India is first country in world to set up NKC: Pitroda

Mumbai, Oct 13 (UNI) India is the first country in the world to think beyond mere information or education by setting up a Knowledge Commission, said Dr Sam Pitroda, Chairman, National Knowledge Commission, Government of India here.

In an interactive sesssion, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) yesterday, Mr Pitroda, one of the pioneering forces behind the telecom revolution in India, said the National Knowledge Commission (NKC) functions as an advisory body to the Union Government on matters relating to institutions of knowledge production, knowledge use and knowledge dissemination and bears the mandate of sharpening the country's ''knowledge edge''.

He said the NKC had spent a large part of the previous year in setting up processes, selecting issues and identifying people to drive the process.

To a question what connotes 'knowledge' in relation to the Commission's terms of reference, he identified five areas of 'knowledge' - Knowldege Access, Knowledge Concepts, Knowledge Applications, Creation of Knowledge and Knowledge Related Services.

The Commission aims at promoting excellence in the education system, knowledge creation, protection of IPRs, ensuring transparency and accountability among other vital functions, Mr Pitroda explained.

He recalled the two decades ago time, when seeds of the telecom and the IT revolutions had been planted in India 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 explained.

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 stages by the Commission and explained how the process had gone about till date.

He explained the Commission's role as that of a ''catalyst'' and said the entire process would take time. He sought the industry's support for the same.

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