NKC-13: Shake up the present system, says Chairman, NKC

National knowledge Commission-13: Shake up the present system, says
Chairman, National Knowledge Commission (NKC)

Shake up the present system, says Mr Sam Pitroda, Chairman, National
Knowledge Commission (NKC), according to a news item published in
the Indian Expres, August 5, 2005, Friday, p-6, National Network.
Check the news item* at

http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=75700
(accessed: August 5, 2005)

Dr D.C.Misra
August 5, 2005.
_____________________________________________________________________

*Shake up the present system: Pitroda

Sam's way: Add centres for liberal arts, subtract cumbersome
processes

EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
Posted online: Friday, August 05, 2005 at 0212 hours IST

NEW DELHI, AUGUST 4: A good ``shake-up'' of the present
system is what Knowledge Commission chairman Sam Pitroda prescribed
on Thursday while outlining a tentative roadmap for building a "new
India through e-governance".

Members of the Commission had met for three days before making a
presentation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today on the plans
they had in mind.

Briefing the media after their presentation, Pitroda said the
Commission would be working on ways to ``shake up the present
system'' and would list a host of recommendations for the PM and
his Cabinet.

Hinting at some of the plans that could constitute phase-I, he
stressed the need for a greater number of institutions like the
Harvards and Oxfords of the world teaching liberal arts. Without
undermining the importance of institutes like the IITs, he said such
institutes were key to creating of tomorrow's leaders.

The Commission chairman pointed to what he called a dire need to
standardise and streamline the 20 most important processes currently
in use, including those for land records, birth certificates and
ration cards. Citing the process of filing applications in
triplicate, Pitroda asked: ``Why do we need three applications
that need to be attested by gazetted officers?'' The application
processes, he said, some of which were designed during the British
Raj, need to be redesigned. Instead, he suggested a standard format
for such processes and e-governance as the effecting tool.

The Knowledge Commission, scheduled to submit the first set of its
recommendations to the PM by October, will also look at wider issues
such as ensuring e-mail security, building additional medical
institutions, protection of traditional knowledge, and even putting
in place a system encouraging innovation by the scientific
community.

Raising productivity and efficiency while cutting costs were the
motives behind their recommendations, Pitroda explained. It was too
early to estimate the cost of implementing their recommendations, he
said, adding that it would take 20 years for their plans to bear
fruit.

(Source: The Indian Express, New Delhi, August 5, 2005, Friday,
National Network, p-6, http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?
content_id=75700 (accessed: August 5, 2005)