The National Agriculture Development Programme

Post 1990s economic reform, the contribution from agricultural sector to the GDP saw a steep decline. The productivity of agriculture has not seen considerable improvement. Keeping in view that fact that most the Indian population is still dependent on agriculture also, agricultural sector along with allied sectors is crucial for our food security, the NDC envisioned an additional central assistance scheme to incentivise States to take steps and rejuvenate agriculture. The aim was to achieve a 4% growth in agri sector. The projects was allocated Rs. 22, 500 crores during the 11th Five Year Plan period (2007-2012) which is now increased to Rs. 63, 246 crore for the 12th Plan period (2012 - 2014).

Gadgil Panel Report on Western Ghat

"Environment" includes water, air and land and the inter- relationship which exists among and between water, air and land, and human beings, other living creatures, plants, micro-organism and property.

India participated in the United Nations Conference on Human Environment held at Stockholm in 1972.

Post Bhopal gas tragedy the tragedy the Government of India enacted the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. The legislation gave the Central government the power to demarcate Ecologically Sensitive Zones.

Gadgil Report:

The WGEEP was constituted in March 2010 and it submitted its report in March 2011. The report suggested that all of the Western Ghats region should fall under the category of Ecologically Sensitive Zone and demarcated the region in three categories: ESZ1, ESZ2 and ESZ3. The panel prepared a Western Ghats Database (spatially-referenced database) and made it public through a website portal. Factors like biological attributes, biodiversity, habitat richness, productivity, hazard vulnerability, stakeholder valuation among others, were considered while deciding the sensitivity of any zone.

The WGEEP claims to have incorporated the voices of local people apart from the scientific considerations to bring about a much deeper understanding about the related issues.

The report suggests keeping 75% of the area under forests.

As per the report: “WGEEP advocates a graded or layered approach, with regulatory as well as promotional measures appropriately fine-tuned to local ecological and social contexts within the broad framework of

(1) Regions of highest sensitivity or Ecologically Sensitive Zone 1 (ESZ1),

(2) Regions of high sensitivity or ESZ2, and the

(3) Regions of moderate sensitivity or ESZ3.

While we advocate this fine-tuning through a participatory process going down to gram sabhas, it is appropriate to provide a broad set of guidelines as a starting point. WGEEP has attempted to arrive at such a set of broad guide-lines for the various sectors on the basis of extensive consultations with officials, experts, civil society groups and citizens at large.”

Summary of recommendations: 

• The report disallows introduction of GM crops in the Western Ghats region. 
• Areas comprising water courses, water bodies, special habitats, geological formations, biodiversity rich areas, and sacred groves will be no-go areas for settlement and development. 
• SEZs not to be permitted. 
• Public land not to be converted to private land. 
• There to be a decentralized water resources management plans at Local Self Government level. 
• Disallows Inter-basin diversions of rivers in the Western Ghats. 
• The report suggests technology up-gradation and public awareness programme for water conservation. 
• Promotion of organic agricultural practices. 
• Calls for promotion of perennial crops. 
• Phasing out of chemical pesticides.  Chemical subsidies to be redeployed to animal husbandry maintenance. 
• Suggests implementation of the Forest Rights Act in true spirit. 
• Ban on dynamite use. 
• Discourages monoculture plantation of exotic species. Encourages plantation of endemic species. 
• Suggests introduction of “conservation service charges” for biodiversity management and maintenance of natural resources. 
• Prohibits issuance of new mining licences and suggests that in ESZ3 new licences can be given only if the ores are not available in other areas of the country. Asks for ban on illegal mining and calls for social audit. 
• Suggests to bring sand quarrying under strict regulations in ESZ3 and banning it altogether in ESZ1 and 2. 
• Educate the energy consumer about the environmental and social impacts of energy production and the need for reducing ‚luxury‛ demand. 
• Promote decentralized electricity, use of solar power. 
• No new thermal power plants in ESZ1. No new railways and roads in ESZ 1 and 2 unless extremely essential. 
• Promotion of minimal impact tourism under strict regulations.  
• Cumulative impact assessment for all new projects such as dams, mines, tourism, and housing, that impact upon water resources should be conducted and permission given only if they fall within the carrying capacity. 
• Focus should be on perfecting green technology. 
• Educating the children and youth about the local environmental challenges. 
• Build on the Western Ghats database of WGEEP to create an open, transparent, participatory system of environmental monitoring involving all citizens, in particular the student community.

