Press Information Bureau Government of India Saturday, January 19, 2008 Prime Minister's Office SAM PITRODA RELEASES 2ND REPORT OF THE NATIONAL KNOWLEDGE COMMISSION PRESENTED TO PM -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14:2 IST Shri Sam Pitroda, Chairman, National Knowledge Commission (NKC) released here today its 2nd annual 'Report to the Nation' which was presented to the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, yesterday. The release took place at a Press Conference which was also attended by NKC Members including Dr. Ashok Ganguly, Dr. Jayati Ghosh, Dr. Deepak Nayyar, Mr. Nandan Nilekani and Ms. Sujatha Ramdorai. The Report assumes importance in the context of UPA government's commitment to the knowledge initiatives in the XIth Plan endorsed recently by the National Development Council. The 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, representing a credible progress towards the target of 6 percent of GDP. The vision of the Prime Minister and support of our leadership from across the political spectrum is indeed laudable. This is a landmark initiative in the history of government planning. NKC believes the education agenda outlined in the XIth Plan is a critical step towards realizing the objective of an equitable society. It is also fundamental to our continuing growth, employment generation, infrastructure development and other developmental priorities. The second Report to the Nation includes recommendations on Portals, Health Information Network, Legal Education, Medical Education, Management Education, Open & Distance Education, Open Educational Resources, Innovation, Intellectual Property Rights, 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 on Education, Vocational Training, Libraries, Translation, National Knowledge Network, Innovation, IPRs, Traditional Health Systems etc are integrated in the XI Plan and adequately funded. NKC recommendations, also accessible through the web, have been widely distributed, discussed, debated and are being considered at various levels in the government for implementation. The Commission has received excellent input and advice from academicians, scientists, teachers and various other stakeholders from both public and private domains, Central and State governments and the Planning Commission. While releasing the first NKC Report to the Nation on January 12th 2007, the PM emphasized that the Commission "must be involved in ensuring the implementation of their innovative ideas". The focus of NKC work has therefore been on ensuring that while the Central government designs appropriate strategies supported by financial allocations to implement their recommendations, the Commission engages simultaneously with diverse stakeholders to build up a groundswell of favourable opinion and assist preparation of implementing strategies at the grassroots. Continuing dialogue with a wide and diverse set of stakeholders has been a critical part of its process both in formulating recommendations and in their subsequent dissemination. NKC has tried to provide a platform for sharing and debating ideas, a critical requisite for accepting and steering change. 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 grass root level to absorb the financial outlays of the XI Plan. At present NKC is engaged in discussions with about 17 States to this end. NKC is concerned that there is still resistance to new ideas, experimentation, process re-engineering, external interventions, transparency and accountability, due to rigid organizational structures. As a result, the real challenge lies in organizational innovation with new regulatory frameworks, new delivery systems, new processes etc. **** National Knowledge Commission, Government of India New Delhi, Pausa 29, 1929/January 19, 2008 -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.