Fostering Multidisciplinary Collaboration in Indian Higher Education.

In today's modern world, it is imperative for Universities to prioritize autonomous research. Research ought to inform Teaching, just as Teaching must impact Research. This reciprocal relationship not only enriches the educational experience but also drives innovation and societal progress. Indian Higher Education Institutions (HEI) and Indian Universities shall work relentlessly to build linkages and collaborations with premier institutions in India and aborad. By embracing the ethos of research-driven teaching and teaching-informed research, Indian universities can position themselves as global leaders in knowledge creation and dissemination, driving positive change at the intersection of academia and society.

Over the past decade, there has been a significant surge in the establishment of institutions offering courses in diverse areas such as health management, public health, and hospital administration. This expansion reflects the growing recognition of the interplay between science, technology, and other crucial domains such as medical research. By integrating multidisciplinary perspectives, these institutions are poised to make invaluable contributions to improving public health outcomes, particularly for marginalized communities.

Former President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee has once quoted :

"India should deploy world class centres of excellence focused not only on traditional specialities but also on cross-cutting themes such as infectious diseases, vaccine development and regenerative sciences"

By fostering a culture of inquiry and discovery, Indian HEIs can empower future generations to address the most pressing challenges facing society and contribute to building a brighter, more equitable future for all.

The Government of India had set ambitious plans in motion to address this imperative. A glimpse of this initiative was evident in the New Education Policy (NEP 2020), where the government articulated its vision for establishing Multidisciplinary Education and Research Universities (MERUs). These proposed institutions aimed to not only create new avenues for the youth but also foster interdisciplinary research, positioning India as a global hub for research and development. While some progress has been made towards this goal, the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic has posed significant challenges, impacting the availability of funds allocated for such endeavors. Despite these setbacks, the establishment of multidisciplinary education and research universities (MERUs) remains a costly endeavor. To put it in perspective, each second-generation IIT established in 2008 required an expenditure exceeding Rs 2,000 crores. Creating MERUs at the scale and caliber of premier institutions like IITs and IIMs could demand heavy investments.

Nonetheless, amidst these challenges and delay in implementing the everything that was suggested in NEP 2020, there remains room for optimism and innovation. Individual institutions, each specializing in their respective areas of domain, are currently doing and have the opportunity to collaborate with other institutions possessing expertise in complementary fields. By pooling resources and knowledge, these partnerships are leveraging multidisciplinary research endeavors to have a profound impact on society. Such collaborative efforts underscore the transformative power of research, which not only enriches the academic community but also resonates beyond academia, contributing to societal advancements and Nation building. As we navigate the complexities of the present moment, let us remember that the pursuit of knowledge knows no bounds, and together, through collaborative interdisciplinary research, we can forge a brighter future for generations to come.

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Rohit Tiwari

Revamping Higher Education in India - "DRAFT" New Education Poicy 2019

The Ministry of Human Resource Development has recently put up the Draft National Education Policy on its website and other sources requesting comments and inputs from general public (citizens). The draft was developed by a committee chaired by Shri. K. Kasturirangan (Former Chairman - ISRO). It is for the first time that a comprehensive education policy has been developed since 1986.

The draft is divided into 4 major parts :

1. School Education
2. Higher Education
3. Additional Key Focus Areas and
4. Transforming Education

In this article, I would like to share my key takeaways from the Part 2 : "Higher Education" of the "Draft". The "Draft" suggests the following key changes and inclusions in the present system of Higher Education in India:

A. Objective of increasing Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) in Higher Education (HEI) from current 25.8% to 50% by 2035.

B. Revamping of Higher Education system by creating multidisciplinary (MD) higher education institutions. Moving towards a HE system consisting of large multidisciplinary universities and colleges each of which will aim to have a upward of 5,000 or more students.This multidisciplinary system will help breaking down artificial silos between various disciplines enabling students to develop both artistically and analytically. An university will be called as a Multi-disciplinary University if it offers at least 2 programs in the arts and humanities, at least two in science and mathematics and at least one in social sciences.

C.  The "Draft" puts more emphasis on moving to / establishing Large Multidisciplinary Universities. This will be carried out swiftly in a systematic manner in three ways:

1.     consolidating and restructuring existing institutions

2.     building new ones including establishing new world class model institution of this type across the country

3.     establishing at least one large high quality multidisciplinary HEI in / close to every district

Freedom of choosing one's own religion - Incredible Mauryan Empire!

The Great Mauryan Empire, stretching from the natural boundaries of Himalayas, to the east into Assam, to the west into Balochistan (Southwest Pakistan & Southeast Iran) and the Hindukush region of Afghanistan, is considered to be one of the most popular and celebrated empire which ruled the Indian Sub-Continent between 322 to 187 BC.

