Wednesday, July 01, 2009

The week that went that way!!

This post would particularly try to reflect my thoughts on two major events which happened in the last week. Though I am a bit late in jotting them down, I still feel it is not too late. No I am not going to write about the death of MJ nor about my selection to the Aspirant Relations Team (ART) of our Student Council.

Firstly, I would like to comment on the steps being taken by HRD Minister Mr Kapil Sibal on reforming the education sector in India. He has tried to set out agenda for the first 100 days, half of which is already over. He has ambitious plans to bring in improvements in the primary education, secondary education and higher education sectors. He has also been talking about making foreign education easily accessible. If the data from the past few decades were to be analysed, we realise that major drop outs happen from primary to secondary and secondary to higher secondary. This is where the focus needs to come from.

There has been talk of a voucher system being introduced for education at primary levels. The implications of this are that, Govt will stop giving subsidies to the schools but will instead give vouchers to the students directly. By doing so, misuse of funds can be prevented to an extent. Also the voucher can be redeemed in a Govt or a Private school by the student. Now, as a result of this, an average poor student can get an admission into a good quality school. Also, Govt schools which are of poor quality will be forced to improve or shut down. Though the implications are huge, and Mr Sibal has faced opposition within his own party, it is definitely a decision well taken.

The major problem in education according to me is the peer pressure the small children get subjected to. Our education system is such that it puts more emphasis on the exams rather than the learning. And thats where the entire education system collapses. There are hints of doing away with the board exam systems for 10th and 12th. The talks of having a single board over all India and even making all the schools is definitely good in this aspect. It will put everyone on the same platform. But unless we make education more of a learning oriented rather than exam oriented, its difficult to succeed. And illiteracy is linked to a whole lot of problems which I wont mention here. So all the best Mr Sibal. I would really be happy if we can do something significant in this.

The second major happening event of last week was the setting up of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). The objective of the institution is to provide all the citizens of the country with a unique 16 digit number on the lines of the Social Security Number in the US of A. The SSN is a sign of a developed country. This number is a basis on all transactions in the USA. Any individual purchasing or selling anything will be through this number. It has vast and extensive usage throughout our everyday life and its actually good on the part of our Govt to have had the insight to think so far. Consider this, when someone in USA meets with a car accident, the vehicle will be repaired only on providing the SSN. Once the details are filled against the SSN, if he goes to buy a car after a few years, the premium that he will have to pay on the insurance will be much higher on the grounds that he is not a safe driver. For the information of readers, the Indian insurance industry works such that if there is no accidents in the year, when he goes to renew his insurance, he gets a No Claim Bonus which is reduced from his premium amount. The UID can also be used to have details of various families and their requirements and resource allocation, especially to the BPL families becomes a lot easier and simpler.

But the challenge is huge. In a country where there is a sizable number of people who still do not have a Voters ID card, it is definitely going to be difficult to provide a card to each and every of the 120 odd crore citizens. The difficult thing is about enrollment and authentication. Convincing the people about the project and getting authentic details is going to be a tough ask. As we have seen, there are many cases of people with two PAN cards or two people with same Election ID card numbers. Use of biometry may be able to prevent this misuse.

The appointment of Mr Nandan Nilekani as the Chairman of the project is a welcome sign. Mr Nilekani has proved his mettle by contributing a lot to what Infosys is what it is today. Also we have seen a very rare case of a promoter, resigning from his company to serve a bigger cause. He has got a position of respect and command which has the rank of a Cabinet Minister. With him at the helm of the affairs, I am sure things will be stewarded easily. The first set of cards are expected by April next year. Technology is going to play a major role in the integration. I am sure Mr Nilekani will be successful in this new role of his also. Wishing you all the very best Mr Nilekani!!

On a concluding note, the UPA has begun its second term on a promising note. Lot is expected from the Union Budget due next week. But as they say, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. I am glad that the first step has been taken.