The panel suggests creating a WGEA (an Apex multi-statal authority for regulation, management and planning of all activities impacting all categories of ecologically sensitive zones within the states of the Western Ghats namely Gujarat, Goa, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, and shall be constituted under the relevant provisions of the Environment Protection Act, 1986.):

The Western Ghats Ecology Authority (WGEA) should be a statutory authority appointed by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India, enjoying powers under Section 3 of the Environment (Protection) Act 1986.  The State Western Ghats Ecology Authorities should interact closely with the State Biodiversity Boards and Pollution Control Boards, as well as State Planning Departments administering the Western Ghats Development Programmes funded through Five Year Plans by the Planning Commission.

WGEA should focus on promoting transparency, openness and participation in every way.

WGEA should lead a radical reform of the Environmental Impact Analysis and Clearance process.

WGEA should strive to make a transition from regulations and negative incentives to promote nature conservation-oriented activities to a system of use of positive incentives to encourage continued conservation-oriented action in the context of traditional practices such as sacred groves and to initiate other action in modern contexts.

The Authority shall be a statutory authority whose recommendations are ordinarily binding.

The WGEA shall function in accordance with the mandate of the Environment Protection Act, 1986 and other environmental laws such as Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, Forest Conservation Act,1980 and Rules and Guidelines issued thereunder, the various Rules and notifications issued under the EPA, the Biodiversity Act, 2002, the Air Act,1981 Water Act, 1974 and also the Forest Rights Act, 2006 and the Provisions of Panchayats Extension to Scheduled Areas Act. 

Useful Links:

Gadgil Report:

http://moef.nic.in/downloads/public-information/wg-23052012.pdf

The Environment Protection Act, 1986

 http://www.moef.nic.in/sites/default/files/eprotect_act_1986.pdf

The Hindu News links:

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Kochi/gadgil-slams-kasturirangan-report-on-western-ghats/article5319939.ece

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/my-report-on-western-ghats-being-misinterpreted-says-gadgil/article5720178.ece

India's concern at WTO

New Trade Facilitation Deal signed by WTO

The WTO Ministerial Conference (which is the highest decision making body) met at Bali, Indonesia last year to finalize the trade facilitation agreement. The agreement seeks to make trade hassle free and cost efficient. The main concerns that the agreement tries to bring about in world market: clear penal conditions, low paper work, less delays in clearances, low non-tariff barriers among other things. Also, the Services’ Agreement aims at opening services sector for more open competition.

The agreement aims at improving co-operation among member nations to bring down impediments on customs side.

Other Negotiations:

Earlier, the Doha negotiations are still to take final form. Already the deadline date (2005) has been crossed. These negotiations deals with: issues of intellectual property rights, reducing non-tariff barriers (concern raised by developed countries), capacity building and helping the developing and LDCs countries to integrate with world trade.

India at Bali

The main concern of India at Bali was to ensure that the Agreement of Agriculture (1995) that puts a cap on subsidies on public distribution, does not curtail the PDS and NFSA schemes. Also, India along with G-33 countries is pushing for updating the reference prices for food grains that were set in 1986-88 (in the wake of growing food inflation). The US and the EU have opposed such moves and the Bali Ministerial Conference ended with granting two years’ reprieve (i.e. peace-clause) for the developing countries with issues related to subsidy.

Once the final deal is struck down, such schemes along with Intellectual Property laws (especially in pharma sector) may need a revamp of existing structures to meet the WTO obligations.

From AOA (pdf available on the WTO website):

Article 18 (4):
In the review process Members shall give due consideration to the influence of excessive rates of inflation on the ability of any Member to abide by its domestic support commitments.

The bold part of the sentence is what India is trying to bring about at WTO table and the members are reluctant to give LDCs the opportunity to revise the base prices as it will affect their farmers and their farmer lobby wont like it.

Ukraine

A brief background

Ever since President Victor Yanukovych declined the pro-EU deal in November last year, the opposition has taken to streets. The protests in Kiev have grown increasingly violent and have even led to Yanukovych leaving Ukraine.

On one hand Russia has blamed the West for fueling the protests, the West has accused Russia of backing the authoritative rule of Ukraine that has forcefully suppressed voices of dissent.

Why Russia cannot do away with Ukraine:

The 46 million strong country has been of great geo-political importance to Russia as it provides geographical barriers against external aggression as well as a route to hot water ports of Black sea that is crucial for Russia’s sea trade as its Northern port are not-navigable for most part of the year.

What does Ukraine’s loss imply:

Ukraine’s shifting towards EU will be a diplomatic as well as economic and geo-srtategic loss to Russia. Earlier Lativa had already joined EU and amidst this shifting sphere of influence, the Russia will not want losing Ukraine.

