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EòÉªÉÇ´ÉÉ½þÒ PROCEEDINGS

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VISITORS’S CONFERENCE, 2015

PROCEEDINGS INDEX

Page S.No. Topic No.(s)

1. Agenda items for discussion 1-2

2. List of participants 3-9

3. Summary of the Proceedings 10-23

04 NOVEMBER 2015

Industry-Academia Interactive Session with 4. 24-44 Confederation of Indian Industry

5. Talk by Persons of Eminence 45-83

Exchange of MoUs between Industry and 6. 84-100 Academic Institutions – Address by the President 05 NOVEMBER 2015

Opening Session of Visitor’s Conference and 7. 101-127 Launch of IMPRINT India

8. Group Work (Day 1) – Format and Composition 128-138

9. Panel Discussions Format and Composition 139-140

Panel Discussion-I 141-166

10. Session with the President 167-239

Presentation by International Organisations (THE 11. 240-283 & QS)

06 NOVEMBER 2015

12. Panel Discussions Format and Composition 284-285

Panel Discussion-II 286-315

13. Group Work (Day 2) – Format and Composition 316-327

14. Concluding Session 328-414



VISITOR’S CONFERENCE, 2015

Date & Time

4 November, 2015 1600 – 2130 h

1000 – 1345 h 5 November, 2015 & 1445 – 1830 h 0930 – 1315 h 6 November, 2015 & 1500 – 1700 h

-: Venue :-

Rashtrapati Bhavan & Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Centre

AGENDA ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION

1. ATRs of previous Conferences

2. Improving the quality of higher education in Institutions to bring them at par with the top institutions of the world by:

i. Creating inter-linkages of Industry-Academia; ii. Interfacing with ranking agencies; iii. Providing impetus to research and innovation in educational eco- system; iv. Establishing international networks; and v. Enhanced involvement of alumni

3. Capacity development of faculty to provide quality education through:

i. Teachers’ Education Programmes; ii. Alumni participation and resource mobilization; iii. Workforce sustainability; and iv. Improving technology-enabled training 2

4. Engagement of institutes of higher learning with community and society for sustainable and inclusive development

5. Promotion of gender equity and cultural inclusion through higher education

*****

3 LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

1. Shri Nitin Jairam Gadkari, Minister of Shipping 2. Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani, Minister of Human Resource Development 3. Shri Hansraj Gangaram Ahir, Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers

4. Dr. Arvind Panagariya, Vice Chairperson, NITI Aayog 5. Dr. R.A. Mashelkar, Chairperson, National Innovation Foundation 6. Prof. Ashish Nanda, Director, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad 7. Dr. Baldev Raj, Chairman, BoG, IIT-Gandhinagar; Director, National Institute of Advanced Studies, IISc-Bangalore; President-International Council of Academies of Engg. & Technological Sciences 8. Shri Ajay Piramal, Chairman, BoG, IIT-Indore; Chairman, Piramal Enterprises Limited 9. Shri Senapathy ‘Kris’ Gopalakrishnan, Former Vice Chairman & Co- Founder, Infosys 10. Dr. Virender S. Chauhan, Chairman, Executive Committee, NAAC 11. Ms. Naina Lal Kidwai, Group General Manager and Country Head, HSBC India 12. Ms. Sindhushree Khullar, CEO, NITI Aayog 13. Shri B.V.R. Mohan Reddy, Chairman, BoG, IIT-Hyderabad; Chairman- NASSCOM; Executive Chairman, Cyient 14. Dr. Anil D. Sahasrabudhe, Chairman, All India Council for Technical Education 15. Dr. Tessy Thomas, Director, Advanced Systems Laboratory, DRDO, Hyderabad 16. Shri Rajendra S. Pawar, Chairman & Co-Founder, NIIT Group 17. Ms. Chanda Kochhar, Managing Director & CEO, ICICI Bank Limited 18. Ms. Kumud Srinivasan, Chairperson, BoG, NIT-Tiruchirappalli & President, Intel India 19. Dr. Shailendra Raj Mehta, Vice Chancellor / Provost, Ahmedabad University

20. Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Zameer Uddin Shah, PVSM, SM, VSM, Vice Chancellor, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh 21. Prof. Somnath Dasgupta, Vice Chancellor, Assam University, Silchar 22. Dr. S.G. Deshmukh, Director, Atal Bihari Vajpayee Indian Institute of Information Technology & Management, Gwalior and Pandit Dwarka Prasad Mishra Indian Institute of Information Technology, Design & Manufacturing, Jabalpur (Additional Charge)

23. Prof. R.C. Sobti, Vice Chancellor, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow 24. Prof. Girish Chandra Tripathi, Vice Chancellor, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 25. Dr. Moirangthem Premjit Singh, Vice Chancellor, Central Agricultural University, Imphal 26. Prof. Syed A. Bari, Vice Chancellor, Central University of Gujarat, Ahmedabad 27. Prof. (Dr.) Ramesh Chander Kuhad, Vice Chancellor, Central University of Haryana, Mahendergarh, Pali 28. Prof. Kuldip Chand Agnihotri, Vice Chancellor, Central University of Himachal Pradesh, Dharamshala 29. Prof. Ashok Aima, Vice Chancellor, Central University of Jammu, Jammu 30. Prof. Nand Kumar Yadav ‘Indu’, Vice Chancellor, Central University of Jharkhand, Brambe, Ranchi 31. Prof. H.M. Maheshwaraiah, Vice Chancellor, Central University of Karnataka, Gulbarga 32. Prof. Mehraj-ud-din Mir, Vice Chancellor, Central University of Kashmir, Ganderbal 33. Prof. (Dr.) G. Gopa Kumar, Vice Chancellor, Central University of Kerala, Kasaragod 34. Prof. Sachidananda Mohanty, Vice Chancellor, Central University of Orissa, Koraput 35. Prof. (Dr.) R.K. Kohli, Vice Chancellor, Central University of Punjab, Bathinda 36. Prof. Anil Kumar Pujari, Vice Chancellor, Central University of Rajasthan, Ajmer 37. Prof. Harish Chandra Singh Rathore, Vice Chancellor, Central University of South Bihar, Gaya 38. Prof. A.P. Dash. Vice Chancellor, Central University of Tamil Nadu, Thiruvarur 39. Prof. Raghvendra P. Tiwari, Vice Chancellor, Dr. Hari Singh Gour Vishwavidyalaya, Sagar 40. Prof. Anjila Gupta, Vice Chancellor, Guru Ghasidas Vishwavidyalaya, Bilaspur 41. Prof. Jawahar Lal Kaul, Vice Chancellor, Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University, Srinagar (Uttarakhand) 42. Prof. Ajoy Kumar Ray, Director, Indian Institute of Engineering Science & Technology, Shibpur, West Bengal 43. Prof. Somenath Biswas, Director, Indian Institute of Information Technology, Allahabad

44. Prof. R. Gnanamoorthy, Director, Indian Institute of Information Technology, Design & Manufacturing, Kancheepuram, Chennai 45. Prof. Vinod Kumar Singh, Director, Indian Institute of Science Education & Research, Bhopal 46. Prof. R.N. Mukherjee, Director, Indian Institute of Science Education & Research, Kolkata 47. Prof. N. Sathyamurthy, Director, Indian Institute of Science Education & Research, Mohali 48. Prof. Krishna N. Ganesh, Director, Indian Institute of Science Education & Research, Pune 49. Prof. V. Ramakrishnan, Director, Indian Institute of Science Education & Research, Thiruvananthapuram 50. Prof. Anurag Kumar, Director, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 51. Prof. Rajeev Sangal, Director, Indian Institute of Technology, BHU 52. Prof.. Ratnam V. Rajakumar, Director, Indian Institute of Technology, Bhubaneswar 53. Prof. Devang V. Khakhar, Director, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay 54. Prof. Kshitij Gupta, Acting Director, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi 55. Prof. Sudhir K. Jain, Director, Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar & Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology – Surat (Additional Charge) 56. Prof. Gautam Biswas, Director, Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati 57. Prof. Uday B. Desai, Director, Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad & School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada (Additional Charge) 58. Prof. Pradeep Mathur, Director, Indian Institute of Technology, Indore 59. Prof. C.V.R. Murty, Director, Indian Institute of Technology, Jodhpur 60. Prof. Indranil Manna, Director, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur 61. Prof Partha Pratim Chakrabarti, Director, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur 62. Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Director, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras 63. Prof. Timothy A. Gonsalves, Director, Indian Institute of Technology, Mandi 64. Prof. Pushpak Bhattacharyya, Director, Indian Institute of Technology, Patna 65. Prof. Pradipta Banerji, Director, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee 66. Prof. Sarit Kumar Das, Director, Indian Institute of Technology, Ropar 67. Shri K. Ashok Vardhan Shetty, Vice Chancellor, Indian Maritime University, Chennai 68. Prof. Nageshwar Rao, Acting Vice Chancellor, Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi

69. Prof. T.V. Kattimani, Vice Chancellor, Indira Gandhi National Tribal University, Amarkantak 70. Prof. Talat Ahmad, Vice Chancellor, Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi 71. Prof. Sudhir Kumar Sopory, Vice Chancellor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi 72. Prof. Girishwar Misra, Vice Chancellor, Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya, Wardha 73. Prof. Inder Krishen Bhat, Director, Malaviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur & Dr. B.R. Ambedkar National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar (Additional Charge) 74. Prof. Hidangmayum Nandakumar Sarma, Vice Chancellor, Manipur University, Canchipur, Imphal 75. Prof. Mohammed Aslam Parvaiz, Vice Chancellor, Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad 76. Prof. R. Lalthantluanga, Vice Chancellor, Mizoram University, Aizawl 77. Prof. Parthasarathi Chakrabarti, Director, Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology, Allahabad 78. Prof. Bolin Kumar Konwar, Vice Chancellor, Nagaland University, Lumami 79. Dr. Gopa Sabharwal, Vice Chancellor, Nalanda University, Rajgir 80. Dr. Sudhir Tripathi, Director General, National Institute of Fashion Technology 81. Dr. (Mrs.) Kiran Kalia, Director, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education & Research, Ahmedabad 82. Dr. K.C. Saikia, Director-in-Charge, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education & Research, Guwahati 83. Dr. Pradeep Das, Director, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education & Research, Hajipur 84. Dr. Ahmed Kamal, Project Director, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education & Research, Hyderabad 85. Dr. V. Ravichandiran, Director, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education & Research, Kolkata 86. Dr. K.K. Bhutani, Officiating Director, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education & Research, S.A.S. Nagar, Mohali 87. Dr. P.K. Shukla, Project Director, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education & Research, Rae Bareli 88. Dr. Gopal Mugeraya, Director, National Institute of Technology – Agartala 89. Prof. Chandan Tilak Bhunia, Director, National Institute of Technology – Arunachal Pradesh 90. Dr. Shivaji Chakravarti, Director, National Institute of Technology – Calicut 91. Dr. Ajay K. Sharma, Director, National Institute of Technology – Delhi

92. Dr. Tarkeshwar Kumar, Director, National Institute of Technology – Durgapur 93. Prof. G.R.C. Reddy, Director, National Institute of Technology – Goa 94. Prof. Rajnish Shrivastava, Director, National Institute of Technology – Hamirpur 95. Prof. Rambabu Kodali, Director, National Institute of Technology – Jamshedpur 96. Dr. Swapan Bhattacharya, Director, National Institute of Technology Karnataka – Surathkal 97. Prof. Anand Mohan, Director, National Institute of Technology – Kurukshetra 98. Dr. Sarungbam Birendra Singh, Director, National Institute of Technology – Manipur 99. Prof. Dilip Kumar Saikia, Director, National Institute of Technology – Meghalaya 100. Prof. U.C. Ray, Director, National Institute of Technology – Mizoram 101. Dr. V. Ramachandran, Director, National Institute of Technology – Nagaland 102. Prof. Asok De, Director, National Institute of Technology – Patna 103. Dr. (Mrs.) Shashi Krishna Pandey, Director, National Institute of Technology – Puducherry 104. Dr. Sudarshan Tiwari, Director, National Institute of Technology – Raipur 105. Prof. Sunil Kumar Sarangi, Director, National Institute of Technology – Rourkela 106. Dr. Arun Baran Samaddar, Director, National Institute of Technology – Sikkim 107. Dr. N.V. Deshpande, Director, National Institute of Technology – Silchar 108. Prof. Rajat Gupta, Director, National Institute of Technology – Srinagar 109. Prof. Srinivasan Sundarrajan, Director, National Institute of Technology – Tiruchirappalli 110. Dr. H.T. Thorat, Director, National Institute of Technology – Uttarakhand 111. Prof. T. Srinivasa Rao, Director, National Institute of Technology – Warangal 112. Prof. S.K. Srivastava, Vice Chancellor, North Eastern Hill University, Shillong 113. Prof. (Smt.) Anisa Basheer Khan, Acting Vice Chancellor, Pondicherry University, Puducherry 114. Dr. J.P. Gupta, Director, Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology, Rae Bareli 115. Dr. Latha Pillai, Director, Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development, Sriperumbudur 116. Prof. Tamo Mibang, Vice Chancellor, Rajiv Gandhi University, Arunachal Pradesh

117. Prof. Chetan Vaidya, Director, School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi & School of Planning and Architecture, Bhopal (Additional Charge) 118. Prof. Tanka Bahadur Subba, Vice Chancellor, Sikkim University, Tadong, Gangtok 119. Prof. Mihir K. Chaudhuri, Vice Chancellor, Tezpur University, Tezpur 120. Dr. Sunaina Singh, Vice Chancellor, The English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad 121. Dr. Arvind Kumar, Vice Chancellor, The Rani Lakshmi Bai Central Agricultural University, Jhansi 122. Prof. Anjan Kumar Ghosh, Vice Chancellor, Tripura University, Agartala 123. Prof. R.K. Singh, Prof.-in-Change, Academic Programmes, University of Allahabad, Allahabad 124. Prof. Sudhish Pachauri, Acting Vice Chancellor, University of Delhi, Delhi 125. Prof. Dr. Appa Rao Podile, Vice Chancellor, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad 126. Prof. Swapan Kumar Datta, Acting Vice Chancellor, Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan 127. Prof. Narendra S. Chaudhari, Director, Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology – Nagpur

128. Smt. Omita Paul, Secretary to the President 129. Dr. Thomas Mathew, Additional Secretary to the President 130. Shri Venu Rajamony, Press Secretary to the President 131. Smt. Gaitri Issar Kumar, Joint Secretary-cum-Social Secretary to the President 132. Shri Suresh Yadav, OSD to the President 133. Shri Siddharth Sharma, Internal Financial Advisor, President’s Secretariat 134. Shri Niranjan Kumar Sudhansu, Director, President’s Secretariat 135. Smt. Shamima Siddiqui, Dy. Press Secretary 136. Shri Shakil Alam, Officer on Special Duty (S, R&R)

137. Shri Vinay Sheel Oberoi, Secretary (HE), MHRD 138. Shri R. Subrahmanyam, Additional Secretary (HE), MHRD 139. Dr. Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, Joint Secretary (CU&L and CVO), MHRD 140. Shri Shashi Prakash Goyal, Joint Secretary (ICT, Polytechnics, Distance Learning & Technical Institutions)

141. Shri Rajeev Gupta, Secretary, Dept. of Youth Affairs, M/o. Youth Affairs and Sports 142. Dr. V.K. Subburaj, Secretary, Dept. of Pharmaceuticals, M/o. Chemicals and Fertilizers

143. Shri A.K. Panda, Secretary, M/o. Textiles 144. Dr. S. Ayyappan, Secretary (DARE) & DG (ICAR), M/o. Agriculture & Farmers Welfare 145. Dr. Mahammed Ariz Ahammed, Joint Secretary (P), Dept. of Pharmaceuticals, M/o. Chemicals and Fertilizers

146. Prof. Ved Prakash, Chairman, UGC 147. Prof. H. Devaraj, Vice Chairman, UGC 148. Prof. (Dr.) Jaspal Singh Sandhu, Secretary, UGC

*****

SUMMARY OF THE PROCEEDINGS

The tradition of conducting conferences with Central Universities was revived by the Hon’ble President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee in February 2013. The President of India, as the Visitor of Central Institutions hosted the following 7 important conferences at Rashtrapati Bhavan:

i. Conference of Vice-Chancellors of Central Universities held on 5th February, 2013.

ii. Conference of Directors of National Institutes of Technology (NITs) held on 7th and 8th November, 2013. iii. Conference of the Vice-Chancellors of Central Universities held on 6th and 7th February, 2014. iv. Conference of Directors of IISc, Bangalore and IISERs held of 3rd April, 2014.

v. Conference of Chairmen, Board of Governors and Directors of Indian Institutes of Technology held on 22nd August, 2014. vi. Conference of the Directors of National Institutes of Technology held on 29th and 30th October, 2014. vii. Conference of Vice-Chancellors of Central Universities held on 4th and 5th February, 2015.

