After the telecom revolution
which secured India a place among the world's advanced
nations, it is now the knowledge concept which is slated to
be the next big idea to transform the nation, said Sam
Pitroda, Adviser to the Prime Minister, here on Saturday.
With 800 million phones and 1.2
billion in population, India is ready for the next
turnaround. If telecom took 20 years as a concept to
materialise, innovation might take a quarter of a century,
said Mr. Pitroda.
“It would happen even if I am
not here to witness it,” he added. “All we must do now is
plant the seeds. There is a lot of talent in India.
Fortunately our Government is very supportive,” Mr. Pitroda
said delivering the 2{+n}{+d}Consumer Unity and Trust
Society (CUTS) Thought Lecture on “Public Information
Infrastructure and Innovations”.
I was convinced that telecom
would change the face of the country. I had great faith in
Rajiv Gandhi whom I had bumped into accidentally at former
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's residence,” he said. “In the
beginning, instead of telephone density we focused on
accessibility. We got great backing from Rajiv Gandhi.”
The knowledge concept was a big
innovative idea which made the planners invest more in
education in the 11{+t}{+h}Five Year Plan. “The 11{+t}{+h}Plan
was all about education. Our investment in education then
was 4.5 times more than in the 10{+t}{+h}Plan,” Mr. Pitroda
noted. “We need talent to grow at the rate of eight per
cent,” he said.
Mr. Pitroda cited the
disparities – between the rich and poor, the urban and rural
and the educated and the uneducated – as the three major
challenges faced by the country at present.
“I am worried that we are
continuing the way we were in the past. Everything we do now
is in a way obsolete,” Mr. Pitroda warned. “What I would say
to students is: don't listen to your teachers or parents.
Their tools used to be different.”
“I believe education will change
and if you give the children tools, they would not need
teachers,” he asserted.
Mr. Pitroda also predicted that
very soon the existing universities with elaborate physical
structures would turn redundant and obsolete. The learning
modes would be different in future, he said.
“As far as information was
concerned two major challenges are the creation of
information infrastructure and democratization of
infrastructure. Right to Information was a great Bill and
now an excellent law but there is no information coming
forth as the structure is missing,” he said.
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