Friday, July 17, 2009

Utterly we need debate on nitty-gritty

N.K Singh is former civil servant in GOI and is now a Rajya Sabha MP and former Member, Planning Commission and present State Planning Commission, Government of Bihar.

In an article he writes “Kautilya is in fashion once again. While Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has quoted extensively from his sayings, he may have forgotten to quote an important one: “A king with depleted treasury will eat into the vitality of both citizens and country people.”

And further “Independent analysts like T.N. Srinivasan have suggested that attributing the current economic slowdown to exogenous global factors is somewhat misleading as the deceleration had started before the onset of the crisis.

Infact, T. N has a article in today’s Business Line in which he further stress that the “Economic Survey in its Chapter 2 elaborates on these challenges and includes a policy agenda with many diverse items and a superficial, and not an in-depth, analysis of the growth slowdown. Without an in-depth analysis, it is impossible to suggest policies to meet the first challenge of the FM.

On children economy Rohini Nilekani has a article in the Mint and she suggest that “We need to refocus sharply on improving the lives of young children. The horrendous numbers hold a mirror to us that something more is going on, something that goes beyond economics. It tells us that the dialogue needs to shift to a debate on values—those slightly embarrassing, seemingly namby-pamby things that have no traditional place in a financial newspaper.

More importantly she ask “why do we seem to care so little about the inalienable rights of the child to a childhood of love and joy and good health and good education? How does a society of adults become accountable for the treatment of its youngest citizens?

The apathy in Indian education system further explained in another article by economist Bibek Debroy. He writesIn 1787, Thomas Jefferson wrote to James Madison, “A bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth, general or particular; and what no just government should refuse, or rest on inferences.”

At least to me it is not surprise whenever somebody asks “Why don’t students go there? There are (in 2006) 355 universities and 18,064 colleges. The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) rated 140 (out of 355) universities and 3,492 (out of 18,064) colleges. Only 9 per cent of colleges and 31 per cent of universities were grade “A”. The rest were junk grade. Is it any wonder 150,000 Indian students head overseas and get beaten up?

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