All these conferences were merged into a single conference to create a synergy amongst the institutes of higher learning by inviting the Vice- Chancellors, Directors of 114 Institutes of Higher Learning to Rashtrapati Bhavan. This conference was named as the Visitor’s Conference and it was held from 4th to 6th November, 2015.

During the previous conferences, the Vice-Chancellors, Chairmen, BoGs and Directors made certain key recommendations through their group work and presentations to carve out a path for growth and development for all universities and institutes. These recommendations were aimed to enhance the overall quality of higher education in India.

Some of the important recommendations made by the Heads of educational institutions during the previous conferences held at Rashtrapati Bhavan included:

a) Steps for improving the quality of education and faculty development in central universities to bring it at par with the top universities of the world. 11

b) Steps to utilize National Knowledge Network effectively in the central universities and institutions. c) Steps to create strong inter-linkages between the industry and the academia. d) Effective utilization of technology for access, equity and quality in higher education. e) Faculty and student development. f) Creating an ambience of good governance by institution building, consolidation and expansion/modernization. g) Filling up of vacant positions in the different central universities and institutions through a concerted effort without diluting the quality of faculty with intelligent use of a short-term faculty from industry, research organizations etc. h) Setting up of parameters to increase the global ranking of different universities and institutions. i) Utilization of alumni to contribute in improving the standards of learning. j) Creation of innovation clubs and incubation centres and inter-linkages with grass-root innovations. k) Setting up of community development cell to identify at least 5 villages in the vicinity for adoption as model villages. l) NAAC Accreditation m) Implementation of Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) n) Introduction of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) o) Establishment of Research Park

Many central universities and institutions took the responsibility in fulfilling, in a time bound manner, the recommendations discussed in the previous conferences such as steps for filling the vacant positions, taking initiatives in improving the ranking, adopting broad focus in learning as well as associating with foreign educational institutes and the industry to improve the quality of teaching in higher education in India. The deliberations have led to a number of innovative initiatives in the form of Unnat Bharat Abhiyan, IMPRINT India, GIAN to name a few.

The conference held at Rashtrapati Bhavan from 4th-6th November, 2015 included academicians and intellectuals from diverse disciplines for the panel discussions. The outputs of panel discussions were used by the participants as inputs for making the recommendations on the agenda items. The recommendations made during the conference will be used by the Ministry of MHRD as well as the VCs/Directors/Chairmen as action plan for the coming year.

The following were the agenda items for discussion in the Visitor’s Conference of 2015:-

1. Action taken report on recommendations of previous Conferences

2. Improving the quality of higher education in Institutions to bring them at par with the top institutions of the world by:  Creating inter-linkages of Industry-Academia;  Interfacing with ranking agencies;  Providing impetus to research and innovation in educational eco- system;  Establishing international networks; and  Enhanced involvement of alumni.

3. Capacity development of faculty to provide quality education through:  Teachers’ Education Programmes;  Alumni participation and resource mobilization;  Workforce sustainability; and  Improving technology-enabled training.

4. Engagement of institutes of higher learning with community and society for sustainable and inclusive development.

5. Promotion of gender equity and cultural inclusion through higher education

The conference began on 4th November, 2015 and the first session was on Industry-Academia Interactive Session with Confederation of Indian Industry. Prior to the conference, a mapping of the industry and the academic institutions was carried out. On the basis of this, the academic institution and the industry worked out the areas of corporation and research and agreed to enter into MoU to formalize corporation. During the Industry-Academia interactive session, 43 agreements were signed and exchanged prior to the dinner hosted by the Hon’ble President, Shri Pranab Mukherjee.

The session was followed by the Talk by Persons of Eminence which included Noble Laureate Shri Kailash Satyarthi, National Research Professor and Honorary President & Linus Pauling Research Professor, Professor C.N.R. Rao and Founder Chairman and Chief Mentor, M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, Professor M.S. Swaminathan. The distinguished speakers highlighted some of the pivotal parameters essential for improving the standards of higher education such as greater sensitization towards child education in the society, protection of children from any kind of exploitation and harm and their empowerment through education. Emphasis was made towards improving conditions which can help in enhancing quality apart from quantity. The conditions for the institution’s overall growth have to be made flexible and the level of competition should encourage adaptation and evolution of self-generated strategies rather than adoption of foreign models of teaching. Research and innovation has to be further encouraged which can address to the masses as universities and institutions should be encouraged to invest more in innovative ideas. Prof. M.S. Swaminathan made a presentation on the role of Universities in achieving the Zero Hunger Challenge. The overall agriculture produce in India needs to be boosted to fulfill the future nutritional requirements essential for overall growth in the levels of education. Apart from that the method of teaching, especially in science courses should encourage greater learning in the field of Sustainability to secure a healthy future for India.

On 5th Novemeber, 2015, Impacting Research Innovation and Technology (IMPRINT) was launched by the President. The idea of launching IMPRINT India, which is now a joint project of IITs and IISc, originated during the conference of chairmen, Board of Governors and Directors of IITs convened by the President at Rashtrapati Bhavan on 22nd August, 2014.

It is based on the Prime Minister’s suggestion that the research done by the institutions of national importance must be linked with immediate requirements from the society at large.

IMPRINT, a collaboration between the pan-IIT and IISc Bangalore to integrate with grass-root level institutes, industry and organizations to develop a road-map for fulfilling the demands of the country. IMPRINT initiative emphasized on the use of engineering to fulfill the societal needs, challenges and aspirations through accelerating innovation, creating opportunities through viable technologies. The focus and scope of IMPRINT, India was: a) Boosting Economy; b) Enhancing India’s International Standing in S&T; c) Inclusive Growth; d) Human Resource Empowerment and e) Self-Reliance.

The initiative identified 10 key domains which require intervention to improve the overall quality of life of the people. The domains were as follows:

14 a) Healthcare; b) ICT; c) Energy; d) Sustainable Habitat; e) Nano-Technology Hardware; f) Water Resources & River Systems; g) Advance Materials; h) Manufacturing; i) Security & Defense and j) Environment & Climate.

Imprint India initiative is also in synergy with national missions like Digital India, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Make in India etc. The strategies proposed for the way forward for the IMPRINT initiative are:

a) Engineering challenges under 10 domains (10 domains x 10 themes x 10 targets x 10 topics x 100 partners = 106 challenges) b) New Education policy and research road map c) Translation of knowledge to opportunities and wealth d) Enhanced funding for research projects (Rs. 1000 crores to begin with). e) Convergent action by government departments f) Active industry participation g) Crowd sourcing

Minister of HRD, Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani, during the opening session congratulated the institution for the success of Unnat Bharat Abhiyan for the adoption of villages to accelerate growth through technology transfer. She also thanked the Prime Minister for his vision of enabling foreign academicians to come and teach in India at government institutions under the programme called Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN).

During the opening session, Hon’ble Prime Minister released the IMPRINT brochure and presented the first copy to the President. The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee launched the IMPRINT India. Speaking on this session, Hon’ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi emphasized the need for innovation and stressed for creating an Innovation Eco-System. He said finding solutions to challenges like global warming and converting waste to wealth, were key to rise of India. The Prime Minister also stressed that science is universal but technology must be local and it should be emphasized.

The President thanked the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi for his encouraging words to set down the tone for the deliberations during the conference. . He also appreciated the efforts of Minister of HRD, Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani for steering various initiatives with purpose and energy to take forward the education sector. He complimented the Prime Minister and Minister of HRD for the launch of IMPRINT, a pan-IIT and IISc initiative. The ten themes of this programme will help in identifying the immediate requirements of the society and lay down research roadmap for institutes of national importance. He proposed the idea that institutes in Social Sciences and Humanities domain should formulate a similar joint initiative for

15 conducting research on themes relevant to public-policy making. The President called up to achieve the Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) to 30% by 2020. He pointed out that quality should not be sacrificed. Greater number of institutions translates into greater number of seats, enhancing access and equity in higher education. However, it has also led to debates on reach versus excellence, quality versus affordability and accountability versus autonomy. He pointed out that a calm assessment will make it clear to all stakeholders that reach and excellence, quality and affordability and autonomy with accountability, are all equally important. The president further elaborated on the need for modified MOOCS, which would be interactive and offer vocational aspirations and opportunities to learning. He appreciated the fact that research was moving towards the centre-stage in the institutes of higher learning which would help to meet the needs for a good faculty. He gave the example of IIT, Delhi which has awarded 221 PhDs this year, the highest in a year so far. It has resolved to increase the number to 400 in the next few years. He further reiterated that such initiatives will not only lead to higher research quotient for the nation, but will also improve rankings of the institutions. The President congratulated IISc Bangalore and IIT Delhi for coming in the top 200 World University Ranking released by QS. He also complimented the launch of National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) by MHRD with an India-centric approach as a step towards the right direction. The President pointed out that India today stands within a striking distance of realising the dreams or touching of dreams of the founding fathers of the nation where the Indian youth are second to none in entrepreneurship. The Government has initiated the ‘Start-up India, Stand up India’ campaign to incentivise the entrepreneurial ventures. The President felt that this initiative will inspire the entrepreneurs to build up this campaign at higher levels. He gave emphasis on the point that the Heads of institutes of higher learning must work towards creating an innovation and research network that will help in producing entrepreneurs and nurture innovations. He complimented the fact that setting up of Innovation Clubs in 60 Central Institutions in the last few years has been a good beginning for a platform where noble ideas could be nurtured and innovators mentored to develop new products.

He appreciated the fact that the cells are now lending vigour to activities like joint research, faculty exchange and setting up of chairs and endowments and felt that these cells can also interact closely with innovation incubators for monetizing ideas and research. The 43 MOUs signed with the industry have shaped the next level of partnership between industry and academia. The President also called upon all 114 central institutions to adopt at least 5 villages and pool all their academic and technical resources to provide solutions that will enhance the quality of life of our countrymen. He appreciated the vision of leadership of the Prime Minister and the excellent

16 work carried out by HRD Ministry under the leadership of Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani and concluded that the journey in the world of education will involve both success and failure, however, it is necessary that the effort is carried out with a positive attitude.

After the event on launch of IMPRINT, the group work on the action taken report commenced. The groups were divided into 6 and each group was given a set of parameters from the action taken report for critical discussion. Group A and B comprised of Heads of central universities and they discussed on the parameters pertaining to vacancy, NAAC accreditation, CBCS, Alumni involvement, international ranking, community development cell etc. The common problems which emerged were in terms of infrastructure growth, availability of funds and having strong inter-university linkages. Group C and D comprised of Directors of NITs and the key parameters for their discussion were to promote research and innovation, enhancement of fellowships, promote technology enabled learning and building international linkages etc. The overall suggestions which were formulated after the discussion were that funding for Wi-Fi provisioning in the institutes has to be encouraged further, all NITs should establish centres for innovation, incubation and entrepreneurship to promote critical thinking and a spirit of innovation among the students and the faculty, different schemes of government can be used in an integrated fashion and all the Directors and Chairpersons should be exposed to leadership training at globally renowned institutions. Group E and F comprised of the Heads of IITs and IISERs respectively. The key parameters taken up for discussion were creating ambience for good governance, faculty and student performance evaluation, funding and creation of development corpus, from narrow to broad focus in learning, increase in research scholars, alumni participation, government-academia inter-linkage and internationalization etc. The recommendations made from the discussions were to increase funds for further infrastructural development and enhance funds for international linkages and travels.

After the group work, Panel Discussion-I commenced where the following agenda items were taken up for discussion:

 Improving the quality of higher education in Institutions to bring them at par with the top institutions of the world by: (i) Creating inter-linkages of Industry-Academia; (ii) Interfacing with ranking agencies; (iii) Providing impetus to research and innovation in educational eco- system; (iv) Establishing international networks; and (v) Enhanced involvement of alumni

 Engagement of institutes of higher learning with community and society for sustainable and inclusive development

Dr. Arvind Panagariya, Vice-Chairperson of NITI Aayog, chaired the panel and gave a lot of emphasis on the importance of ranking as ranking do give some insight about the overall performance of any institute. On the whole, he agreed that India does lag behind and much effort is needed to bring the institutions to the frontiers of global quality of higher education. It should include academia interface with the ranking agencies providing international network and linking them with many other related factors.

After the panel discussion, the members from Times Higher Education and QS World University Ranking gave their respective presentations on the importance of ranking and the India’s position in terms of global parameters for comparison. Trevor Barratt and Philip Baty represented Times Higher Education and Nunzio Quacquarelli represented QS World University Ranking. Philip Baty gave emphasis on the importance of ranking of universities as it helps students in making informed decisions, help institutions develop strategy and improve performance and help government and policymakers in understanding the educational landscape.