Also, the Russian influence in Damscus that led Washington to retract back from war to Geneva peace talks, is being seen as Russia’s re-emergence and strengthening its hold in the region. Ukraine’s breaking away from Russian influence may not mean its entry to EU, but it certainly will bring West nearer to Russia.

Is there a solution:

In short run, the opposition backed by the West can gain power (Victor Yanukovych has already agreed for snap polls). Also, it should be noted that the Eastern Ukraine populace is pro-Russia while Western is pro-West.

In the long run, Ukraine might see a partition (saying with enough pain) or Russia’s strong presence inside Kiev. Total shifting of Ukraine towards West may never happen.

Summary:

The present crisis in Ukraine is partly because of the difference of opinion that has been there for a long time between the West and East part of the country. The opposition that has its electroal base majorly in the Western region and in urban parts, has grown increasingly activist against the last year’s decision of Victor Yanukovych to scrap the pro-EU deals and shift more towards Moscow.

The violence that has since then ensued have been strongly criticized by the West as Russian intervention to suppress opposition. Th opposition members got red-carpet welcome at Munich Conference earlier this month, and the West strongly believes that in the case of an early election, the opposition might very well come to power in Kiev.

For Russia, shifting of balance of power in the region has economic, diplomatic, geo-strategic implications and more importantly, post-cold war era it will be the biggest event that will weaken the Russian effort of reintergrating Eurasian region.

The solution in short can be focused n bringing peace and political stability in Ukraine by a free and fair election observed by third party. But in long run the crisis will keep emerging. Russia has fought several battles for the region and Ukraine has been a part of Ottoman and USSR empire already. The bordering nation that lies at the borders of various civilization (West, Arab, Serbs) might very well become a site for one more war unless a long term peace negotiation is agreed upon.

Ukraine Physical Map

Also, most of oil and gas pipelines from and to Russia pass through Ukraine and Impeachment of Yanukovych.. might lead to military coup.

Street Vendor and the State

Step out the terminus railway station - Sealdah and you find your self standing in front of one of the biggest taxi stands with men socked in sweat shouting Howrah Howrah!!! The hot and humid air coming from the swampy delta and sea nearby, makes you utterly uncomfortable and believe me you would want to tear off your shirt and run for a near by cool water pond, but wait you can't do that so keep walking.

Coming out of the taxi stand you will be stunned to see the crisscross flyovers and a city of black and yellow taxis, buses and tram, with no sight of any permanent settlement.(which reminds you of the song "ae dil hai mushkil jeena yahan ye hai Bombay, ye hai Bombay, ye hai Bombay meri jaan" but you wont be mistaken for the Bengali script will keep remind you that you happen to be standing on a different side of India that just happens to be a bit similar to the city for which the song was penned down).  The city lives under the highway, i must say. And who are these people? Street vendor. What are they selling? Well, think of cheap decoratives, cell phones, Chinese goods, lamps, CDs, DVDs, posters, milk shakes, sweets, fruits, etc spread along the sides of the broad roads from one end to another, from north to south, from east to west. Walk and walk and walk and still it seems the city never begins to show its other face.

By the night the archaic buildings become hotels and and who knows what business goes on inside those walls and dark rooms. And more importantly where does the city goes in the night? Where do those people sleep?

Well, my friends do not be bothered we have more important things to discuss than a bunch of invalids. Yes, invalids they are, for they make our cities look dirty, they are involved in crimes such as rapes, they do not pay the taxes and they do not have any identity. Is it so?

The concerns revolving around these poor people have made many civil society activists raise these issues to the Centre. The National Commission of Safaai Karmachai have been asking for addressal of their demands for long.

The centre came up with a National Policy on Urban Street Vendors in 2009 (the links of the same is attached below). The policy recognises the need of regularising street vending in cities. There are on an average 2 million Street Vendors in each city in India. The centre realises the harassment at the hands of police and local mafias that these poor people face in absence of any mechanism to address their plight. The Ho'nable Supreme Court had in 1989 drawn attention towards the Article19 (g)of the Constitution and the need to properly regulate street vendors.



Recently the Parliament of India passed a much awaited The Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Bill. The Bill has several commendable provisions. The Bill seeks to constitute a  Town Vending Committee (TVC). The TVC would perform various functions such as demarcation non-vending zones, limiting vendors to a maximum of 2.5% of total city's population, providing ID cards, co-ordinate with local authorities in urban planning and being and interface with the police for the street vendors. The Bill also provides for a  grievance redressal committee this will help bringing justice to the street vendors in case of harassment. Preference is give to the marginalised sections: Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), Other Backward Classes (OBCs), minorities, women and disabled persons.


