into an
information and technology power. Two decades down the line no one
is debating that assertion. I am sure the same thing will happen
with the knowledge commission recommendations," he said.
The suggestions are wide ranging and include issues such as higher
education, vocational training, libraries, e-governance and
translations.
Each of the recommendations has been crafted to achieve the
objective of tapping into India's "enormous" reservoir of knowledge
and prepare the country for the challenges of the 21st century.
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