Nunzio Quacquarelli, on the other hand, highlighted facts as to how India could improve its position in terms of global ranking. He gave emphasis on building the brand image of India, recruitment of faculty and greater foreign faculty exchange for exposure to enhance the methods of teaching. He also pointed out that it is critical for India to improve its universities performance by adopting technology based learning, give equal emphasis to other disciplines such as social sciences and life science etc and drive internationalisation of faculty and students, student exchange and research collaboration.

On 6th November 2015, the conference commenced with Panel Discussion- 2 chaired by Ms. Sindhushree Khullar, CEO of NITI Aayog. The following agendas were taken up for discussion:

 Capacity development of faculty to provide quality education through: (i) Teachers’ Education Programmes; (ii) Alumni participation and resource mobilization; (iii) Workforce sustainability; and (iv) Improving technology-enabled training

 Promotion of gender equity and cultural inclusion through higher education

Ms Khullar pointed out that access to education in India at all levels has increased manifold. In such a state it is critical that access to education is

18 complemented with quality. In order to ensure that, a benchmark has to be set to ensure competition. Apart from that, the inclusion agenda governs every other goal agenda and objective for the nation. The goal of inclusiveness is not only a requirement, but also a critical condition precedent for building any kind of excellence in any system because the talents in areas as well as groups of people, whether they are women or they are persons with disabilities or marginalised communities, have to be involved to ensure that the available potential of the country is being achieved. Equity, therefore, is not as narrow as affirmative action or making reservations and quotas, but ensuring that access is unfettered either by age or by gender or by community.

After the Panel Discussion-2, the participants were again divided into 6 groups to further discuss the other agenda items from the action taken report.

Group-I focused on:

 Improving the quality of higher education in Institutions to bring them at par with the top institutions of the world by: i. Creating Inter-linkages of Industry-Academia; ii. Interfacing with ranking agencies; and iii. Providing impetus to research and innovation in educational eco- system.

Some of the important recommendations made after the discussion were that areas of strength for interacting with the industry have to be identified, universities have to establish an office of Dean to manage and promote industry inter-linkage. Efforts are required to improve the position of universities in the existing ranking system and experiential learning for undergraduate students need to be encouraged as well as courses for development of entrepreneurship and skills.

Group-2 focused on the following agenda items:

 Improving the quality of higher education in Institutions to bring them at par with the top institutions of the world by: i. Establishing international networks; and ii. Enhanced involvement in alumni

Some of the important recommendations made after the discussion were that a Global Research Interactive Network (GRIN) may be launched as a follow up to GIAN for funding research collaborations/visits. Participation and presence of international students should be increased in Indian HEIs, and necessary facilities created for them, where required. ICCR and other funding agencies should consider extending scholarships to foreign students, at least, on par with MHRD scholarships. Apart from that alumni should be

19 invited frequently to all HEIs to share their experience and act as source of inspiration for the students. HEIs should invite alumni for lectures, research consultancy etc and seek internship/ placements in enterprises owned by alumni. Also alumni who are entrepreneurs should also be encouraged to engage in entrepreneurship training and incubation development in their alma mater.

Group-3 focussed on “Capacity development of faculty to provide quality education through –

i. Teachers’ Education Programmes; and ii. Alumni participation and resource mobilization”

The important recommendations formulated after the discussions were that effort have to be made to monitor the progress between the pre induction and post induction of teachers. The Teacher Education departments in the existing central universities need to be strengthened and also upgraded into composite schools of education and mentoring of new entrants into the teaching system need to be strengthened. In terms of alumni participation, they should be utilized for resource mobilization and should be engaged in the institutional development and growth.

Group-4 was given the following agenda item for discussion:

 Capacity development of faculty to provide quality education through – i. Workforce sustainability; and ii. Improving technology-enabled training

The recommendations that were made included Faculty Development Academies in some Institutions across the country having scope for Faculty Induction, Faculty Re-Charge, Industry/ International Immersion Scheme, etc. Also, development of a National Faculty Life-Cycle Promotion Policy which could identify the Faculty Life-Cycle and Career Progression and could showcase how the profession is attractive. In terms of technology enabled learning it was proposed that improvements have to be made in NKN connectivity to at least 10GB to all institutions. Provision for good WIFI connection to all institutions should be made and development of Smart Class Rooms should be encouraged.

Group-5 was involved in the following agenda item:

 Engagement of institutes of higher learning with community and society for sustainable and inclusive development.

The recommendations made from the following discussions were that HEI participation in community development is necessary as it would help in creating a public repository of successful interventions. It would involve industry for commercialisation and integrate student-community engagement formally into the academic framework. Also sufficient budgetary allocations should be made for such recommendations to be feasible.

Group-6 was allotted the following agenda item for discussion:

 Promotion of gender equity and cultural inclusion through higher education

The recommendations made from the above discussions were that there is a need for gender budgeting in all institutions. There should be adequate representation of women in the statutory bodies and orientation programmes for gender sensitization should be encouraged. There should also be age relaxation to encourage women to complete their academic requirements.

In the concluding session, the President requested the Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers, Shri Hansraj Gangaram Ahir to say a few words on his observation on the group presentations. Shri Hansraj Gangaram Ahir pointed out that India enjoys a global leadership in the generic drug sector. He further pointed out the institutions set up by the Government of India, NIPER have been successful in providing high quality manpower. Currently seven NIPER institutions are functioning under the Department of Pharmaceuticals and are working to achieve the primary objective to increase the quality and superiority of skilled workforce in the field of pharmaceutical. It will enable the scope for improving the process of new discoveries in the pharmaceutical sector.

Minister of HRD, Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani, then gave her observation on some of the key parameters that were highlighted in the group presentations. She discussed about gender, equity and cultural inclusion. She gave special emphasis on how the government institutions lacked proper sanitary facilities especially for girl students and it required immediate attention to ensure their academic excellence through provision of such foundational facilities. She also encouraged universities such as IITs, NITs and IIITs etc. to adopt fellowship programmes similar to Shodh Yatri in collaboration with MHRD to enable quality growth of students. She also announced that MHRD is in a process of dedicating to the nation a platform called Bharatvani under which all the materials of research and curriculum of higher education will be dedicated to the nation in 22 languages. In the coming 3 years, it will be enhanced to 100 languages. She also congratulated the universities for their efforts under Unnat Bharat Abhiyan which has enabled a healthy engagement

21 between different educational institutions and different levels of government departments. She also gave emphasis on SWAYAM initiative which would include skill development programmes from class IX to XII along with certification from the school board, CBSE. She further talked about Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya National Mission on Teachers and Training which would provide a platform to engage with every teacher in the school system and provide the platform similarly to institutes of higher education. She talked about the importance of ranking and how the universities and institutions have to prepare not only for international ranking but domestic ranking under NIRF and how it will enable greater transparency and rational choice making for the students. She further stated that MHRD will commit for the next one year Rs. 100 crores for ten top institutions who would like to compete for international rankings, so that any kind of infrastructural challenges can be met. She also added that MHRD will commit, in the first one year, Rs. 500 crores for projects of research under the IMPRINT initiative. Lastly she requested that the Uchchatar Avishkar Yojana should be declared under which MHRD will commit Rs. 250 crores for research programmes which can be given on a competitive basis between the IITs and NITs. It will also involve an industry partner who will provide part-time funding.

Minister of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways, Shri Nitin Jayram Gadkari gave his observation on how institutions should focus more on doing research in the field of sustainability and inclusive development. Technological innovation which is environment-friendly is critically required in the area of road transportation. Innovation is therefore, critical for the country’s successful growth and it should be encouraged at all levels.

The conference was concluded by the Hon’ble President who in his concluding speech paid emphasis on establishing linkages with foreign institutions, industry and alumni. He also emphasized on building linkages amongst all the universities to have a multiplier effect. He proposed the idea of collaboration between BHU and NIFT to launch joint degree-level courses in Fashion Technology in Varanasi. Similarly agricultural institutes can partner with IITs, NITs and IIITs to develop technologies for improved agricultural practices. Also to provide impetus to Institution-to-Institution linkages, he proposed the idea of introducing an e-platform where ideas could be shared and taken forward. The e-platform hosted by Rashtrapati Bhavan where all 114 institutions are connected can be extended to capture the new needs of this collaboration. This initiative can be forwarded in collaboration with the Central Heads of Educational Institutions. The President also highlighted that a large number of MoUs with the foreign institutions and the industry have been signed. However, they will require vigorous follow ups on their implementation. The progress made on these MoUs will have to be included in

22 the Action Taken Report. MHRD may also set up a mechanism for monitoring of the process.

He gave emphasis on improving the quality of teaching by adopting new methods, imparting education that would build the character and value system of the students, better maintenance and utilization of the existing infrastructure, etc. He cited that the activities of Rashtrapati Bhavan have increased manifold which have improved the look and feel of the campus and completed the digitization of the services. All these have been achieved in the Budget that was being received earlier. He called it the 3 H Township – Humane, Hitech and Heritage. He pointed out that the requirement of additional funds for all these changes has been minimal. As for the new initiatives which need additional funds, reasonable demands will be met by MHRD. He pointed out that filling up vacant teaching positions have to be given the utmost priority all through. Apart from that efforts have to be made to ensure improvements of universities and institutions in the global ranking systems. He also proposed the idea to provide support to MHRD and other concerned ministries for the new initiatives to be funded by the Central Universities, IITs, NITs, etc. He also proposed the idea of launching a Global Research Interactive Network (GRIN) as a follow-up to the GIAN for funding research collaborations. He further complimented the HRD Minister for her announcement of Rs. 100 crores each for the ten top institutions.

The President appreciated the fact that teaching and research was now being fully recognized. To produce good quality research and meet the acute shortage of faculty, he suggested to further push the award of PhDs in the CHEIs. He pointed out that there is a need to widen the area of interaction through sponsored research, endowments, setting up of chairs, donations and in catalyzing faculty recruitment. He highlighted that the progress made in setting up centres of excellence is slow. However, a welcome development in this area is that the Central Ministries are now coming forward to fund centres of excellence to address the needs of sector-specific technologies. The Ministry of Human Resource Development must act quickly to set up a proactive single window to help CHEIs to conclude the agreements in line with the existing administrative and legal systems. The President was grateful to all the CHEIs for their overwhelming response to his call for setting up innovation clubs and incubators, industry-interface cells, inspired teachers network and community development cells. Some of them have started entrepreneurship cells and development offices to attract funding. The President proposed the idea of setting up of these cells to the list, in the context of “Start-up India, Stand-up India”, where entrepreneurship will acquire a new dimension.

The President was happy to receive good suggestions on the engagement of CHEIs with the community and society for sustainable and

23 inclusive development. Some of the suggestions made include: Assigning students to teach in nearby Government schools for at least 12 hours annually or for one hour per month. Given the student base at the tertiary level, this could potentially create 35 crore teaching hours. Besides helping to mitigate the existing shortage of teachers at primary and secondary levels, it will create in the minds of students a desire to enter the teaching profession. Students may be deployed to undertake community-based projects to uplift the conditions of people residing in nearby areas. Students may study and identify problems faced by villages in the vicinity. Inter-disciplinary teams can then work on innovative solutions which blend modern technology to local practice.

The President further talked about the collaboration between Rashtrapati Bhavan and Ministry of AYUSH to open an AYUSH Wellness Centre to offer the integrated system of Indian medicine in the President’s Estate. This facility has received an overwhelming response. The similar initiatives can be introduced in the educational institutions as well. It will deliver the benefits of alternate systems of medicine to higher education networks, and lead to its further refinement, innovation and research. He also expressed deep interest in receiving greater response and eager participation from the Central Institutes for the upcoming Festivals of Innovation in March, 2016.

The President pointed out that in 2015, Rashtrapati Bhavan has organized a series of in-residence programmes where 31 inspired teachers from Central universities, 36 NIT scholars and 10 innovation scholars, besides 4 writers and artists spent one to three weeks as guests in Rashtrapati Bhavan. In 2016, it intends to hold these in-residence programmes for inspired teachers and students from remaining Central institutions, and award-winning school teachers from States, besides innovation scholars, artists and writers. The first Visitor’s Awards for Best University, Innovation and Research in Central universities were presented during the Conference of Vice- Chancellors this year. The applications for the Second Visitor’s Awards have been invited and there is an expectation towards receiving an enthusiastic response.

The President concluded that he listened to the recommendations carefully and thanked the VCs and Directors for their keen participation and fruitful contribution to this Conference. As the Visitor of Central Institutes, He has immense pride towards the achievements made by these institutions and is confident that it will open the scope for reaching the scale of new heights. He also stated that the administrative ministries concerned, would provide the necessary support to the institutes for their growth and development.

*****

INDUSTRY-ACADEMIA INTERACTIVE SESSION WITH CONFEDERATION OF INDIAN INDUSTRY 04 November, 2015, 1635 – 1730 hrs (Auditorium, Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Centre)

OSD TO THE PRESIDENT (SHRI SURESH YADAV): Shrimati Omita Paul, Secretary to the President, Shri Chandrajit Banerjee, Director-General, CII, Visitors, guest on the dais, Vice-Chancellors and Directors of Institutes of higher learning, leaders from industry, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, good evening and welcome to Rashtrapati Bhavan for Visitor’s Conference, 2015. The interactive session of industry academia is the first element of the Conference which the President Secretariat is hosting. At the outset, I would like to place on record my deep appreciation to the CII team for collaborating with us for this industry academia session.

Today, we have academic leaders from 114 Central institutions and over 60 representatives from different sectors of academia, industry.

For the last two months, the industry representatives have been actively engaged with the academic institutions to create a framework for cooperation and collaborations. We are happy that many of the academic institutions have been able to conclude their agreements.

Ladies and Gentlemen, by 2020, we will be adding 25 million youth as first time entrants into the job market, and out of which 5 million will be engineers. Therefore, the industry-academia inter-linkages assume more significance in harnessing the benefit of demography and in the process make India emerge human resource capital of the world. The formalisation of interaction between the industry and academia through MoUs will provide momentum to the collaborative works in the areas of student internship, faculty development and joint research.

Ladies and Gentlemen, today is a proud movement for all of us, and, on this occasion, I once again welcome you all to Rashtrapati Bhavan and in the Visitor’s Conference, 2015. I now invite Shri Chandrajit Banerjee, Director- General, CII, for his Address.

DIRECTOR GENERAL, CONFEDERATION OF INDIAN INDUSTRY (SHRI CHANDRAJIT BANERJEE): Secretary to the President of India, Hon’ble Shrimati Omita Paul, senior officials from the Government of India, dignitaries on the dais, officials from the academia and members from the industry, distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, a very good evening and thank you for such a lovely attendance. We have seen the quality of attendance which is indeed very outstanding for this evening. Today, when we were planning this event, little did we imagine that we will get such a qualitative response that we have here this evening.

