NKC for more funds to state govts

Dangles carrot for them if they implement NKC's recommendations.

To speed up higher education reforms in the country, the National Knowledge Commission (NKC) has suggested that the Planning Commission should allocate additional funds from the 11th Five Year Plan to educational institutes in the states which will agree to implement its recommendations.

Sam Pitroda heads the NKC "" a high-level advisory body to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, formed with the objective to transform India into a knowledge society.

One of NKC's recommendations include creating a National Knowledge Network to create a high-bandwidth network connecting all universities, libraries and laboratories, hospitals and agricultural institutions "" enabling them to share data and resources across the country.

The proposed broadband network is likely to have a 100 Mbps or higher access bandwidth and therefore almost all the user institutions "" around 1,000 in the first phase "" will have to upgrade their networks to be able to cater to these speeds. The initial cost of the Knowledge Network will involve a recurring cost of Rs 20-40 lakh per institution connected, amounting to Rs 200-400 crore annually for 1,000 institutions in the first phase.

The NKC is also working on recommendations with regard to engineering education. The commission has already submitted similar recommendations on legal, medical and management education in the country.

Delhi has already agreed to NKC's recommendations and has appointed a committee that will study the same to draft a legislation to make changes in the education scenario at the state level. Other states, which so far have agreed to implement NKC's suggestions, include Rajasthan, Pondicherry and Gujarat.

A professor working on the recommendations with NKC said: "We thought it would be better to approach the states directly rather than waiting to bring changes in the central laws which will take more time. We have suggested that a good chunk of the 11th five year plan allocation should go to the states which are planning to implement NKC's recommendation and thereby bringing changes in the higher education sector."

Incidentally, Sam Pitroda had told this paper earlier that, "The Indian education sector needs a serious revamp and the government has recognised the fact that primary, higher and vocational education is a must. We need to improve all areas of education and an increased allocation will only help us to do so."

The plan outlay on education has increased from Rs 151.20 crore in the 1st Five Year plan to Rs 43,825 crore in the 10th Five Year plan (2002-2007). The expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP also rose from 0.64 per cent in 1951-1952 to 3.74 per cent in 2003-2004.

Sources in the Planning Commission say GDP allocation to education will increase from its current 3.5 per cent to 5 per cent by the end of the 11th five-year plan.

Around 19.7 per cent of the total plan resources would be set aside for education. The Plan outlay for the education sector as a whole will thus be over Rs 220,000 crore "" five times more than what it was during the 10th Five Year plan.

NKC'S RECOMMENDATION INCLUDE

Creating a National Knowledge Network connecting all universities, libraries and laboratories, hospitals and agricultural institutions to share data and resources across the country

Revamping legal, medical and management education. It is working on a revamp of engineering education too

Asking the Planning Commission to allocate substantial chunk of funds to states which follow its recommendations on higher education