Street vending gives an informal source of earning to the numerous unemployed men and women in India and the Bill will certain be a step towards regularization of the same. The successful implementation of the Act will call for efficient establishment of mechanism suggested in the Act on grass root level. Also, the municipal subjects fall under the State list, so concerns are being raised about the possible centre-state friction that can come up.

With time, we can hope that the myriad problems faced by our fellow country men who have by far been marginalized and left to live on the side walks of our mega cities, will be properly addressed.

Humidity...pweh!!!

Loneliness in Bengal for a Hindi speaker may not be an exception

Yes!you guessed it right, its Salt Lake City, in front of DLF buildings 

(Dedicated to 15th June 2010 - the day I kept my step for the first time(technically, second time but I feel it was never so intimate as this time) on the literary soil of West Bengal to be only stunned by the abject poverty and plight of innumerable men and women. The land of Tagore, Stayajit Ray, Eden Garden, Park Street, Victoria Palace, Writer's Building.....and what not... I stood silent.)

The Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act

• Replaces the Land Acquisition Act, 1894.
• The provisions of this Bill shall not apply to 16 existing legislation that provide for land acquisition. viz: The Atomic Energy Act, 1962, The National Highways Act, 1956, SEZ Act, 2005, Land Acquisition (Mines) Act, 1885, The Railways Act, 1989.
• The provisions of the Bill relating to land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement shall be applicable in cases when the appropriate government acquires land, (a) for its own use and control, (b) to transfer it for the use of private companies for public purpose, and (c) on the request of private companies for immediate use for public purpose. 
• If private companies acquire more than 100 acres of land in rural and more than 50 acres of land in urban areas R&R package to be provided.
• Public Purpose: Land acquired for (a) strategic defense purposes & national security, (b) roads, railways, highways, and ports, built by government or public sector enterprises (c) planned development, and (e) residential purposes for the poor and landless. 
• Public purpose includes other government projects which benefit the public as well as provision of public goods and services by private companies or public private partnerships; these require the consent of 80 % of project affected people. Affected families include those whose livelihood may be affected due to the acquisition, and includes landless labourers and artisans.

A maximum of five per cent of irrigated multi-cropped land may be acquired in a district, with certain conditions. 

Every acquisition requires a Social Impact Assessment (SIA) by an independent body followed by a preliminary notification and a final award by the District Collector. 

In the case of urgency, the Bill proposes that the appropriate government shall acquire the land after 30

days from the date of the issue of the notification (without SIA). This clause may be used only for defense, national security, and conditions arising out of a national calamity. 

The compensation for the land acquired shall based on the higher of (a) the minimum land value, specified in the Indian Stamp Act, 1899 for the registration of sale deeds; and (b) the average sale price of the higher priced 50% of all sale deeds registered in the previous 3 years for similar type of land situated in the vicinity. This amount is further doubled in case of rural areas. The value of the assets (trees, plants, buildings etc) attached to the land being acquired will be added to this amount. This total amount will then be multiplied by two to get the final compensation amount; in case of the urgency clause, this multiplication factor will be 2.75.

The Bill proposes the following authorities;

Administrator; Commissioner for Rehabilitation and Resettlement; Rehabilitation and Resettlement Committee (for acquisition of 100 acres or more of land); National Monitoring Committee for Rehabilitation and Resettlement; and Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Authority (which shall adjudicate all

disputes, with appeal to the High Court).

If an acquired land which is transferred to a person for a consideration, is left unutilised for a period of 10 years from the date it was acquired, it shall be returned to the Land Bank or the appropriate government.

The Bill proposes that in cases where the ownership of an acquired land is sold to any person, without any

development made, 20 per cent of the profit made shall be shared among all the persons from whom the land was acquired.

Source: PRSINDIA 

Food Security

The Nation Food Security Act seeks to:

• Provide legal guarantee to 75% rural and 50% urban population to 5Kgs of food grain per month at Rs. 3, Rs. 2 and Re. 1 for rice, wheat and coarse grain respectively.
• Provide for he nutritional needs of pregnant and lactating women (maternity benefit of atleast Rs. 6,000 for six months).
• Make the eldest woman (above the age of 18 years) head of a household for the issue of the ration cards.
• Social audit and vigilance committee to ensure accountability, transparency and quick redressal of grievances. 

PDS is most states is not functioning efficiently. There is 45-55% of leakage of food grains and intended beneficiaries are left out.