We have been talking at some length over last many years about industry and academia collaboration and how we can work closely, and we use every opportunity to illustrate the gap and the need but seldom have we thought of a large-scale effort to fill this gap. We, at the Confederation of Indian Industry, thought the idea of signing the Memoranda of Understanding that will be done later this evening between industry and the institutes with our member-companies, and the response, as you see, has been quite overwhelming. We were inundated with queries for this session and, virtually, every company enthusiastically supported the idea of entering into these Memoranda of Understandings with one or the other of the 114 Central institutions. We had set a target of ten MoUs to be signed and exchanged in the presence of the Visitor of the Central institutions, i.e., the Hon’ble President of India, and we are very happily surprised that this number has swollen and it’s today at 45.

Today, there are parties on both sides which are signing multiple MoUs. From industry, we have several of our heavy engineering companies singing MoUs on research and development in energy, green environment, water transportation, roadways, power solutions, circuit design and fabrication. We will have formal MoU exchange ceremony later in the evening, and I hope that this really ushers in a very new chapter of industry and academia collaboration. From CII, we have been always focussing on this subject of industry-academia interaction and how industry can really benefit with its collaboration with the academia and, for this purpose, we every year do a survey of industry linkages of technical institutions with the AICTE which has become an accepted benchmark in institute-industry collaboration in India. Through the Prime Minister’s Fellowship for Doctoral Research, we bring industry to give handsome fellowship to PhD students who work on projects of industrial relevance. Though our joint venture with the GITA, which is a joint venture between the Government of India and the Confederation of Indian Industry, we are handling several bilateral R&D projects of the Indian Government with multilateral agencies.

Our regional officers whether it is in the North, West, South or East, are doing some very critical work with the Industry at the very ground level. So, it is not surprising that the Hon’ble President’s Office reposed faith in our ability to attract the best of Industry to work with the Academia. We are thankful for the wholehearted support that we have got from them to lay this foundation of a very new beginning. I hope, the next year, during this Conference, we will not only be able to showcase the work done in one year as a part of today’s MoUs, but also we will be able to focus substantially and enlarge and strengthen the ecosystem which we are here creating today together.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you once again.

SHRI SURESH YADAV: Thank you, Mr. Banerjee. Ladies and gentlemen, we have divided the entire session between the Industry and Academia representatives to address this gathering. First in line, I invite Prof. Sudhir Kumar Sopory, Vice-Chancellor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, to the dias.

VICE CHANCELLOR, JAWAHARLAL NEHRU UNIVERSITY (PROF. SUDHIR KUMAR SOPORY): Shrimati Omita Paul and distinguished colleagues, I would just make a few brief points and suggestions.

Academia-Industry partnerships are important to foster joint research and innovations in different areas. In all these collaborations which we do, I feel we usually tend to ignore to study the impact of our innovations, if any, on poverty alleviation programmes and societal benefits. Especially, those groups of academics who work on poverty alleviation and societal issues do not become part of this strategy planning. We also need to study to what extent research done at our institutes, in the universities, in fact, influence innovations at the regional or national level, within or in the Industry.

Academia-Industry partnership programmes, at present, are more strong and institutionalised mostly in the IITs, NITs and ITs, than, I suppose, in most of our universities or even in places like JNU, which I come from, and other such universities. What is the reason for this? A major thrust in this direction, I feel, is lacking from both sides, from the University Academia as well as from the Industry. It also, I feel, is due to ignorance on the part of both the parties. Industry sometimes is not fully aware of what research is going on in the Universities and if it is of any relevance for translational work. And we, at the Universities, are not keeping up-to-date with the demands and the needs of the Industry and of the society.

At the Jawaharlal Nehru University, the Academia-Industry partnership works at different levels and in different models. One which we do is consultancy for the Industry. A large number of faculty members do take part in partnership with Industry to give their own inputs. The second model is that individual scientists and researchers develop a technology or a product or a process and this whole know-how, because they cannot go into the translation mould, is transferred to the Industry and they usually do it for a royalty. The two major products which came out from JNU in this model were an Anthrax vaccine and a curcumin delivery through nano particles.

The third model is the joint product development after having obtained proof of concept. The scientist develops a proof of concept of a product or a

27 process but he cannot follow it further because it involves a lot of financial and other implications. So, he passes on the whole thing to the Industry. In this model, in JNU, we have transferred this technology of stress-tolerant climate resilient crop plants and also another programme which is being run in the Sanskrit Department. It is basically on machine-learning programmes for translations and to develop language corporeal. The fourth model is where we take joint research activity, and this is probably being done in many other universities too, right from the beginning.

And this is supported by funding agencies like Department of Science and Technology, DBT, CSIR, Bio Energy and they have all these programmes called SIBRI, NIMITLI and other programmes. So here they come right from the beginning and start programmes. The other model which we are working is multi-institutional programmes along with the industry right from the beginning. We have initiated this Bio Energy Programme with IIT Mumbai. Only recently, a week back, I found, even in a place like JNU, a spinoff company is probably being started and this is a joint project with industry which was taken up right from the beginning. This is on skin care, especially cure of vitiligo, the whiteness of the skin. So, there are different models on which the university is working. To sum up, there is a lot of scope and opportunities if industry and academia work together. The question is, sometimes, of the investment. I think if industry invests in the innovations that are germinating in many universities and also helps in skill development that would be something which is appreciable. Or, wherever industry has its own R&D units, they can take intellectual inputs jointly with the university faculty members. Lastly, a few suggestions for UGC to encourage such activities. Actually, UGC could support academia-industry partnership projects financially and otherwise and I understand MHRD-UGC has announced that they will be supporting such activities. Another thing for my colleagues from the universities, for promotion purposes we need to have API scoring and this is mainly for publications and other research conferences. I think we should give more points for patents and for such industry-academia partnership programmes and outreach programmes. Finally, I think there should be a place like UGC or any other site where university teachers can post their ideas and innovations where they have the proof of concepts; they have the products and processes and where industry can view these products and see which of those products, processes or patents can be taken forward for commercial purposes. I think, if we take some of these ideas, probably we can foster better academia-industry partnership programmes. Thank you.

SHRI SURESH YADAV: I now invite Ms. Shobana Kamineni, Vice-President, CII.

VICE PRESIDENT, CII (MS. SHOBANA KAMINENI): Shrimati Omita Paul, distinguished heads of Government, Academia and Industry on the dais and in the audience, good evening. I am truly delighted to be present here on this historic occasion and it is historic for CII. We all, as I met the audience today, are front-runners in our respective industries and we have among us some of the leaders in academia also. We all know that over the years remarkable work has been done together collectively by academia and institution collaborative. But never before perhaps we have been able to come together in such a formidable group such as this and there is no debate that in today’s fast chaotic and disruptive world academia and industry do need to work together to create employable educated young Indians and in my field of health care also I have seen that the doctors might study for four years, but at the end of it, it is the hard internships and the work they do and the practice they get. Most important is the practice they get in the real life situation which truly creates the right medical environment and the doctors that are world class. If college-students only relied on their curriculum which is taught to them in classrooms, they would have to definitely take additional lessons and serious working practice to be able to rise in their fields.

Today, with a median age of 28 years, India is, probably, the youngest country in the world, and this young country puts out 12 million Indians every year that require employment, and to train them and work together to make them employable early, I think, is the only way that we can realise a demographic dividend. We all have been doing something at the ground level, but today, we have more than 45 CII companies to sign MOUs with the academic institutions. I think it is a remarkable feat. I would like to thank the President’s Office for making this opportunity and for actually driving this. I hope the foundation, which is being laid today, will lead to a strong and enduring edifice of academia and industry collaboration. It really behoves all of us that institutions function at the behest of society and those who do so in a responsible manner will not only prosper but will also flourish. So, I would like to say that not only will India be the youngest country but I hope that we will also be the cleverest country. So, congratulations to all of you. Thank you.

SHRI SURESH YADAV: Now, I invite Dr. Swapan Bhattacharya, Director, NITK, Surathkal, for his presentation.

DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, KARNATAKA, SURATHKAL (DR. SWAPAN BHATTACHARYA): Namaskar and very good afternoon. Respected Shrimati Omita Paul, Shri Oberoi, esteemed dignitaries on the dais, in front of the dais, dear friends and colleagues, I feel honoured and grateful in getting this opportunity of sharing some of the snapshots of

29 some of the deliverables from our Institute getting out of recent interactions with industries.

So, this is the primary focus of our Institute. I will concentrate on only some indicative industry partners and share with you what we have been doing. Of course, there is AB Volvo. We have been recognised now as the global academic partner of Volvo. The very fact that now we are in the league with Institutes like Xin-Hua, Northern Caribbean State University itself gives us enough confidence. These are some of the activities already undertaken - fellowship for UG, PG students; placement. Important thing is that there was one Aviation Workshop where 254 students participated. The fact that all these are projects right from AB Volvo and also the groups made up of students involving from UG, PG and PhD cutting across all the departments, that has created a different ambience itself and some of them are interacting with students of other Universities like Xin-Hua and all those. Another typical example is Robert Bosch. Again similar kind of MOU is there, and these are deliverables. They have already established a lab on power train fully supported by them not only by money but by expertise as well, and which is being used in many courses again right from UG to the research level courses.

Then, we have with Rexroth Bosch. This is very interesting. We have been working with them for many years. Now, they have come up with a proposal to fund 50 per cent of an integrated lab which would be very useful for training students from ITI, students from other engineering colleges and it would be very effective in contributing to the programmes like ‘Make in India’, ‘Skill India’, and these kinds of things. We want to take it to the villages. So, this is, again, a unique scheme. This is another scheme we have with CMTI. This is a research laboratory. We have a collaborative programme with them. Similar to this, I had announced in the last meeting also that we do believe that there is enough potential in research laboratories and institutions like IITs, and IITs can join hands with research laboratories and come up with collaborative M.Tech, PhD programmes.

We have contributed, and, again this is one of the dream projects, with Southern Railways. We are working on censor system for unmanned level crossings. We are in partnership with ABB, India, which, again, is something like Volvo, Rexroth Bosch and some others. Intel is also with us. They support joint workshops. mbedded Labs are one of them, and, Internet of Things happen to be focus of that. Hexagon is one of them. Since we are close to the sea, we are concentrating on doing something related to the sea, for example, ships, off-shore facilities, ship-building etc.

With Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation, again, a very challenging job has been done by NITK, Surathkal. Considering the demography and location of Bangalore city, the entire blasting exercise was critical one. It was really a very challenging exercise, which was done by our institute.

With Larsen and Toubro, along with, NIT, Trichy, IIT, Delhi and IIT, Madras, we have a collaborative M.Tech Programme. We do believe that it is another example, which can be seriously thought of for scaling up in a big way. Talking about some enabling initiatives, now, we have established one Design Innovation Centre, which acts as a spoke of IISC, Bangalore. I along with some of the faculty members visited IIT, Bombay Design Centre. We are really excited and we are working with IIT, Bombay in this regard. We believe that it is another area where we can contribute to our country through ‘Make In India’ programme.

We have a Virtual Experimentation Lab - ‘SOLVE’. The IIT, Delhi is the coordinator and here we find presence of USA also. Here again, we believe that there is a scope to scale it up further.

Here is another area where industries are helping us a lot. We have a very successful interschool with Carnegie Mellon University where companies like Microsoft, Dell R&D, NIT alumni, of course, have helped us in not only getting the speakers but also in terms of funding. These are some of the MOUs and all of them are very, very active.

Before I conclude, I would like to just mention three points here. One is that many industries come to us and want to fund some fellowships and scholarships to the students but apparently there is a problem in giving it to the students who are getting the GATE fellowship because students are not supposed to get fellowships from two places.

Similarly, many industries are coming to us and they are going to fund fifty to sixty per cent of the infrastructure. We need to devise some mechanism by which we can have our support function so that the rest fifty per cent can be given to them by us.

Finally, now, we are moving to project-driven environment. In our country, the institutes get overheads of 15 to 20 per cent at the most whereas in the developed countries, it is something like 50 to 54 per cent. These are the three points on which we can probably have a serious look to take it further. Thank you.

SHRI SURESH YADAV: Thank you, Dr. Bhattacharya for your presentation. Now, I request Shri Sumit Mazumder, President, CII to deliver his address.

PRESIDENT, CII (SHRI SUMIT MAZUMDER): Secretary to the President, senior dignitaries on the dais, distinguished guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, a very good evening to each one of you. Today, it is really a proud moment to be standing and be amidst all of you. I believe, it is a proud moment for all of us. What better way to forge the collaboration and what better platform to showcase this than these august portals of the Rashtrapati Bhavan. It is a known fact that industry perhaps does not spend or does not get involved that much in research and development as industry needs to do. The Government initiatives, the tax exemptions, the tax benefits, they are all very attractive, but somehow industry is definitely not doing as much as industry should be in the field of R&D, and this is a problem in our country. Perhaps, industry needs a little push. Industry gets busy in the day-do-day operations, in the day-to-day challenges, in the day-to-day problems and somehow research and development, higher education, working with institutes get pushed to the back. I believe there is a two-way need for this. One is, of course, for industry to take the benefit of the knowledge from the institutions, from the educational institutions, and also for educational institutions to understand better what is it that industry really needs, what sort of students should they be shaping. I do hope this session will change this current situation. I am happy to see that several companies will be signing MoUs with many Universities and institutions today and I understand that most of these companies or institutions did not even know each other and they were not even connected before this initiative was undertaken. It is truly a historic moment for us. We have a visionary Prime Minister who has dreamt of making India the manufacturing hub to the world. As a leader, he has shown us the path we need to follow, and unless we make the required investments in higher education, the vision will not fructify. I hope the MoUs that will be exchanged later today lead to sustained interaction between companies and institutes. We need to understand each other’s strengths and each other’s issues and weaknesses. I assure the heads of the academic institutions present here today that CII will provide all possible help and facilitate the industry. CII has regional offices all over India. We have our zonal offices in various States who are working day in and day out to meet the requirements of the industry, and this is definitely one of them. We have over 64 offices in India and 10 Centres of Excellence, and the strength of all these will be put behind this initiative. Let us pledge today together that we will make this moment historic and turn this Visitor’s Annual Conference into an annual pilgrimage for industry-institute collaboration.

Thank you very much, Ladies and Gentlemen.

SHRI SURESH YADAV: Thank you, Shri Majumder. I now invite Prof. Devang V. Khakhar, Director, IIT-Bombay, for his presentation.

DIRECTOR, INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, BOMBAY (PROF. DEVANG V. KHAKHAR): Good evening, Shrimati Omita Paul, Secretary to the President; Mr. Vinay Sheel Oberoi, Secretary, Higher Education, and distinguished colleagues. It is really a pleasure to be here with all of you on this occasion where we discuss linkages between industry and academia. I would like to talk about how we can take this forward into a partnership where both sides benefit from the work that we do together.

