Pitroda calls for more varsities

National Knowledge Commission Chairman Sam Pitroda on Wednesday said there should be a 15-fold increase in the number of universities in the country for building human resources in the country.

Pitroda also reiterated the commission's stand that a status quo be maintained on reservation in central educational institutions until new and more effective avenues of affirmative action are found.

"The number of universities will have to be increased from the 350-odd to about 5,000. This will require massive investment, but we cannot ignore education anymore," Pitroda said after meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

He emphasised the need for the number of youths studying in universities to go up from the present 8 per cent to at least 10 or 15 per cent, which could only be achieved through more institutions of higher education.

Pitroda was accompanied by Commission Board Member Nandan Nilekani during a 90-minute meeting with the prime minister. Briefing the media after the meeting, Pitroda said the commission had also suggested setting up of a broadband Internet highway that would connect all the major universities, libraries and knowledge imparting institutions in the country.

He further said the prime minister listened patiently as he was given an overview of the kind of recommendations the commission was likely to submit in a report in the next three months.

"The prime minister did not make any comment on the reservation issue as it was just one among the more than 50 issues that we discussed," Pitroda said.