NFSA seeks to seal leakages in food delivery system through technological and administrative interventions such as Aadhar cards and setting up new accountability, transparency and grievance redressal system.

For the implementation of the Act, nearly 60 million tonnes of food grains will be required. The infrastrucural weakness of FCI is a concern area.

Also, the rising food prices are bound to bring economic pressure on the government while implementing the Act.

Declining productivity, land and water degradation, rising petroleum prices, climate changes are some of the supply side constraints.

Areas that need to be addressed: raising agricultural investment, R&D, human capital, roads, market, storage, processing, organic farming

Source: Kurukshetra magazine

Decade of Innovation: 2010-20

What is NInC?

The National Innovation Council (NInC) under the Chairmanship of Mr. Sam Pitroda, Adviser to the PM on PIII to discuss, was set up to analyse and help implement strategies for inclusive innovation in India and prepare a Roadmap for Innovation 2010-2020.


Innovation is seen as a way forward in the direction of giving novel solutions to our problems. Innovation can helps in creating scalable, affordable, sustainable products that can then help in poverty alleviation, rural communication, improving public health facilities etc. It is being seen as a way of evolving sustainable and cost effective solutions.

NInC will seek to create a Roadmap for Innovations for the next decade by focusing on five key parameters: Platform; Inclusion; Eco-system; Drivers and Discourse.

Source: NInC website

What is DIF?

The 13th Finance Commission has made grants of Rs. 1 crore to each district (District Innovation Funds) for carrying out Innovation

What is Nation Knowledge Commission?

The NKN is a state-of-the-art multi-gigabit pan-India network for providing a unified high speed network backbone for all knowledge related institutions in the country. The purpose of such a knowledge network goes to the very core of the country's quest for building quality institutions with requisite research facilities and creating a pool of highly trained professionals. The NKN will enable scientists, researchers and students from different backgrounds and diverse geographies to work closely for advancing human development in critical and emerging areas.

The Ideology Nurtured by Aam Aadmi

Kejriwal's coming to power in New Delhi without use of money and muscle power or exploiting caste, creed and religious fault lines of our society, has been widely hailed as the begining of a reformative era in Indian politics. What remains a little less talked about amidst all the clamors and voices here and there, is probably what is going to be the new ideological base of the upcoming parties in India?

For sure, Congess and BJP along with regional parties and other national parties are going to stay in the power arena of politics in the present century, but a new current that has started to flow from Delhi is bound to descend to the low laying plains of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and go down south towards the oceans in the years to come, and while the river of change sweeps through the nation it will widen, twist and turn, become muddier, at places it will dry out, at places it would flood. What is the ideology that is going to be born out of all such twist and turn that will direct India in the years to come? Aam Aadmi's voice?

Well, ideally Democracy means inclusion of people's voices in decision making, in a way. But will it be always possible to go for a referendum before making any decision? Well, if Newton's age was the age of celebration of powers and mystries of  Mother Gravity, then ours is the age of Information Communication Technology. Referendums will surely become more popular. But then if Arvind Kejriwal changed his parties election manifesto of not taking (or giving) support from (or to) either Congress and BJP, just after conducting a survey through social media and mobile phones, then where will the foundation of the pyramid of good governance that we are building, find stability and firmness? If tomorrow the educated youth with mobile and network connections votes in favor of decreasing reservations (or seats) in Delhi University for SC/ ST/ OBC or students from outside Delhi, will the Delhi government take the demand forward to the Central Government and DU's administration? If tomorrow car owners vote to remove rikshaws from the streets of Delhi, will that be supported? Who would voice the concerns of the poor and the marginalized and those who do not vote for the government in power?

These are thoughts worth pondering over. There is need of good, corruption free and efficient administration. Politics should become so clean that educated, clean, common men of our society should also be able to fight elections and come to power to provide their services to the Nation. But we must move ahead with a studied silence amidst all the noises that the news channels make. Our's is a time of transition, and to find ourselves at right places in future, our's is a time of thorough reading of History, Sociology, Polity and mediate over what we want and through what means.

-chk

Higher Education: A Macro View

Total	Unit	Subgroup	2001	2011
Literacy rate (age 7+)	Per cent	Persons	64.84	72.99
Literacy rate (age 7+)	Per cent	Males	75.26	80.89
Literacy rate (age 7+)	Per cent	Females	53.67	64.64

Literacy Rate, 7+ years. (% of the Total Population in the State)

Kerala: 94%

Madhya Pradesh: 69.32%

Uttar Pradesh: 67.68%

Andhra Pradesh: 65.38%

Bihar: 61%

Higher Education In India: Challenges and Concerns

As per ILO, India has 116 million people in the age group r 20-24 years (China has 94 million).

