January 21, 2008

by Satya Adhar 

National Knowledge Commission (NKC) Chairman Sam Pitroda released the commission’s second annual ‘Report to the Nation,’ here today. Pitroda had presented the report to Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, yesterday. The report was released at a function here attended by other NKC members, including Dr. Ashok Ganguly, Dr. Jayati Ghosh, Dr. Deepak Nayyar, Nandan Nilekani and Sujatha Ramdorai.

The second report includes recommendations on portals, health information network, legal education, medical education, management education, open and distance education, open educational resources, innovation, intellectual property rights (IPRs), legal framework for public funded research and traditional health systems. Together, in the last two reports, the Commission has covered 20 subjects and outlined about 160 concrete action items. Most of NKC recommendations have been integrated in the XI Plan and adequately funded. The Eleventh Plan places high priority on education as a central instrument for achieving rapid and inclusive growth with specific emphasis on expansion, excellence and equity.

This is reflected in the proposed allocation of Rs. 3,00,000 crore, a five fold increase over the Xth Plan. The share of education in the total plan will accordingly increase, from 7.7 percent to 20 percent.The Commission has received inputs and advice from academicians, scientists, teachers and various other stakeholders from both public and private domains, Central and State governments and the Planning Commission. The NKC is now moving on to the next stage of its work, which is formulating Knowledge Initiatives at the state and the district levels to ensure that there is institutional and mental preparedness at the grassroots level to absorb the financial outlays of the XI Plan.The NKC is concerned that there is still resistance to new ideas, experimentation, process re-engineering, external interventions, transparency and accountability, due to rigid organisational structures. As such, the real challenge lies in organisational innovation with new regulatory frameworks, new delivery systems and new processes, among others. (ANI) 

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