At IIT, Bombay, we have a long tradition for working with industry. I know that many of you may not be able to see the slides but it is mentioned that there are – as Prof. Sopory also mentioned – many ways in which we interact with industry through research projects, consultancy, licensing of technologies developed and often, these are with established companies. We also have a very interesting joint PhD Programme with an Australian University, Monash University, in which about forty per cent of the students are supported by industry. This is a large programme with 170 students on the rolls. We are also working to promote new companies; so that is again an interaction with different kinds of industry through our incubator, which is very successful. We have an Entrepreneurship Centre which runs courses for students interested in knowing more about entrepreneurship and, of course, we have a very active student club called ‘e-cell’ which again initiates students into nuts and bolts of entrepreneurship. In fact, IIT-Bombay is catalysing a start-up eco system in our neighbourhood, which is Powai. We are working to see how we can help all the entrepreneurs who are setting up around the Institute.

From our experience, we find that there are two major linkages that we need to focus on. One is students and, I think, that is really our major contribution. Students who will graduate from our institutions then go and work in industry. I think, we have to focus a lot and this is already just mentioned that we need to graduate students who are educated to the level and quality that is needed by the industry. I think, these students can go, work there and make a big difference. The second big linkage – and many of the prior speakers have spoken about this – is essentially the transfer of knowledge that is generated through research but also knowledge disseminated through continuing education or specialised courses to employees of companies. We have an example of that where we actually developed a customised Master’s Programme for Bharat Forge in Pune. More than sixty students have gone through this Master’s Programme and they are making a big difference to their

33 new innovation centre that they have set up in Pune. We have just started another such customised M.Tech Programme for Hindustan Petroleum.

To really execute on these kinds of linkages we feel that you need a demonstrated expertise, established facilities, particularly, if you are doing research, and then, of course, very importantly a support framework which deals with things like IT, legal agreements, and so on and so forth. I would just like to show you one example of a collaboration which exemplifies this. We have had a very successful ten-year-long collaboration with a company called ‘Applied Materials’ which is a company that makes the machines that make chips. Really, the expertise was built up over a long period about twenty years. Three professors developed or they initiated the micro electronics group at IIT, Bombay. They built up capabilities and facilities over a period of twenty years. One of the students from this group went to the US to work for a while at Bell Labs and made a connection with this Company. Then, of course, the interaction started and they were very impressed with what they saw at the Institute and through this kind of interaction a very strong collaboration developed. Over the last ten years, we have done many, many things together. The Company has donated equipment, a very sophisticated equipment, to set up the nano fabrication lab. They have actually stationed thirty engineers on our campus to work on those equipment as well as to do collaborative research with us. We have funded three laboratories in different areas. They, of course, take part in the broad eco system which has been set up by the micro electronics groups.

Each year, they sponsor research projects in areas of their interest, not just electrical engineering but across the Institute. So the collaboration indeed is multi-disciplinary. There are joint papers, joint patents and student internships. We even run training programmes for semiconductor manufacture for technicians in anticipation of new manufacturing facilities that are likely to come up. To make sure that such a collaboration sustains over ten years, the support framework was very important. Of course, it was very important to have support right from the top of the company and right from the top of the institute to make sure that small hurdles did not essentially stymie progress. We just had a celebration of ten years of our collaboration. The company and, of course, the institute have decided to significantly enhance the engagement that is going on. We have several such centres and collaborations that are going on. Just another example is the National Centre for Aerospace Innovation and Research. This is really focussing on manufacture of components for aircraft. This time the Centre is supported by the Department of Science and Technology and a consortium of industries. There are many, many industries that are involved in it. I have just put up a few logos on top. The entire work of the Centre is decided by a board which comprises many

34 subject matter experts from industry. They do not only research but a lot of training as well. To manufacture titanium parts, composites and so forth, with the kind of stringent quality norms that are required, you require a special kind of training and our faculty is doing it. From almost nothing, they have grown the size of 14 faculty members and 63 staff members and students. There is a lot of excitement. I think Mr. Oberoi visited the facility when he was in Mumbai recently. One of the very interesting things is that in a period of last four years or so, they have filed 22 patents based on their research. This is a very exciting sort of development and certainly this is another example of industry- academia partnership.

I would like to just end by saying that these partnerships are very, very important. What we find is that these days when we are talking about knowledge economy, the interaction between industry and academia is often crucial. I am just showing you an article from a newspaper which says that Foxconn came only because of IIT-Bombay. Foxconn is a major manufacturing company. They were scouting around to set up their major manufacturing facility. What tipped the balance was the kind of facilities, talent and so forth, that was available in the Institute. I feel what we are doing today is very important. We need to engage closely, not just between one institution and one industry but maybe in larger groups to be able to address bigger problems and to really make an impact in a big way. Thank you very much. I look forward to the deliberations for the rest of the day.

SHRI SURESH YADAV: Thank you, Sir. We have listened to the academics and the industry representatives. Now the floor is open for discussion. We have 15 minutes for that. You may raise questions or make observations or remarks.

DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, AGARTALA (DR. GOPAL MUGERAYA): My observation is that in many of the institutions, we need to utilise the smartness of undergraduate students in the industry- intensive interactions because they have very fertile brains and you have to use them. In fact, we have done a lot of projects with undergraduate students in Surathkal. It is high time that we utilised the expertise of undergraduate students in innovation laboratories.

MANAGING DIRECTOR, KHS MACHINERY PVT. LTD. (SHRI YATINDER SHARMA): One of the inputs which I would like to talk about industry- academia collaboration is, we need to focus on continuing education, at the side of academia which can be gained out of industry and industry at the academia. Through our experience, we have seen very specialised short but focussed courses for industry from MIT, USA, and we have been able to

35 utilise such facility. This has been extremely well received by my own employees. This is something where industry is also quite willing to have faculty out of academia for a sabbatical or, maybe, a kind of short internship, in a focussed manner. I think this will greatly help in the kind of cooperation and effectiveness that we would like to bring about in industry-academia partnership.

VICE PRESIDENT, CORPORATE AFFAIRS, TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES (SHRI GAUTAM SHROFF): I would like to make one observation for everyone’s interest. Ten years ago, we found that there were about 40 PhDs in computer science being produced in India as compared to a much, much larger number in China. So, we said that we should do something about it. Since 2009, we started our PhD Scholarship Programme. So far, we have started 208 PhDs in computing-related areas and we are also supporting another 200 from about 30 institutions. I would like to suggest that apart from undergraduate research, having PhDs in India is very important. Part of our grant includes travel to universities overseas both for the students as well as the faculty. I would encourage other industries in other disciplines other than computing to follow the lead so that we build up a strong PhD culture in India.

MANAGING DIRECTOR, MICRO INTERCONNEXION PVT. LTD. (SHRI ANIL KHER): I have some suggestions which would accelerate the partnership. It’s not a suggestion. Mr. Kakodkar, in his two reports, has already made it clear a larger industry and R&D representation on the boards of institutions and second is the implementation of a visiting committee on the lines of what I think MIT does. It is very elaborate. If these two are expedited, maybe industry-academia interaction will become more relevant and fruitful.

DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, DURGAPUR (DR. TARKESHWAR KUMAR): One of the things I would like to suggest is that the industry-institutes interaction should culminate into some workshops in different areas because institutes have reservoir of knowledge in different areas. So, that will help in identifying some of the areas of research, the concrete on which the faculty or the institute will take up research for three to four years. NIT, Durgapur, has about 600 research scholars and you will be surprised that most of them are doing academic research. Research should be what we are actually discussing today. It should be relevant to the needs of the industry and the country. How to identify that? So, industry can help us in identifying the topics on which we can take up research because we have funds and we have Government support, but we are always in a hurry. We identify research topic and give three years’ time and students start working on it. Very few topics are there which are directly industry-related. Thank you, Sir.

SHRI SURESH YADAV: Thank you for your nice suggestion.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR – SUPPLY CHAIN, HINDUSTAN UNILEVER (SHRI PRADEEP BANERJEE): I work with the Hindustan Unilever Limited. It is a reasonably large company making beverages, soaps and soups. What we realise is that if we really need to change something, we also need to look at the structural change. And today, what we are doing here towards signing a large number of MoUs, I hope this will start almost a movement, and from a similar platform, what we talked about was something which was loosely described as open innovation, which is, we will collaborate with almost anyone, maybe, independent inventors and institutions, academia and even our suppliers. And over a period of last three or four years, we have got some wonderful research, and I am very happy to share that we, actually, have MoUs, with two of the Institutes which are present here since the last about eighteen months and you can see some outstanding work happening.

Going back to the comment which was made by one of the Panelists, which was, essentially, about poverty alleviation or sustainability, a bulk of our actual research projects is in the area of sustainability where we do not have the necessary skills which are, really, required to drive them. So, I think, in this whole concept of firstly opening the innovation cycle and looking at the open innovation platform, any impetus to that would, actually, activate the process.

SHRI SURESH YADAV: Thank you very much for your comments.

CHAIRMAN, BOG, IIT-HYDERABAD; CHAIRMAN-NASSCOM; EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN, CYIENT (SHRI B.V.R. MOHAN REDDY): I am the Chairman of IIT, Hyderabad. We talked about the linkage between academia and industry. I, actually, believe that there is a third segment to it too, and that is the Government linkage. If we look at the Western world, at this point of time, tremendous amount of research grants are coming from the Government, and as a result, what we see at this point of time is, in leading edge technologies, whether it is aerospace or defence and so on. There is enormous amount of money that is put in by the Governments in order to make sure that their technologies are really ahead of others. So, my submission would be that we should also bring in the Government into play, whether it is the Department of Defence or the Department of Science and Technology or many others to make sure that we have a lot more fruitful benefits that arrive out of this interaction.

SHRI SURESH YADAV: Thank you for your suggestions.

DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, SILCHAR (DR. N.V. DESHPANDE): I am the Member of the NASSCOM and we are, actually, working with NASSCOM. I have observed, in my two years of my experience with NASSCOM that we are really doing very good with industries. The NIT, Silchar, has written a book on FSIPD with NASSCOM support and PCS support which is, really, proving a very good thing. Then, adequate funding should be provided by the industries for research as done in the developed countries. Our industries do not support anything for research or, we can say, there is only a negligible support. Further, it is not just the money but we want time to be spent. Most of the time, whenever we visit industries, they don’t have the time to be spent for interactions with the academia. They have a very limited time. They are busy with their profit-making goals. And, thirdly, -- I am from the North-East – there is nothing in the North-East as far as industrial development is concerned. Be it I.T. industries or whatever it may be, we need to take care of the North-East. Thank you.

SHRI SURESH YADAV: Thank you, Sir. Now I go to the Chairman, UGC side, so that he can make the comment and then I will come forward.

CHAIRMAN, UNIVERSITY GRANTS COMMISSION (SHRI VED PRAKASH): Thank you very much. I am from the University Grants Commission. I have to make one observation and one suggestion. We have about 78 Institutions of National Importance and the remaining out of 813 are Universities. I think we need to look towards those Institutions of Higher Learning as well for the promotion of Industry-Academia Collaboration, and we should know that the University-Industry Collaboration has worked differently in different economies. The suggestion that I would like to make here is that the industry should come forward, hire fresh graduates, give them the exposure for about two to three years in the industry and then sponsor them for research in these Institutions of Higher Learning to find out solutions for their problems. This is what is not happening actually. Thank you.

SHRI SURESH YADAV: Thank you, Sir, for your comments.

ACTING VICE CHANCELLOR, VISVA BHARATI (PROF. SWAPAN KUMAR DATTA): I am from the Visva Bharati. The faculty, probably, need to be encouraged to set up their own company with some support as seed money or with support from institutions or some funding agencies. And then these faculties, which are group of scholars and other people, then probably might have freedom to have better cooperation and partnership with industry. What is happening in US, academia-industry cooperation does not happen in India because faculties are not utilising their innovations within the academic institutions to develop such partnerships.

PRINCIPAL CONSULTANT & REGIONAL HEAD, TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES LTD. (SHRI JAYANT KRISHNA): I wanted to dwell upon a very important area for the country, which is the skill development area. The country has embarked upon a very important and a very ambitious target to skill 500 million people in the next few years time whereas institutions of higher education are just focussed in their sectors and they are not doing enough for skilling. I think they could leverage their infrastructure, their faculty availability to have polytechnics, ITIs, and even faculty of vocational studies to address this sector which is of huge national importance. That is one.

The second thing is the Apprenticeship Act has been amended in the country. Now it is mandatory – because there are industry people as well -- for everybody to have 2.5 per cent of their manpower as apprentices in the country, both from manufacturing and service. The Act has become more inclusive in the sense that even university undergraduates, post-graduates and PhD students can all do apprenticeship, and not just ITI students. So, I think, it is a wonderful opportunity for the industry to offer this facility to undergraduates and post-graduates.

PROFESSOR-IN-CHARGE, ACADEMIC PROGRAMMES UNIVERSITY OF ALLAHABAD (PROF. R.K. SINGH): I have just a minor suggestion, but then very critical to the entire exercise that we are to undertake today and the next two days that are followed. I think that is problem about close interaction with the industry and the academic world. The academic institutions need to have certain basic fundamental amendments to their existing institutes and rules. That actually causes a lot of impediment to the handholding by the two entities. As of now, as Prof. Sopory also touched upon, I think, we need to have certain amendments made sooner than later in order to make a closer cooperation between the industry and the academic world. How we can implement it, that is the question, I think, we must debate animatedly in the next day’s Workshop and the Programme that we have.

CHAIRMAN, ALL INDIA COUNCIL FOR TECHNICAL EDUCATION (SHRI ANIL SAHASRABUDHE): I am representing AICTE with more than 3,000 engineering colleges there in the country. I think the industry should also look forward towards other engineering institutions in the country as well. It is because when we talk about employability of the Indian engineering graduates, people say that they are not employable. But if the industry does not give them sufficient opportunity somewhat for internship, support them in terms of industry-institute interaction over there, I think, only 100 institutes in the country doing well is not enough for the country of the size of India.

Therefo we should look forward towards all other colleges in the country as well.

One important thing is, a lot of innovation is happening in smaller places, and the industry should look forward to those innovations, and how do we transform them into products and processes. I think these are two suggestions which I have.

SHRI SURESH YADAV: Thank you very much. With this, we conclude this Interactive Session. I know that many of you have comments and observations to make, but we will create some more opportunities to take it forward. Thank you very much for your active participations.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Secretary to the President, Shrimati Omita Paul, has mentored the entire session, and given us guidance in each and every step. She has always been supportive of creating an eco-system which can benefit the industry and the academic institutions. It is my privilege to invite her to share her observations.