Every individual who has ever dealt or scanned through the pages of Indian Ancient History, will be familiar with the names of Chandragupta Maurya (Founder of Mauryan Empire) and Acharya Chanakya / Kautilya (Author of Arthashastra).

As we read through the pre-Mauryan and early-Mauryan history, it is fascinating to come across various events that led to the establishment of this great empire. Events like Chanakya's first encounter with Changragupta, Chandragupta's training at Taxila University, Dhana-Nanda's fall, Establishment of Mauryan Empire provides enormous amount of window to understand political, educational and economical conditions prevailing during that era.

Are we making Education in India "Prohibitively Expensive"​ in order to compete Globally?

"Growth & Development of Higher Education in India" has been one of the most inked sentences you will find in official documents of the Government of Republic of India.

Higher Education has always been a priority for any government that has governed this sub-continent since its independence may it be during the year 1950 when we had ~20 Central Universities and today during 2019 when the count has reached ~960 Central Universities. The nation has seen a drastic increase in number of Universities over these years owing to the demand and requirements of the nation.

Of late we see that in the context of Indian Education, the vision has slightly changed from "Creating / Establishing Higher Education Institution" to "Creating / Establishing Higher Education Institutions of Excellence". This is due to a drastic developments globally and in the way Global Universities are competing for recognition attributing to various parameters like Research, Academia, Infrastructure, Placements etc.

Institution Building for Nation Building...

In an alarming article published by “Economic Times” in 2018; over 3700 PHDs, 50000 Graduates and 28000 Post Graduates had applied for peon and messengers jobs in Indian State of Uttar Pradesh. These positions require a minimum eligibility of Class X or lower. Similarly, around 129 engineers, 23 lawyers, 1 Chartered Accountant and 393 Post Graduates were interviewed for the position of Peon in the Indian State of Rajasthan.

This situation is common in majority of Indian States where there is little or no correlation between the qualifications and the jobs; which is the result of poor quality of Higher Education and very minimal importance given to Research & Excellence. Quality & Excellence are intrinsic features of Education; and Education without these features can hardly be called Education at all. The need for promoting Quality & Excellence is one of the major challenges for Indian Education System.

Since the dawn of Independence in 1947, there has been a steady progress made by India in developing its Higher Education System. The number of Universities in India has shown a 5 fold increase from 20 in 1950 to 994 in 2019. During 1950, India had around 500 colleges which have increased to a total of over 42,000 in 2019. (Source: UGC Website)

A SHOPPING MALL CALLED "LIFE"

Life is like a Shopping Mall with range of options placed before you. It has in abundance all the happiness, sadness, opportunities, emotions, strength, power, knowledge etc to be chosen from. It is we who need to decide what we have to pick up from this shopping mall named “Life”.

Either we can be very pessimistic about the events “or” choose to see the positives. The best part is that the power to choose what we need is bestowed upon us. Though everyone; if given an option would like to choose ‘Happiness over Sadness’, ‘Opportunities over Threat’ and ‘Strength over Weaknesses’ etc. but most of us end up selecting ‘Sadness over Happiness’, ‘Threat over Opportunities’ and ‘Weaknesses over Strength’ etc. And all this happens because the Negative items are lot more luring to us than Positive ones just like any unhealthy food item placed at a retail store will attract us more than the healthy ones.

In my personal case too, I have been attracted or have been persuaded by negative thoughts hell number of times. It just happens to everyone that sometimes we feel lost in the hills of negativity and other times we feel as if we have conquered the Mountains of Positive thoughts. At time the tears can’t be hold in your eyes and other times you can’t just control the laughter paved out of eternal happiness. When we are sad, we don’t have an idea about how to swim/escape out of it but when your jaws are working out aggressively laughing and screaming in happiness, then we don’t find a problem in it. It’s a fact that we all see sadness/negativity as a deadly disease to be cured immediately while happiness as the paradise of Life. But we all tend to forget that all these are just emotions, thoughts and part of life which are selected by our kind-self based on situations and actions.

We all have to taste every flavour of life whether we like it or not. All these expressions, emotions and thoughts are bundled together as life. We just need to decide which items out of this bundle shall be used often and which items shall never be. We cannot escape from any sadness/negativity all throughout but what we can do is eventually reduce it to a level that it doesn’t impact us to the slightest measure possible.

As a New Year Resolution due in few weeks, I am working towards becoming a cleaner and purer me: ‘Me’ which is clear in conscience, pure by heart and the one I can look upto in the mirror and say this man has never deceived anyone and shall not feel negative about anything. Afterall if your deeds are good, all good will happen to you. 

Rah De Krishna. God Bless You. 

I am Indebted. Keep Showering Your Blessings!!!

Hello!!!!