By 2020, average age will be 29 years.

We have 60% of people in the age group of 15-59 years (demographic dividend).

68.8% of Indian population lives in rural areas.

The dropout out rate after school in high in rural areas. Also, rural areas have low Gross Enrolment Rate (GER) in Higher Education as compared to urban areas. Average GER across States in India is nearly 18% (2012). The GER figures for SCs, STs, OBCs, Muslims and Women lie below the National average. In rural areas, the situation is even more adverse.

Also note that, 94% of students are enrolled to States Higher Education Institutions. Only 6% are enrolled to Central Institutions of Higher learning. The Central funding is highly skewed [* figures will be added later].

The UGC is the apex body to grant funds to the institutions of Higher education but it is constrained to allocate funds only to certain institutes which fulfil some criterion. This leaves many institutions crippled. Out of total 623 Universities and 33, 093 colleges only 171 universities and 6,417 colleges are eligible for grants from the UGC. There is one more issue of addressing the needs of such a large pool of universities and colleges through one body. This problems calls for creation of more such bodies and including more and more colleges and universities in the umbrella of central funds, so as to improve the capacity and infrastructure.

The State Universities raise funds through the institutions affiliated to them. The funds are raised in the forms of affiliation fees and examination fees. The universities have the burden of conducting examinations, setting curriculum and proving degrees. In such a situation, the administrative burden leaves the universities with less resources and time to reform education. The same curriculum is circulated to all the affiliated institution and there is less scope of keeping up with the global best practices. This is the main reason behind the poor show of Indian Higher Education institutes in the world rankings, with not even one college or university making up to the top 20 list. The administrative burden on the universities, need to be removed.

Number of research papers and patent claims from Indian researchers has been falling. India's share in world research stood at only 2.2% in 2007. Indian's global share of scientific publications stands at 3.5%. Number of PhDs that India produces annually is half that of the USA.


Affiliated institutes many a times higher hire teachers on ad-hoc basis. Many a times the salaries are not paid in time. This takes away the incentive for quality teaching. In such a scenario the students are the direct victims. Though Higher Education is the State subject, but if the lives of the students is affected because of lack of funds and administrative hurdles, ultimately the country is affected. To address such problems, there is a need of standardization of quality of education

There is a mechanism currently of granting accreditation to the institution through NAAC and through NBA to their programmes. But so far the institutions have not shown enough zeal to seek accreditations. Out of 612 eligible universities only 171 and out of 22, 500 eligible colleges only 452 have applied for such accreditations so far (2011 - 12 figures).

Then there is another issue of employability of Indian graduates and employer satisfaction. Both are low as per survey (not citing any source for the time being).

Another side of the story is that the central government released Rs. 22, 891 crore for Higher Education from 2007- 12 out of which the States could spend only, Rs. 7, 656. This point to the bottle necks in the system. To reform the education system we don’t just need to flood the States with funds but we need to address the issues fund utilization. Funds can be utilised only if there is a basic infrastructure available at the grass-root level. The bureaucratic control and political influence in the matters of Universities hampers reforms. On one hand there is a need of making the universities immune from external influences, on the other hand there is a need of making the internal decision making process of the universities more democratic. All the stakeholders – students, teachers, parents should be involved. In the same line, there is one important issue of favrotism and ad-hocism in the process of recruitment of teachers and election of vice-chancellors or registrars. All such decisions affect the functioning of the universities to a great extent and thus the processes should be made more transparent and open to public scrutiny.

Of the total funds that go for improvement of Higher Education, less than 10% goes for capacity building. Most of the fund goes for meeting the salaries of the staff and teachers. This perpetuates the problem at hand. With ever growing population and expectations of each successive generation, this can lead to a crisis situation if not addressed. More and more funds need to be devolved and to make sure that the funds are used, mechanism should be made to make the implementations smooth. Also, any expansion in Higher Education should be concerted effort, maintaining a quality level throughout the country.

The fifth five year plan was focused towards creation of infrastructure. The sixth towards consolidation and quality. Whereas seventh talked about expanding research. Eighth gave emphasis on differential funding. Ninth talked about the use of technological advances in Higher Education. Tenth plan talked about quality and management of finances. 11^th talked about making Higher Education accessible, inclusive, quality, expansion and consolidation on the same line the 12^th plan is focussed on the issue of quality, excellence and expansion of Higher Education in the country.