SECRETARY TO THE PRESIDENT (SHRIMATI OMITA PAUL): Shri Sumit Mazumder, President, CII, Shri Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII, leaders of the institutions of higher learning, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, I extend to all of you a very warm welcome to Rashtrapati Bhavan on the eve of the Visitor’s Conference scheduled for 5th and 6th November, 2015. Since the very start of the 13th Presidency, the President has been insisting upon taking education to the next level if we really want to find our place in the Comity of Nations as a knowledge economy. It has taken us 60 years to convert a promise of the Directive Principles into the Right to Education. Now, we have to move fast to improve both, the access to education and the quality of education for our people. At the instance of the President, it is for the first time that we are organising the Visitor’s Conference where representatives from 114 institutions, where President is a Visitor, are participating. The success of the previous seven Conferences has convinced us that bringing together the leaders of these institutions on the same platform to share their knowledge, experience and to chart out the future course of action will have a multiplier effect on the rapid development of education, research and innovation sectors. One of the important areas of focus for us has been devising ways and means of bringing about greater interaction and inter-linkages between industry and academia. This also features as one of the important agenda items for discussion in the Conference which begins tomorrow. I am glad that now we are making tangible progress in this area. I would commend CII for formulating an action plan under the aegis of which industry-academia interaction has been taking place over the last few months

40 on possible areas of collaboration. I am also grateful to the Department of Pharmaceuticals for their efforts in bringing together NIPERs and the pharma industry. The MoUs being exchanged today are an outcome of these initiatives. We are signing 43 MoUs which I think by any standard is a very good beginning.

An interesting thing I have noticed in the discussions that we had and the observations made by our colleagues here has been that our Institutes of higher learning need industry, industry needs these institutions, both recognise the value and necessity of research, but somehow, we have not been able to come together and convert that into a multiplier to achieve rapid economic development. Perhaps, here, Rashtrapati Bhavan has a small role to play. We are trying to provide a platform where people can come together and understand each other better, know about each other better and we assume that once they know and understand each other better, the relationship will grow. This will have to be a relationship of faith, a relationship of trust and a relationship of taking certain risks. Entrepreneurship will have to be expedited both by the institutions of higher learning and the industry, because when we take a leap, then, certain amount of risks are there. We will also need some patience. The research will not yield results overnight. It takes time, it takes money, it takes efforts, but if it starts, it will start giving results in not too distant a future. That is an important point for us to take back home. We in Rashtrapati Bhavan will also work on it and try to build an eco system where it will be easier for all the partners to act together for the furtherment of the cause that we all think is worth pursuing.

Another issue which really needs our attention is how to promote an innovation culture in our organizations. We are working with the National Innovation Foundation. We organize a one-week long festival of innovations. We have a global round table where we try to bring together the grass root innovators, entrepreneurs and financiers, i.e., the banks, etc., so that the innovation which has started in response to a need of the society in a small corner of this country, maybe a village or maybe a mofussil town, can be converted into a product which will help the people of that area and the country. And, believe me, we have found a remarkable work which has been done by very young scholars, which has been done by school children, which has been done by relatively, I won’t say, illiterate people but I would say people who have lived in villages but have a highly educated mind and who are very sensitive to the environment. I will give you a small example. We had a person staying with us in the Innovation Scholars Programme. We have an in-residence programme for them where we select some innovators, and they come and spend two-three weeks in Rashtrapati Bhavan. This gentleman whom NIF called a serial innovator was a rickshaw puller, and he said that he

41 used to ply a rickshaw between Chandni Chowk and outer part of New Delhi and, occasionally, he used to come to Rajpath. He said, “I could never imagine that one day I will come here and I will be a guest of the President and will be recognized.” Now this gentleman looked at what was happening in his village and he designed a simple machine, very inexpensive machine, which could extract juices from things like aloe vera, amla, and things like that. But one invention was that it would preserve the kernel, the seed, which could be again used for the extraction of the oil. So, NIF worked with them; NID did the designing. The commercial testing was done. Institutes of Technology helped, and now he is a very successful entrepreneur. He had export orders worth Rs. 60-70 lakhs.

The point I am trying to make is that we are making an effort to bring all these people together. As a matter of fact, my colleagues have compiled a small booklet which gives you, under three heads, the innovations which have been identified by the National Innovation Foundation in various sectors. We are distributing that booklet for whatever it is worth. If you find something which is of use to you in your area of expertise, you can take it forward by discussing it with NIF people, and, I am sure, you will find very interesting ideas in those pages. Innovation is one area, and the second area on which we really have to do some work is taking these MoUs forward. As a matter of fact, last evening when I was discussing the format of this Conference with the President, he told me one thing specifically. He said, “Fine, we are signing a lot of MoUs, we are signing 43 MoUs today -- we signed 80 MoUs in the last two years, the President has been travelling with a team of Vice-Chancellors and Directors in about 50 countries --but the point is, where will these MoUs take off?” We really have to now concentrate on implementing what is written on those two pages of the MoU. I went through some of the MoUs which were signed when the President was travelling abroad. They talk about joint research; they talk about exchange of faculty; they talk about exchange of students. Now if all that can happen, just imagine where we would be in two years if we have 80 MoUs, and I am sure the Ministry of HRD, Ministry of Chemical Fertilizers and Pharmaceutical would have signed very many more.

We would really be looking at an explosion of information on what is happening in the world. We should be working on the frontier areas of technology which would link us to the best minds all over the world. So, I would like to just focus your attention saying that signing MoUs is the first step, but following up on those MoUs and taking those MoUs to a logical conclusion is the second and the more important step, and we should keep that in mind.

One more thing which would, perhaps, need our attention is the inputs that must go from the research into the education sector. This is a symbiotic relationship. The research adds to the body of knowledge. It extends the frontiers of knowledge and that research goes into the teaching. This loop has to be completed, so that our students are absolutely on the ball; they know what is happening now, here and in the future. And also, they must get routed to the problems back home. I would give you a small example of the Rashtrapati Bhavan. We were trying to work on setting up a sewage treatment plant in the Rashtrapati Bhavan. So, like all Government organizations, we put out a tender and invited responses. We got very many responses and when they came to show what they had to offer, they gave us the design of a 40 feet high plant; they wanted four acres of land, all kinds of things. We are a heritage building. We have our own aesthetics. So, I said, ‘No way!’ There is no way I am going to have a 40 feet high building on four acres of land processing sewage water in a building which is elegant, which is beautiful, which is heritage, which needs to be handed over to the future generations in a condition better than it has been handed over to us. So, I and my team of officers thought about it and we invited IIT, Delhi, to come and collaborate with us. We posed the problem. We told them that we have this much of water which needs to be treated. We cannot give you more than an acre of land at a particular place and we can’t allow a structure which is more than 15-18 feet high. Now, with these restrictions, kindly design a sewage treatment plant for us. We brought in Larsen & Toubro as the engineers to do the work and we told that we have only this much money and only this much time. So, we nicely fenced them in into all these things, and believe me, they delivered. Within 11 months we had our sewage treatment plant ready, at a cost which was nine crores less than the lowest quotation we had. And, in addition, we had a technology which was adaptable. When the Chief Minister of Delhi, the LG and all had come for the inauguration of this plant, the Chief Minister specifically asked about it. I told him that he could look at this model and start designing these sewage treatment plants for the city because he was trying to do something in a built-up city; he doesn’t have a Greenfield where he can do whatever he wants. And it has worked. I saw in the newspapers that they are going to set up these 40 decentralised small sewage treatment plants. I hope those are the ones for which the inspiration came from us. So, this is how we look at the technology. This is how we look at the extension of the frontiers of technology in solving area-specific, culture-specific problems or our own country, of our environment, and, I am sure, this coming together of all these brilliant minds will help us pave a way forward which will now gather a new momentum. Next year, I am sure, it will not be 43, but maybe many more MoUs that we would be signing or we would have signed before we meet. Thank you very much.

JOINT SECRETARY (P), DEPARTMENT OF PHARMACEUTICALS, MINISTRY OF CHEMICALS AND FERTILISERS (DR. MAHAMMED ARIZ AHAMMED): Respected Secretary to His Excellency President, Secretary, Department of Higher Education, Minister for HRD, esteemed Directors of Indian Institute of Technology, Indian Institute Science, Bangalore, National Institutes of Technology, National Institutes of Pharmaceutical Education Research, Indian Institute of Science Education Research, Indian Institutes of Information Technology, National Institutes of Fashion Technology, Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology, Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development, School of Planning and Architecture and the President, CII, Vice-President, CII, Director General, CII and industry leaders, special invitees and ladies and gentlemen. Friends, it is my privilege to have been asked to propose Vote of Thanks on this very august occasion. At the outset, I thank His Excellency President, the Visitor of all the Institutes of higher learning and research and his Secretariat for inviting all of us to reflect upon our mandate, our deliverables and consolidate our past gains and plan for future. In particular, I thank His Excellency President and his Secretariat for hosting this industry-academia linkage and partnership session as a team building exercise and to deliberate on the social needs, market demand and partnership to see that every citizen of the country has quality of life as well as economic growth. As panel members mentioned very clearly, the importance and significance of industry-academia linkage is globally recognised in science and technology, in social sciences. At the same time, the global ranking and standing of India, especially with UNESCO ranking statistics, is only 164 researchers against one million people, whereas the USA has 4,600; Finland has 7,600 and China has 863. In Global Innovation Index, India’s standing is 81 in rank. Just to illustrate about pharmaceutical sector, we celebrate the leadership of pharmaceutical sector and pharma industry of India to take care not only of India’s health sector but the whole global needs also in reducing expenditure. Yes, our leadership is in generic sector and we are third in volume and tenth in value and one in every third tablet in the world is from Indian pharma sector. We celebrate that success. However, our leadership is again limited to generics. Thanks to the 1970 Patents Act and entrepreneurship of our pharma, both private and public pharma industry. Now, with the TRIPS, post-WTO, we had to enter into drug discovery, the so- called innovation which is of very high risk and of high investment. This is where the basic first step is academia-industry interaction. It is in this regard I thank all the 24 institutions who came forward to build this academia-industry linkage and I thank this team-building exercise and it is an opportunity not only for the industry-academia but also among the institutions. For example, sectors like chemical engineering, IT, computing and so many other institutions are more today with collaboration. It is in this context that I expressed my profound gratitude to the Secretary to President, Shrimati

Omita Paul, for gracing the occasion and addressing this very important gathering and most importantly planning and organising this Visitor’s Conference which is the first of its kind.

Madam, we are highly grateful to you. Your focus is on four issues - Industry-Academia linkage; building innovation culture; how best we can follow up our MoUs on whatever has been done; and, symbiotic relationship. Madam, I am sure, these words will be carried by all of us.

We sincerely thank the Confederation of Indian Industry for facilitating 26 MoUs. We also thank the Pharma Department for 17 MoUs. We sincerely thank and extend deep sense of appreciation for Shri Sumit Mazumder, President, CII, Ms. Shobana Kamineni, Vice-President, CII, and Shri Chandrajit Banerjee, DG, CII, for steering and setting the tone for this industry-academia linkage.

I take this opportunity to extend my gratitude and thanks to Prof. Sudhir Kumar Sopory, Vice-Chancellor, JNU, Prof. Devang V. Khakhar, Director, IIT- Bombay, Dr. Swapan Bhattacharya, Director, NITK-Surathkal, for providing insight and offering suggestions as well as best practices.

On behalf of the Government of India, I thank all the industry leaders and academic institutions for enriching this event as well as for joining the question-answer session.

I sincerely thank my own Secretary in absentia, Dr. V.K. Subburaj, Department of Pharmaceuticals; Shri Vinay Sheel Oberoi, Secretary, Department of Higher Education, for gracing the occasion and making this event successful.

Finally, our hearty thanks to Mr. Suresh Yadav, OSD to the President of India, for his dedication and motivation, for pursuing matters on a day-to-day basis and his team and President’s Secretariat. We thank all the media friends for gracing the occasion. I would like to end my Vote of Thanks with great applause for everyone. Thanks.

SHRI SURESH YADAV: We will meet after ten minutes for the second session. Thank you very much.

*****

TALK BY PERSONS OF EMINENCE 04 November, 2015, 1740 – 1920 hrs (Auditorium, Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Centre)

SHRI SURESH YADAV: Respected Professor C.N.R. Rao, Shri Kailash Satyarthi, and, Professor M.S. Swaminathan, Secretary to the President, Shrimati Omita Paul, Vice-Chancellors and Directors of the Institutes of Higher Learning, distinguished guests, Ladies and Gentleman, good evening and a warm welcome to this second session of the day.

Today, we are fortunate to have with us three great Indian minds who have provided transformative leadership to the people of the country through their works.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Secretary to the President has mentored this entire Conference and she has conceptualized the idea of having this session in the Visitor’s Conference. It is my privilege to invite her for the welcome address.

SHRIMATI OMITA PAUL: Professor M.S. Swaminathan, Founder Chairman and Chief Mentor, M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation; Professor C.N.R. Rao, National Research Professor and Honorary President and Linus Pauling Research Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research; Shri Kailash Satyarthi, Nobel Laurate, leaders of the institutions of higher learning, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, a good evening and a very warm welcome to the second session of the day.

How does one introduce two living legends and the one well on the way of becoming a legend, especially so when you have grown up holding in great awe the magnificent work done by these two stalwarts in the field of agriculture and science? I first met Prof. Swaminathan almost 27 years ago in the Planning Commission when we were working for the formulation of the Eighth Five Year Plan. Looking at the volume of work that he has done and the institutions that he has built, I used to wonder how one person can trigger such enormous changes.

Variously described as the Father of Green Revolution, Father of Economic Ecology and as a world scientist of rare distinction, Professor Swaminathan continues to blaze new trails for the future growth of our agricultural economy. It was his letter to the then Finance Minister, Shri Pranab Mukherjee, in 2009 which led to the launch of second ‘Green Revolution’ in the eastern regions of the country. It is a rare privilege to be here to hear him speak.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I grew up in the years when Pt. Nehru’s call for developing a scientific temper served as a lodestar for young students. Actually, it was because of this that I chose to study Science for my graduation and post graduation. I did my Masters in Chemistry. I hesitate to say that because I know that Prof. Rao is a man from Chemistry and my

46 knowledge of Chemistry today is almost zero, but well, I did my Masters in Chemistry. Prof. Rao rode as a colossus on the science scene both as a scientist, his specialisation was solid, state and materials chemistry, and as an educationist, his contribution to the scientific education is enormous. He is a Bharat Ratna because he has really helped in inculcating scientific temper in our students at graduate and post graduate levels. He built powerful institutions and took the lead in policy formulation for setting up of future IISERs. IISE, Bangalore, an institution that he has mentored for many decades, is the first one to enter the top 150 Institutions in the US international rankings for the year 2015. We are fortunate to have him speak to us today.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Nobel Laureate, Shri Kailash Satyarthi, has been a crusader for the rights of the children for the last 35 years. The grassroot movement founded by him, Bachpan Bachao Andolan, has liberated more than 84,000 children and developed a successful model for their education and rehabilitation. He is also the founding President of the Global Campaign for Education, a civil society movement working to end the global education crisis. A powerful orator, Shri Satyarthi, has been the architect of the single largest civil society network for the most exploited children, the Global March against Child Labour. We are honoured to have him with us.

