Shadow of politics over Full Plan Panel meet on Tuesday

New Delhi, Aug 26 (UNI) A meeting of the Full Planning Commission has been slated for Tuesday on the subject of education, which observers interpret as part of the startegy of the UPA government to take the wind out of the sails of the raging political storm over the Indo-US nuclear deal.

With general elections being seen not too far off, the UPA government has started unfolding its strategy of painting its canvas with success stories. The government believes that this will not only get votes for the ruling alliance, but will also hold the allies together.

The Full Plan Panel meet, to be Chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, will be exclusively devoted to evolving a strategy for education for the next five years or the Eleventh Plan period.

This is for the first time ever that a Full Planning Commission meeting is being devoted to the subject.

The move has been prompted by official reports as well as individual studies that efforts to improve primary education, especially the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, has been gaining in popularity.

Informed sources say the government has decided to make performance of its flagship programmes the main plank for seeking a fresh political mandate at the hustings.

The meet will re-assess the need for expanding protection to the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and OBCs.

The strategy relating to the spread of education for the next five years could entail cheaper edcucation at all levels to these groups, while facilitiating higher education for other sections of society through a liberal loan system.

The Prime Minister will have to prioritise various issues facing higher education, such as the trade-off between primary and higher education and the thrust within the latter.

Going beyond its brief, the Plan Panel meet would also draft a strategy for improving the quality of education. A suggestion that will be considered in this regard relates to mandatory introduction of English for classes beyond the third standard--across the board and to all areas of the country.

The move may prove to be a political hot potato in view of the nature of regional politics and BJP's emphasis on Hindi.

Under the consideration of the meet would be issues like giving more autonomy to the Universities for deciding their syllabus and redefining the role of the University Grants Commission and All India Council for Technical Education (AITEC) , an apex advisory body for restructuring higher education.

It would be pertinent here to state that the Knowledge Commission, headed by Mr Sam Pitroda, has made many innovative recommendations, including setting up of a Super Regulator, for harmonising the education system. It has also stated that the UGC and AITEC have outlived their utility.

The recommendations of the Knowledge Commission which the Plan Panel meet will look into include globalisation of Research and Development, ways of enriching libraries and bridging the gap between the Centre and States and public and private institutes.

Political observers say that the government has preponed its strategy of propagating its success stories in view of the recent developments relating to the nuclear deal. They say the perception of high chances of the Congress coming back to power may compel the Left parties to re-think on their startegy to pull the rug under the government and may dissuade smaller political parties and groups from working for the formation of a formidable third front.

The meet will desist from unduly concentrating on a debate on the macro-ecnomic situation, but would maintain the focus on social sector issues.

The government has already done some loud talking on stepping up the growth rate of agriculture and it is now known that the funding on primary education would go up by 300 per cent in the next three years.

These are things which will attract the voters, for economics is only a hand maiden of politics.

UNI