All these plans get their tone and tenor from the Radhakrishnan Committee on University Education, 1948 - 49 or Kothari commission on Teacher Education, 1964 – 66. The recommendations of these commissions where incorporated in the National Policy of Education, 1986 (which was revised in 1988 and 1992). Since then several recommendations have been coming from several sections of society. As India grows the changing socio-cultural needs call for reforms and more flexibility at the institutional levels.

There is a crying need of administrative and regulatory reforms in the Higher Education sector.

The State Higher education institutions have meagre resources and lag behind the Central Universities and colleges. Most State governments have not given enough share to education. The State Universities and colleges get only a small fraction of GSDP. States of Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, and West Bengal have very low GERs and very low % spends on higher education. States such as Goa, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerela, Tripura and Mizoram have shown high per capita expenditure on higher education with reasonable GERs as compared to national average.

There is not just a need of addressing the present problems but also of expanding the spectrum of courses that and higher education institute provides to its students so that the potentials of the student can be fully tapped.

The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and Rastria Madhyamic Shiksha Abhiayan are focused on primary and secondary education. The Rashtriya Uchchhatar Shiksha Abhiyan is aimed at strategic interventions of the State in Higher Education to address some of the aforementioned issues.

PS:

I have not talked about the Private investment in Higher Education and RUSA here. Also, I did not talk about different fields of higher education separately here (viz. Engineering, Medicine, Law, Mass Communication etc). In future articles we can talk about specific issues.

EDUCATION

EDUCATION

Prime Minister’s concern about the declining quality of education in India is worth giving a relook. He rightly noticed that the Indian Universities have failed to make up to the list of world’s top educations institutions. He has talked about the lack of inter-disciplinary researched, shortage of faculty, growing demand of education with expanding economy and population.

India has been neglecting heath and education sector for a long time. We have very low budgetary allocation for both the sectors. Our budgetary allocation for education in 2013 budget stood at: Rs. 65, 000 crore. Out of which, the flagship scheme Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) was allocated Rs.27,258 crore (aimed at  implementing the Right to Education Act that promises education to all children in the 6-14 age group).  

Amartya Sen is of the view that heath an education do not only help in improving the human capital that goes on to support the economic growth but the two actually lies at the very heart of the development goals of a State. There is a complementarity here. If people won’t be healthy and educated all other developments will become soulless and unsustainable.

We have talked about increasing literacy percentage in India but it should be noted that the definition of literacy had been 'both ability to read and write in any language’ as per Ministry of Home Affairs, GoI. Several studies have shown that students in class five find it difficult to add or subtract four digit numbers. The mid-day meal scheme has been instrumental in improving the enrolment figures but quality of education imparted is still a question mark. Then there is a problem of shortage or absentee teachers. Without a holistic scheme on education that includes training teachers and incentivising the occupation of teaching by raising salaries, we cannot hope for achieving the right ends.

Corporate investment under Corporate Social Responsibility in raising educational incubators can improve the educational facilities in higher education.

Education and Skill Development and the 12^th Five Year Plan

The 12^th five year plan identifies the concern that a fifth grade student finds difficulty in reading a second grade text at many places. It calls for decentralization of recruitment process of the teachers so as to address the problem of accountability in teacher selection process. There are half-million vacancies of teachers in India. For the successful implementation of RTE, 2009, teacher recruitment becomes the first priority. 0.6 Million teachers in public schools are untrained.

The National Curriculum Framework for Teacher Education, 2009 calls for a shift to four year teacher training programme. To access the grade competency and quality of teacher there should a grading system in place. The government can also consider training teacher under PPP model.

MDMS can draw private investments if the government comes up with certain tax exemption for private investors who are willing to invest in education. There is also a need of to converge the Central schemes such as MGNREGA with education schemes to as we can provide a holistic development to the poor. Web based monitoring of SSA and MDMS aimed at making the schemes more transparent can make the implementers more accountable to public.

Expansion of Secondary Education

Gross Enrolment Ration (GER) at the secondary school stage (classes IX-X) is currently around 60.0 % which is very low. The Rastriya Madhamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) was launched during the 11^th five year plan with an aim of improving the enrolment and quality in secondary schools. The centrally funded Kendriya Vidyalayas and Navodyalayas have done well so far. There is a need expanding their coverage. Right now there are 1,060 KVs and 576 NVs.

Vocational training should be aligned with school education. This will improve occupational mobility. The National Vocational Education Qualification Framework (NVEQF) is already in place.

Higher Education

Currently 18% of budget allocated for education is spent on higher education. It should be raised to 25 %. State Universities and their affiliated institutions provide for 90% of total enrolment and yet they suffer from severe fund constraints and poor governance.