Its been quite a while that I have posted on this platform. Actually very long. The last time I documented my thoughts on this wonderful platform was in June 2015. That is almost a year back. Reasons were many which can or cannot be expressed on a public forum but whatever it was/is I am back to my favourite past time, i.e expressing my thoughts and documenting it through the melodious sound of my Laptop's keyboard/pad. 

What could be a better day for re-initiating the lost hobby than a Guru Purnima*. 

*[For my non- Indian readership or audience, Guru Purnima is a festival / occasion wherein we (Indians) take pride in expressing our respect and gratitude for our teachers] 

Coming back to the topic for today's post, "Guru Purnima" a day we all have grown associated with. As a child I remember carrying flowers for my school teachers and thanking them for their effortless service in educating me and my friends. It fascinates me that as a school going kid, we all use to be so happy to buy those wonderful flowers and carried that effortless smile while thanking our teachers. Therefore, I would love to take this opportunity to thank bunch of people in my life who motivated me, inspired me, ignited the fire in me, made me see everything in nothing and made me whatever small or big I am today. 

I am blessed with innumerable and countless number of such blessings who walked into my life and taught me a lesson, helped me develop my skills, pushed me a level above and have been inspiring me on a daily basis. 

Ironically, few of them left and fortunately, many still remains with me as guiding force. 

"EVERYONE IS HEARING, NO ONE IS PAYING ATTENTION"

Its been a long gap of 2 years that I have published my thoughts on this platform. The excuse could be many but to make it crisp and short: - my organization blessed me with some incredibly interesting projects which kept me busy. The word "Busy" here is requested to be considered in a positive denotation. The last two years has been a long journey of my transition from Marketing (Digital Marketer) to Project Coordination to much more exciting domain of Project Management.  Going ahead, I will try my best to publish as and when I can. I will keep them short and quick. Enjoy Reading!! 

"EVERYONE IS HEARING, NO ONE IS PAYING ATTENTION"

Every Organization on this planet has issues; issues that initially looks smaller  and over a period they transform into a Dinosaur ready to eat you. There could be multiple reasons for this small egg to turn into a Big Dinosaur. But one major reason is "Every one is hearing, no one is paying attention"

Gaana Bajaana and Rona Dhona over Telangana on Social Media!!

Unlike the ex-generation which used to fire crackers and distribute sweets over any celebration, today's generation is more inclined towards celebrating and expressing their happiness on Social Media Sites like Facebook, Twitter and many others.

This was clearly visible on the day Telangana was announced recently. As soon as the announcement for a new state was out, there were a series of status and tweets updated over various social media sites. On Twitter the Hash-Tag #Telangana was trending and Facebook folks made their FB walls a debating battle ground for their support and opposition to the new ruling proposed. It felt as if the Gaana Bajana over Telangana was on full swing on Social Media and equally there was Rona Dhona by some United Andhra Supporters.

The Twitter was high on drama. With sentiments of happiness & sorrow tweeting around, there were a huge set of youngsters who tried encashing upon the situation to get more followers by tweeting funny tweets about Telangana. Please check the pictures below:

The Bharat Nirman Saga and the Idiots Marketing.

Someone wisely said "If you can't blind them with brilliance, then bedazzle them with bullshit..." I don’t know the name of the person who quoted this but I am confident that if this man or women was alive today then he/she would be for sure working with the Government of India.  From past few weeks, there are a series of Ad- Campaigns on “Bharat Nirman” being aired on almost every channel. These campaigns launched by United Progressive Alliance (The ruling political party of India) looks to me something near similar to the “India Shining” campaign launched by National Democratic Alliance (NDA) during their Government dated back 9 years ago. The “Bharat Nirman” campaign just like the Oldie friend –“India Shining” campaign 2004 is aimed at one single objective – the near coming election season. But the name, the time, the ruling party and the growth has changed. The big difference from 2004 is that the Congress cannot help making you believe that everything in this country was brought to you by the Nehrus and Gandhis (I Love Mahatma Gandhi), the rest of India are just passengers who ride their train. The Golden Quadrilateral Highway which connects Kolkatta, Chennai and Bengaluru had posters of AB Vajpayee placed everywhere during NDA’s rule but now they are replaced by Sonia Gandhi’s as if she or her political party has sanctioned the project. I respect Mrs.Gandhi for several reasons but sometimes I just wonder; does she really deserve that kind of attention just because her suffix is Gandhi. I think No. But yes, for sure she is a Woman who inspires me a lot for several reasons. I will discuss that later someday in one of my post. But for today I just want to concentrate upon the “BHARAT NIRMAN” Ads.  I don’t find them relevant today. And If I look at all these Ad Campaigns with the research oriented mind fixed into the top floor of my Body, then it will push me to the level of frustration. Let us talk about it now,