Ladies and Gentlemen, at the time of setting the agenda for this Conference, we felt that the leaders of our academic institutions who are tasked with the responsibility of grooming an entire generation of youngsters would be well served by listening to and interact with these three mighty minds who have redefined the definition of excellence and have set new benchmarks in their respective fields of endeavour. We have, therefore, for this session, not confined ourselves to any specific topic, but have left it to our eminent speakers to decide on how best they would like to share their life experiences with us and broaden our understanding of the human mind and its limitless capacity to transcend barriers in the quest of excellence. With these words, I leave the floor to these three doyens.

SHRI SURESH YADAV: Thank you, Madam. Ladies and Gentlemen, it is my proud privilege to invite Shri Kailash Satyarthiji, Nobel Laureate and the founder of Bachpan Bachao Andolan, who is a symbol of hope for billions of children across the globe.

NOBLE LAUREATE (SHRI KAILASH SATYARTHI): Respected Shri Rao, Prof. Swaminathan, Mrs. Paul, Vice-Chancellors from various Universities, dear sisters and brothers, first of all, I would like to congratulate and applaud the effort of Hon’ble Rashtrapatiji for bringing together some of the best minds of this country.

You are the beacons of excellence and change. I was even thrilled to know that it is for the first time that not only the Central Universities but IITs, IIMs, together with some of the top industrialists, are assembled here to shape the future of our country.

Dear friends, whenever I travel abroad and meet some of the top scientists, doctors, engineers, IT professionals, industrialists and the leaders of academic institutions, who are Indians, that makes me proud. I feel immense proud meeting and talking to them. But where does the secret of this lie? I am so pleased and humbled that I am standing in the midst of those people who are the creators of all those academicians, leaders and business people in the world. From all your universities, from all your institutions of higher learning, these young people have been raised. They have not landed from the heaven but they have flown from your land. So, I would like to congratulate you at the outset. Since I am standing with great minds, it reminds me the words of wisdom from the old sage of Rig Veda. The very first mantra of Rig Veda is very appropriate even in these times and it will remain forever. It says: “अ嵍निमीडे पुरोहित륍 यज्ञय देवमृ嵍ववज륍। िोतारं रविधातम륍 ।” It has a great meaning. It says all those who are good doers, those who want to do good for the society, come together. They collectively light the fire of knowledge like yagya, the fire of knowledge together, and its outcome is multiplied, scaled up, shared and eventually it is translated into wealth and prosperity for that. When we are living in the age of knowledge economy and we all aspire for higher economic growth – everywhere in the world and in our country also – this vedic rishi or sage has incorporated the value of education, the value of knowledge for the creation of wealth, for the betterment of entire humanity, and that is much more universal. When we talk of India acquiring the space in every sphere of life in the world and we are one of the fastest emerging leaders in economy, I strongly feel that the sustainable economic growth requires the leadership in knowledge and also the leadership in morals. So, India has all the potential to become a leader in economy, a leader in knowledge and a moral leader. We have all the ingredients. When I am talking about all these young people who change the image of our country globally, they were fortunate to get good quality education here as well as they continued with that. They built up through their own excellence and through their own efforts. Their number is not too much. Hardly ten to fifteen per cent of these young people have been given that opportunity of best quality education. But let us imagine, if all Indians, hundred per cent children of India, are given this opportunity, if they are ensured good quality education with inclusion and equity, what kind of India will we be able to make? That is why I said at the outset that we have all the ingredients to make India the world leader in all three aspects of life.

Dear sisters and brothers, millions of children don’t have that opportunity. They are denied education; they are denied health; they are denied their present and future; and even their childhood and their dreams. You might have seen children on the streets. Some of you might have taken tea or coffee in those restaurants where the children work. You might have seen child beggars and some of you might have given them alms. You might have enjoyed hospitality in those houses and hotels where the children are working as domestic help. You might be wearing shoes, clothes and other things which might have been made by the children. Whose children are they? These children are trafficked and sold in lesser prices than animals. Millions of our children are trapped in a situation of health hazard, confined to work places with no freedom to go, no freedom even to meet and talk and go back to their parents. They are working in the mines and factories in fields and farms. Whose children are they? They are Bharat Mata’s daughters and sons. And we are responsible for them. All of you are the leaders of excellence in your own fields. But millions of children are left out like that. And if they are not given good quality education, then we are not going to create a sustainable society, a just and peaceful world, and a peaceful India. We all know how important education is for the children. Education is a human right. And luckily India has a Constitutional right to education -- a human right which is the key to the rest of the rights. Education is the most effective equaliser, enabler that opens up opportunities. Sometimes I say that when a girl enters a classroom and the door of that school opens for a girl, then millions of doors of opportunities open in her life and the life of the whole nation.

I was reading the agenda. I found that the gender equity in higher education is one of the topics of this discussion today, tomorrow and day after tomorrow. When we rescue a girl, who has been trafficked from Assam to work as a domestic help in Delhi and sold two or three times, and when the people like us try to hand her over to her parents, she feels shy and does not want to touch her own father who has been waiting for her for the last several years. This is just one story. When I freed a girl in Delhi who was trafficked six years ago from Assam, I found that she did not want to meet her father because she felt that she was dirty because she was sexually abused and raped by the traffickers and by the slave masters several times. The father was desperate and crying and weeping to hug her. When I told her that now is the time to go to school since she is free, she said, “I am no more a child.” If a 14-year old girl or a 15-year old girl is sold two-three times in the largest democracy of the world and if she feels that she is no more a child, then we have to ask ourselves what we are doing for our children and what kind of nation we are building. Of course, a lot of progress has been made in the field of education, in the field of child rights, in the field of child labour, in the field of health and malnutrition and every field.

But, even today, India has the largest number of children suffering malnutrition; India has the largest number of children working in full-time jobs and children who are trafficked. So, knowledge is the answer to these problems. We have to invest more on education for children, but that education is not possible without freeing them from those hard situations in which they are trapped.

Dear friends, I am not an expert on higher education. But, I know that the Indian institutes of higher learning are working hard to reach to that level of excellence where you can compete with the rest of the world. That is possible. We have great minds here. We have a Government which is trying to encourage this. We have the people like Bharat Ratna Rao Saheb and Prof. Swaminathan sitting here, who are going to speak to you later. If I start learning from each one of you, it will take me hundreds of years of learning in higher education and education as such. But when I myself gave up the career of electrical engineer and I was teaching high-voltage engineering in Bhopal University back in 1980-81, this was a non-issue. But I feel that the Indian soil and the Indian heritage taught us to question the evils around us. I started questioning it when I was only five or five-and-a-half years old. The very first day of my schooling began with questioning and I asked a question when I saw a boy of my age sitting outside the school gate. I asked my teacher, “Sir, why is he not with the rest of us in the school?” He said that they were poor children. My Headmaster, my parents and my relatives told me the same thing, but I was not convinced. One day I asked the father of the boy who was also sitting along side. They were cobblers looking at us whether we were going to give them some job. I asked, ’Sir, why are you not sending your son to school? बाबू जी, आप अपिे बेटे को कूल 啍यⴂ ििĂ भेजते?’ The man stood up and said, ‘No, no. You are Babuji. We are not Babuji.’ In shock, he said, ’I had never thought about it. I started working since my childhood; so was my father and grandfather and now is my son. Nothing is special in our lives.’ But the second part of his answer was a question and a challenge for me for the rest of my life. He said, ’बाबू जी, िम तो काम करिे के हलए िी पैदा िुए िℂ। Sir, we people are born to work.’ How could I be convinced? Why are some people born to work at the cost of their freedom, future and education? I started helping poor children, but the issue was so close to my heart that I launched a campaign in Delhi and across India to free children from slavery by physical rescue operations in 1981. At that time, it was a non-issue here in our country and elsewhere in the world. Even the notion and the concept of child rights were not yet born. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted only in 1989 and I started my work in 1981. So, the whole decade was to convince and establish in the minds of the people that this is not simply poverty; this is something else, and this is denial of dignity. I raised many questions those days. Based on my own experience, without any

50 research or academic background on that subject, I realised that if the children are allowed to work in such large numbers, they will never be attending schools. So, we lose education and education is key. If so many children are working in full-time jobs and their parents remain jobless – children are preferred because they are the cheap source of labour and their parents and adult family members are not given jobs – then the vicious circle will continue.

Children remain in jobs and exploited and abused, and the whole future of a nation would be ruined like that and not of those children alone, and the parents would remain poor and jobless. So, we tried to build a strong argument that poverty, child labour and illiteracy formed a vicious circle. They have a chicken-and-egg relationship. I come from an engineering background and, hence, I have some rationale in my argument. That was solely picked up the United Nations Agencies, including the World Bank, UNESCO, ILO, and, later on, the UNICEF, and they have gone to researchers and data collections. Then, it has been established that this triangular relationship is a reality. We have to break it by fighting poverty, fighting child abuse and child exploitation and by fighting illiteracy simultaneously. We cannot achieve one without the other. Many people think that we can achieve quality education. How can these children be coming on their own to attend schools? You may open good schools, build good buildings and hire excellent teachers, but who is going to bring those children to schools unless those efforts are not made? And then, we built that argument during the Millennium Development Goals Debate in 1999 and 2000. People listened but there were no takers at the higher level who could influence the political agenda of the United Nations. Thanks to the Noble Committee which had recognised this issue, through me, last year, and I advanced my arguments and my efforts. I was able to meet a number of Presidents, Prime Ministers, U.N. Heads and so on, and, finally, the good news is that all these issues in relation to the welfare of children are incorporated in Sustainable Development Goals. Now, abolition of child labour, modern slavery, human trafficking, violence against children, child marriages are there in the Sustainable Development Goals. I am referring to them here because this Session is also about Sustainable Development. And since the last month only, the international community, through the United Nations, has adopted the new Development Agenda for the future with 17 Sustainable Development Goals, and we have a great opportunity, but, of course, a big challenge. And that challenge cannot be met without a strong education pitch and quality education. That is why, when all these things are coming closer, it has been established that we cannot achieve Sustainable Development Goals without protecting our children from abuses, exploitations and slavery, and unless and until we give them quality education, we cannot do it. It is the goal no.4 in the Sustainable Development goal which asks for inclusive quality and equity in education.

As I said before, I am not an expert on this important subject. But my observations are around three issues and I will sum up with that in two minutes. One is that when we talk of education, I talk of the six e-formulae in education. The first ‘e’ is education. But education should promote five other things. One is employability. The second one is entrepreneurship. The third one is excellence, excellence not only in education but also in all walks of life. Then, the fourth one is equity; we have to advance equity in our society. And the fifth and the most important one is the ethics.

How to advance those values and morals and ethics which bind the society together, which can bring the values of pluralism, which can bring the values of tolerance and mutual respect, which can bring the values of compassion and that compassion could be translated into social good? That is education which is required in our universities; it is required right from the bottom, from the primary and tertiary education to university education that how we can bring all these 6Es.

The second observation is that how we are going to build innovation, critical thinking and creativity as a competition among our students in the universities at higher level, and all higher learning institutions. So, the critical thinking is very important. If we are taught in our schooling, right from our childhood that this is it; if we begin our learning from ‘full stop’, then, we cannot learn. I believe that ‘full stop’ is a death in our learning, and ‘question mark’ is an on-going process. So, in the entire education system, how we keep on questioning many of the things which we have already achieved and established. That critical thinking has to be the part of our whole learning. Sometimes it does not happen. There was a girl, who had been working in bad conditions. Her father wanted to marry her in Rajasthan. Her name is Payal. She is only 13 years old. She was about to be married; her elder sister was also about to be married; and she opposed it. She became a champion and opposed child marriages in her village Hisua in the western part of Rajasthan. There was a lot of hue and cry over this; there was a lot of opposition. But she stood behind her faith and her determination. So, the child marriage for her and her sister was cancelled. Now, not only in her village, but also during the last two years, no child has been married in the neighbouring five or six villages. When President Obama and the First Lady visited India, and they had a courtesy meeting with me and my wife, I brought some children like this girl because she is an icon of hope and success. The First Lady hugged her, kissed her and even took her ring out and gave it to this girl, Payal. So, Payal is pioneer. But I was thinking that if Payal secures 60 or 70 or 75 per cent marks in her higher secondary examination, and goes for admission in a university, where the cut-off mark is 90 per cent or 95 per cent, imagine for a while, who is more important, a girl, who has challenged the centuries-old evil and won the battle in her own way, and she cannot get the

52 admission! So, where is the innovation? Where is the critical thinking? Where are these kinds of courageous people’s encouragements? So, we have to think on it.

And, finally, my observation would be that we have to see how we can encourage and respect the independence of higher learning institutions. It is because if we talk of critical thinking, if we talk of innovation, it is very much needed that the Vice-Chancellors, the Deans, the Professors, the Heads of these institutions feel free to take action and advance critical thinking and these values in their own way. I humbly call upon you that you are the leaders in your own way. You can do many things, and you are now joined by some of the top leaders from the Indian industry. I heard that some MoUs have been signed. So, I can say one thing that each one of you can think of helping us in knowledge building, that includes good research about these children. Child labour, child trafficking, education, health, malnutrition, all these issues are interlinked.

We don’t have much knowledge about it, about the holistic thinking on the issues of children. Thus, it is so fragmented and so compartmentalised. The idea comes to my mind that if 114 universities set up a small cell or a small Chair on protection of children, where you can advance some research through your own students and faculties, it will build a strong argument, it will bring strong data, resource, that could help in changing the fate of the country. And it will help in building more holistic thinking towards children, rather than seeing and thinking in compartments.

Secondly, you can, definitely, encourage your young students to become volunteers in the field of children, in the field of child rights, protection of children and in many other ways. That will also help in creating a better value of global citizenship, mutual caring, mutual respect and linking two different – unfortunately, they are different – constituencies of the have-nots children and the children who are in the better off conditions. So, that always can be done. Since the industry people are sitting there, if some of the industry leaders can help you and can take the initiative in terms of financing for setting up such Chairs in your Universities, then, I am sure that the future of this country through our children would be much more brightened. I sum up by saying that if 15-20 per cent young bright people are given opportunities, they can do, then, let us give chance to all 100 per cent children of our country. It is possible in India. Many people say, Kailashji, you are bringing issues of international things and so on, and working in so many countries, but I always reply with a poetry, which says, ‘वति की रेत मुझे एहियााँ रगििे दे’ the soil and mud of the land, let me crush my feet on it ‘वति की रेत मुझे एहियााँ रगििे दे, मुझे यकीि िै हक पािी यिĂ से हिकलेगा’। We are going to make a great India together. Thank you so much.

