Wednesday, August 03, 2005

Knowledge Commission Launched

The Prime minister of India, Manmohan Singh constituted the National Knowledge Commission two months ago. Media reported the news on June 02, 2005. He launched the Commission yesterday - August 02, 2005. The Commission is supposed to identify its action programme by October 02, 2005. Shall we expect something special on Gandhi Jayanthi day?
The key points in his speech are,
  • Public and private sectors are not able to cope with the demand for higher and professional education.
  • Universities and centers of excellence are falling behind the best in the world, both in terms of human capital and infrastructure.
  • India should be able to attract global investment in Reseach and Development (R&D) activities.
  • Putting in place the required legal and physical infrastructure that can attract more foreign investment in R&D activities in India.
  • Commission should come forward with ideas to promote the "knowledge base" of our economy.
  • Make the country truly the "knowledge engine" of the world.
  • Commission must come up with bold proposals to improve the excellence in research and teaching.

It is very difficult to avoid noticing that these ideas revolve around attracting foreign investment. The Prime minister said, in June, that the Commission has been constituted to prepare the country to meet knowledge challenges in the 21st century. He also remarked that the Commission will advise in knowledge production, knowledge use and knowledge dissemination. He now seemingly believes that country can face all those challenges with the help of foreign investment. It is not clear, as it is not reported in the media, if he has used the same slogans of production,use and dissemination during the launch. What about our Communist friends in the Commission? They must be thanking their stars for not having active labour unions in R&D sector as in manufacturing sectors!

You have to wait till Gandhi Jayanthi to know about the proposals.

1 comment:

Shencottah said...

Thanks Kovaiputhalvan for the detailed views - incisive and sharp.

I guess our PM ceased to be a Professor of Economics when he wore that garb thrown at him by an Italian.

When Cho (Ramasamy) was asked if PM could take actions on his own, he answered in his inimitable style, "Oh! Yes. PM brushes when he feels necessary. He takes bath when he feels like. PM eats when he wants to eat. And he is very happy."