Sam Pitroda shares vision on Knowledge Commission

MUMBAI: Dr Sam Pitroda, Chairman, National Knowledge Commission, Government of India said the Knowledge Commission had spent a large part of the previous year in setting up processes, selecting issues and identifying people to drive the process.

The National Knowledge Commission functions as an advisory body to the Government of India on matters relating to institutions of knowledge production, knowledge use and knowledge dissemination and bears the mandate of sharpening India's ‘knowledge edge’, explained Dr Pitroda.

“We are the first country in the world to think beyond mere information or education, having set up a ‘Knowledge Commission’,” he added.

Addressing the audience at an event organised by the CII in Mumbai recently, Dr Pitroda sought to answer the moot question of what ‘Knowledge’ would connote when considered in relation to the Commission’s terms of reference by identifying five areas of ‘knowledge’. He and defined them as (i) Knowldege Access (ii) Knowledge Concepts, (iii) Knowledge Applications, (iv) Creation of Knowledge and (v) Knowledge Related Services.

Dr Pitroda said that the Commission aimed at promoting excellence in the education system, knowledge creation, protection of IPRs, ensuring transparency and accountability among other vital functions. He went down memory lane to the time when two decades back, seeds of the telecom revolution and the IT revolution had been planted in the Indian scenario, and spoke of the positive results that had followed. He hoped for a similar scenario in terms of what the Commission was doing at present.

Explaining the methodology that was being followed, he said it was similar to posing the question, “How do we multiply existing resources using technology?” A professor in IIT, Mumbai could ideally be delivering lectures to students situated anywhere in the country by using IT, he said.

Specifying that the Commission was a ‘Knowledge’ Commission and not an IT or education or academic one, he said, “There are issues that we need to look at closely, and the more we get deeply into issues, the more layers will come up.”

Dr Pitroda listed the various issues that had been taken up in the initial stage by the Commission, and explained how the process had gone about till date.

He also said that the Commission’s role was limited to making recommendations, and while it had an interest in implementation of the same, it wasn’t the agency that would oversee implementation. He attempted to explain his role and that of the Commission as that of a ‘catalyst’. But, in this, he pointed out the process would take time, he called for patience and he requested industry’s support for the entire process.

“What is the Knowledge Commission doing that affects me? How will it affect industry, for instance – will it result in better quality manpower, for instance?” were the questions that the audience should ask, he said. Dr Pitroda fielded questions from the audience, which reflected positive outlook coupled with concerns and worries that people had about the Commission and what it was expected to achieve.

© CIOL Bureau