Some reforms are underway. Educational tribunals for quick redressal of disputes, National Commission on Higher Education and Research (NCHER) to ensure more autonomy of the institution and entry of foreign education providers.

There is need of connecting the students with the society. The NSS and NCC need adequate boost. Our problems can be solved with our innovation and that can come with more engagement of the educational centers with the public.

In India the scientific and research community works in isolation and there is little contact with the students pursuing graduate courses. This has to be corrected. When the students will have more contact, they will aspire to go into research and it will help in improving the quality of research in the long run.

ICT and Distance Education:

Prasaar Bharti have been using the television platform for educational purposes. ISRO launched GSAT-3 (EDUSAT) in 2004. The satellite is totally meant for educational purposes. Many people or India who don’t have access of means, can get education through satellite. More investment in such endeavour coupled with improvement in technology can go a long way in educating more and more Indians.

There are three challenges involved in distant education:

1.       Challenge of Language: India is a multi-lingual country and it is not possible to meet the needs of one and all without translating the study material in several languages.

2.       Challenge of content: Being a vast nation, the content has to vary from place to place.

3.       Challenge of Cost: India is still battling to provide for the basic needs of living such as food and shelter to a vast number of its people. The network devices are costly. Aakash tablets are still to come up with some glitches such as low battery backup, low capability etc.

With advancement of Information and Communication Technology, the next goal that India can eye upon can be spread of internet network and connecting more and more people with data so that they can teach themselves.

ANNEXURE

What is the mandate of UGC?

UGS is a statutory body, established in November 1956 by the GoI.

·         Promoting and coordinating university education.

·         Determining and maintaining standards of teaching, examination and research in universities.

·         Framing regulations on minimum standards of education.

·         Monitoring developments in the field of collegiate and university education; disbursing grants to the universities and colleges.

·         Serving as a vital link between the Union and state governments and institutions of higher learning.

·         Advising the Central and State governments on the measures necessary for improvement of university education.

What is AICTE?

The AICTE was constituted in 1945 as an advisory body in all matters relating to technical education.

AICTE is an Apex which has several functions, some of them being:

·         Undertake survey in the various fields of technical education, collect data on all related matters and make forecast of the needed growth and development in technical education;

·         Coordinate the development of the technical education in the country at all levels;

·         Allocate and disburse out of the Fund of the Council such grants, on such terms and conditions as it may think fit to institutions.

·         Promote innovations, research and development in established and new technologies, generation, adoption and adaptation of new technologies to meet development requirements and for over-all improvement of educational processes.

·         Formulate schemes for promoting technical education for women, handicapped and weaker sections of the society

·         Promote an effective link between technical education system and other relevant systems including research and development organizations, industry and the community.

·         Evolve suitable performance appraisal systems for technical institutions and universities imparting technical education, incorporating norms and mechanisms for enforcing accountability;

·         Formulate schemes for the initial and in service training of teachers and identify institutions or centers and set up new centers for offering staff development programmes including continuing education of teachers

·         Lay down norms and standards for courses, curricula, physical and instructional facilities, staff pattern, staff qualifications, quality instructions, assessment and examinations.

·         Fix norms and guidelines for charging tuition and other fees.

·         Grant approval for starting new technical institutions and for introduction of new courses or programmes in consultation with the agencies concerned.

·         Advise the Central Government in respect of grant of charter to any professional body or institution in the field of technical education conferring powers, rights and privileges on it for the promotion of such profession in its field including conduct of examinations and awarding of membership certificates.

·         Lay down norms for granting autonomy to technical institutions.

·         Take all necessary steps to prevent commercialization of technical education.

·         Provide guidelines for admission of students to technical institutions and Universities imparting technical education.

·         Inspect or cause to inspect any technical institutions.

·         Withhold or discontinue grants in respect of courses, programmes to such technical institutions which fail to comply with the directions given by the Council within the stipulated period of time and take such other steps as may be necessary for ensuring compliance of the directions of Council;

·         Etc.

What is the mandate and functions of NCERT?

(a) Research and development.

(b) In-service and pre-service training.

(c) Dissemination of research on school education in India.

Accordingly NCERT:

• Develops curricula, instructional materials, teaching aids and learning resources;

• Organizes pre-service and in-service training of teachers, of teacher educators, and of other educational personnel;

• Conducts and promotes educational research related to pedagogical improvement;

• Disseminates improved pedagogical techniques, practices and research findings;

• Acts as a clearing house of ideas and information for all matters relating to school and teacher education.