Commissions In India

National Knowledge Commission

Having been established by the Central Government as a crucial think-tank group for the nation, National Knowledge Commission became pivotal force in the national level for its intellectualism and thought generation by making many developmental policies which enhanced the prospects for the country’s overall progress.

About National Knowledge Commission

India’s prime minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh constituted the National Knowledge Commission on June 13, 2005. The primary motive behind the formation of this important Commission was to develop a knowledge society through exploring the intellectual ideas for a brighter Indian social system where best of competitive spirit develops with the suitable application of knowledge-intensive opportunities.

Composition of the NKC

Formation of NKC was an organized step by the government to develop knowledge society in the country to ensure better use of the latest technology and application of intellectual knowledge system. This Commission launched its website in the year 2006 which offered thorough details about the Commission setup and its roles. Following is the composition of NKC with its team of eight working members:-

• Chairman – Sam Pitroda
• Members – Dr. Ashok Sekhar Ganguly, Mr. Nandan Nilekani, Dr. Deepak Nayyar, Dr. Jayati Ghosh, Dr. Sujatha Ramdorai, Dr. Padmanabhan Balaram and Prof. Amitabh Mattoo

Mandate

National Knowledge Commission was constituted with the set mandate that it would work as an integral tool as part of an intellectual group to advise the office of prime minister on the various policy related issues. Some of the important areas at which this Commission was mandated to concentrate included education sector and for especially thorough reforms in research institutions to inculcate competitive spirit in the country’s economy to emerge as a hub of knowledge economy in Asian region. Most important roles prescribed for this Commission were as follows:-

• Recommend reformation plans for education especially research laboratories
• Thorough recommendation to improve the intellectual property legislation
• Suggesting government for the application of latest technologies which could ensure effective and transparent governance system

Recommendation Reports

NKC has submitted recommendation reports to the government on various fronts and for several sectors which impact the Indian society directly or indirectly. An important recommendation of this Commission was that government must develop excellency in the country’s knowledge hub for advanced education for that refined curricula should be introduced. It also suggested various mechanisms which the government should implement to face the challenges of the knowledge society.

An important guideline which NKC gave to government through its recommendation reports was that best of the measures should be brought into practice to ensure that timely promotion of creating knowledge society through giving boost to the Science and technology sector with proper revamping of their laboratories and for best possible use and application. The reports concentrated on the improvement of managing the institutions which are well engaged in the Intellectual Property Rights promotion for the best possible outcome.

Rest sectors that came into the ambit of NKC recommendation reports included total promotion of knowledge applications in the agriculture sector, industrial growth, effective governance system through developing total transparency and best means to share knowledge amongst others.

Implementation of Recommendations

NKC suggested recommendations which covered different areas for knowledge base and social uplift. Eight member team of NKC works alongside the four additional advisors who keep guiding this commission on the issues it takes into consideration. As it is mainly to propagate knowledge society recommendations for educational uplift and smoothening governance system have been welcomed ever since the recommendations were advised. Most of them have already been implemented.

The “Report to the Nation 2006” submitted by this Commission in December 2006 proved revolutionary as its implementation was a new way out for the country to apply new technology for best social order for knowledge level, e-governance and promoting languages besides giving proper guidance for national level promotion of information technology.

Many NKC recommendations have already been implemented by the central as well as state governments and they have been welcomed by various ministries on many levels. Most notable areas are revolutionary progresses in the library systems, e-governance and for newer initiatives in language translations. As the focus were mainly on higher and vocational education and other sectors like entrepreneurship and redefining the school education system the scholarly suggestions of NKC have been given due focus through timely implementations.