SHRI SURESH YADAV: Thank you, Sir. Ladies and Gentlemen, Prof. C.N.R. Rao is a leading scientist of the world who believes not in the scientific discovery but in actually bringing science to the masses. It is my proud privilege to invite Prof. C.N.R. Rao, Bharat Ratna recipient, to deliver his talk. Please welcome him with a big round of applause.

NATIONAL RESEARCH PROFESSOR AND HONORARY PRESIDENT & LINUS PAULING RESEARCH PROFESSOR, JAWAHARLAL NEHRU CENTRE FOR ADVANCED SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH (PROF. C.N.R. RAO): Dr. Swaminathan, Mr. Satyarthi, Ms. Paul, Mr. Yadav and distinguished participants in this Visitor’s Conference, it is a matter of great pleasure to be here. I would like to thank the President for having arranged such an occasion where people from industry, education, particularly, the leading institutions of India, are all together. Let me tell you what is it that I have very special. I am just getting old, that is one thing. I have been doing research in science for the last 64 years, of which 56 years have been sort of a Professor in this country. I am still publishing papers. My 50th book is just coming out. So, I have a lot of feeling about what I am saying. So, what I am going to say in 20 minutes is going to be a capsule of the kind of sentiments, the kind of feelings that I have about science and education in India. When I finished my education, particularly, my degrees and so on, and post doctoral work in the United States and came back in 1959 to join the Indian Institute of Science, conditions in India were terrible. They had just come out of rationing. India was very poor. There was no money for equipment and no money for chemicals. We were going through a very bad time. At that time, I started my career, slowly made the great laboratories, buildings, equipment and a number of things that I can’t bring to recount today except that we, somehow, survived. Slowly, institutions have come up in India. Today, we have many more institutions than when I was young. There was just one university in my State when I was young. There were hardly two seats available—today’s Master Degree – say in Chemistry.

Today, we have lots of opportunities. Therefore, what has happened today? Suddenly, I am going to jump to today’s situation. Today, all the advances were made, institutions were built, but, for the first time, India is facing competition of a kind which it never faced. For those who may not believe me, let me tell you, today it is extremely difficult to publish a good paper in a good journal. Our scientists here will remember that there was a time about ten years ago when I would send a paper to a leading journal and it got published. I have published lots of papers. Today, if you send the same paper, nobody reads it. It is extremely demanding. Our experimentalists, particularly, demand to do the high quality science today. The journals demand a lot. The quality of science that is required is increasing. In addition, what has happened is that all this is because the competition for India has

54 increased. Right in Asia, South Korea, which got freedom at the same time as India, has become a real giant in science. I don’t want to even mention China. The number of scientists they are training, the number of institutions they have created is so enormous that there is no way we can get anywhere near that. So, the quantity of science India does has become small. We still do about three per cent of world’s science. China has almost reached 15 per cent, very close to America. America is about 16-17 per cent of world’s science. China will beat America in the next year or two in quantity. But I am not worried about that. Quantity is not going to be an issue for me because new institutions are coming up in India. I hope many of these will contribute to quantity, at least. But what about quality? The quality in science of India is the one that worries me a lot. We have to do much, much better than what we are doing and much better than what we have thought of if we have to survive in the present scenario. What we mean by quality today is that today many young people get referee-fatigue before you know him. Every paper that they send gets rejected by the referee. There are some journals today which don’t even read the paper. They just send it back without even referring it because there is so much rush of papers, particularly, from China and other places. So, we have to fight this kind of a situation. Now, at the same time, there are people who are saying, “Look, we should have institutions in India. Why can’t we have an IIT like an MIT? We should have a Cambridge University equivalent in India.” Of course, that is true. But it is not easy to do. It is not just money that is required to do this. It is extraordinary effort, human effort that is required. What India requires today is many more institutions of quality. The Government is creating a few here and there. But existing institutions have to improve. Our universities have to come up much higher in quality if we have to contribute to the future of India. Unless we have a number of institutions of high quality, there is no way we can cater to the needs of the large population of young people. In fact, right now that is happening? There are lots of Indians who do want to come back to India but there are not enough institutions to take them. They all want to come to Indian Institute of Science, an IIT, but in IITs or Indian Institute of Science, there won’t be so many jobs. We need other institutions. But they don’t want to go to any other place. Many of the universities have problems which are so severe. They are afraid to go there. So, we have to change our universities. Our universities’ heads here have to make their institutions much better. We have to help them in this. It is not just by investment alone. It is also by human effort. I must also say here, science cannot afford further cuts in budget. The budgets for science have been marginal in India. It is 0.9 per cent of GDP. People don’t like GDP mentioned in Government any more. So, I won’t mention it. I have mentioned already. Anyway, it is a very small amount. Of that, please remember, much of the money that comes for science go to big science, atomic energy, space, etc. The small science gets very little money. But it is the small science that saves the world; it is the small science that has helped human live better. Quality of

55 life, health, agriculture, etc., are all affected by the small science. That is the kind of science I have done all my life. The little laboratories, the universities, research institutions -- that science is now getting enough money, and that is where we have to invest more; and we need industry’s help. Industries contribute almost nothing to science that way because 90 per cent of science money is still coming from Government. We hope that that situation will change. There are many other problems. Suppose we had all the money. Everybody knows that it is not the money alone. The quality of science we do depends on the kind of ideas we have. We must work on the right problems. As Faraday said long ago, “The good science you do depends on the ideas.”

The problem that you pick is more important than working on it. Picking a problem is, in fact, the important thing. A lot of friends of mine in many international communities – I would be honest with you – tell me, ‘Prof. Rao, how come such brilliant young scientists in India work on problems which are no longer of interest?’ We are answering questions that nobody asked. So, why don’t we learn in India to pick the right research problems, which are competitive, which are in the frontline, and we give a tough fight to the rest of the world working on such problems? In fact, it is not enough to quote Faraday, but I must also say, Linus Pauling, my guru, was once asked, ‘Linus Pauling, how come you got this great idea?’ He said, “Look, to have a great idea, you must have many good ideas.’’ You must be having people in search of ideas. In fact, that is what the universities must be, that is what institutions of the kind I belong to should be doing. For instance, IITs have all people looking for ideas. That is where the difference lies between MIT and other institutions like Harvard, Cambridge, where I am still a Professor. There is a large number of people who are in search of ideas in these institutions. We need to have an atmosphere where creating of ideas guides the future. In fact, people talk about innovation. How would innovation come? Is going to the Silicon Valley a good thing? All the ideas in Silicon Valley came from the universities and that is what, in fact, our Prime Minister was told recently. I hope, our educational institutions producing ideas for innovation becomes possible.

Also, our talent search has been marginal. Mr. Sathyarthi talked about one aspect of it. I would go all over India, to Uttarakhand, Kerala, Assam, the North-East, every corner of India, talk to school children all over. The excitement for Science and excitement for knowledge that we find in the poor children of interior India is extraordinary. You don’t see that in Bangalore. Bangalore is a city without a soul already; it is gone. We are all making money. Young boys looking for a future are all in our villages. There must be a Faraday or a Newton somewhere in India, because we have so many children. Sixty per cent of our population is young. There must be a Faraday in India. Where is he? Where is that Newton in India? Where is that Ramanujam

56 in India? We must find that out. We are not doing a good job. We must look for greater talent in interior India.

Well, secondly, there are too many rules. Bureaucrats don’t like to be told that there are too many rules! But the real issue is, Science should have no rules. A man, who is a thinking individual, must be allowed to think and perform as long as he can. Age should be no bar. In fact, people have had some of the most brilliant ideas. My own guru, Sir Nevill Mott, was a great physicist. I would never forget the story of Mott; Mott was a Cavendish Professor of Physics who followed Lawrence Bragg. People used to joke about him in Cambridge saying, Mott is the only Cavendish Professor without a Nobel Prize! He got two in very serious fields. At the age of 65, he took a voluntary retirement. He had two more years of service. He said, ‘I am going to work on a completely different problem which I have never worked on in my life.’ So, after retirement, working on a completely new problem, he got a Nobel Prize, after the age of 65. In fact, he died at the age of 93. The year he died, we had four research publications. So, we had extraordinary people. In fact, I am now 82 and I can tell you, I am giving a tough competition to all the young fellows. I have asked them to compete with me. Let them do it! I think it is that kind of spirit one should have. Why this age in science? In fact, as Kabir Das said, ‘Age is all in the mind’. मि मᴂ गंगा, मि मᴂ काशी, मि मᴂ िाि करो। Everything is there in the mind. I think we need to do something about it. In India, these artificial rules, bureaucracy, should not stop Science.

Talking of funding, funds are being limited and being cut further in institutions. They are short of five crore or ten crore rupees; all small money. All the shortages in institutions, I counted last year, added to less than thousand crore rupees. So, that is all that is required to make these institutions work at the level that they were already working. I am not asking for increased funding. I think we should worry about that.

Well, the future of India lies on a basic, strong foundation of science and higher education. Let me give one example. Singapore, about 15 years ago, only wanted to manufacture and produce goods for commercial and industrial operations. Then Singapore decided that they must do very well in higher education and science. Singapore’s investment in higher education and science is so high that two of its institutions are in top 100 in the world today. We should learn from them. What exactly China did? Everywhere they have workshops to produce goods; everybody is buying Chinese goods. But their investment in education has increased so enormously that they are really competing with the rest of the world. The quality is to improve; still, they are a power to content with. We have to learn that. We have to invest more money and we have to invest in education. The future of India will not be good just by industrial production because this industrial production will depend on future

57 science. Today’s science is tomorrow’s technology. Lots of technologies come very fast and, I think, our industry and education sector work closely. I don’t want to give a long lecture because I was told that I have to finish it in 20 minutes. What I have said is really what I feel. I really suffer when India doesn’t do well in science. I think you should do something about it. I have been told why don’t you work on energy like artificial photosynthesis? So, I decided two years ago that I would work on artificial energy using sunlight. Now, just about six months ago, a famous professor from Israel came and said, “Professor Rao, why are you doing all this?” After all, there is photovoltaic; just electrolyse water and get result. It sounded very good. After all, photovoltaic is also sun energy. So, for last eight months, I worked on a substitute to find a low cost metal free catalyst as good as platinum to electrolyse water. I think we have to take problems of contemporary interest of energy, water and environment and do many of those things. Most important of all, we scientists have to give our heart, forget about everything and work for science. It requires our mind; it requires our heart; it requires everything that we have. Time has come to give. Really, we have to give to this poor country. Whatever I am worth it is this country which has given me and I must do something. That is the feeling that all of us should have in science. Unfortunately, we don’t have time. As Faraday said, time is a very difficult thing. Of all the things, the most difficult thing to get is time. If you want money, you can go to bank; if you want more money, you get a loan; but you cannot borrow time. Time is the one that God Almighty thought is so important. As Faraday said, he gave only limited amount of it to all of us. So, we have to do it very fast. India has about ten years, according to me; maybe fifteen years to compete in science and do as well. We should have twenty- thirty Indian universities in the top 100. That is the kind of universities we should have. Our IITs-universities should be in the top 100 in the world. If that has to be done in the next 10-15 years, we have to work very hard. It is the human element I am talking about; not money. I have already mentioned that we need more money; we need industrial help. But it is the humans that have to do much more; it is the human effort that I am talking about. Suppose, the Government gives everything; industry helps; everybody cooperates. If that happens, it is wonderful. Suppose, it doesn’t happen, still we scientists have to contribute and we have much to do. It is human effort that is very important. I am very hopeful that it would be possible. Why am I saying all this? Well, I remember, Prof. C.V. Raman, who was very fond of me. Prof. M.S. Swaminathan and I were just talking about the old days.

I met him just before he died, in the last meeting of the Indian Academy of Sciences held at Bengaluru. Very few people attended it. He had written to me a personal letter, “Prof. Rao, you must come and give a lecture.” So, I went there. Prof. C.V. Raman was in the front row and there was a small audience. At the end of it, when everything was over, we were having tea or

58 coffee. He said in the typical Raman style, “Prof. Rao, I am now 80 years old. I know I will not live for long. But what bothers me is why India is not in the top countries in science. I feel so bad about that.” Now, I am 82 years old and I feel exactly the same. Why are we not at the top? I know it is shortage of money and other things, but the humans, the scientists are also not enough. I take our community to task. They have not put enough effort.

Well, I must close. The other day, I was reading a biography of Bismillah Khan. I am a great fan of music. He was a very good friend of mine from my student days in Banaras. I am a student of BHU. I cannot forget Bismillah Khan playing shehnai on the banks of Ganges in those days about 60 years ago. About two or three years ago, I invited him to give a concert. In his biography, he says that somebody asked him, “Khan saheb, what is that you pray to God?” He said, “I only pray God that as long as I am alive, let me be in the world of music.” I pray the same way, “Oh God, as long as I am alive, let me be in the world of science.” I hope all scientists do the same. Thank you.

SHRI SURESH YADAV: Thank you, Sir. Ladies and gentlemen, Prof. M.S. Swaminathan has been acclaimed by the Time Magazine as one of the 20 most influential Asians of the 21st century and one of the only three persons from India, the other two being Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore. It is my proud privilege to invite Prof. M.S. Swaminathan to deliver his talk.

FOUNDER CHAIRMAN AND CHIEF MENTOR, M.S. SWAMINATHAN RESEARCH FOUNDATION (PROF. M.S. SWAMINATHAN): Thank you very much Shrimati Omita Paul and our distinguished scientists on the podium, and Vice-Chancellors and Directors who have all assembled here. First of all, I must say that the idea of Visitor’s Annual Conference is an exceedingly good one. He talked about innovation. It is a very important innovation. I think, as all of you have gathered here, I am sure, a lot of sparks, a lot of ideas will come up. I saw the agenda for this Visitor’s Conference and I picked up only one of them because within the time available, with the help of a PowerPoint presentation, I will highlight a few points. The one which attracted me was engagement of institutes of higher learning with country and society for sustainable and inclusive development. There is also one point on gender equality and gender justice, about which Satyarthiji spoke.

Naturally, I want to talk about my own field and go through very fast on what can be done. I was a college student when the Bengal Famine occurred. On the front page of newspaper, The Hindu, of Madras appeared a news item on how many children and women were dying out of starvation. Mahatma Gandhi had said, at that time, that God is Bread and our first duty in independent India is to ensure that this God of Bread is there for everyone. Today, you also know the relationship between nutrition and education. Many of the children, who are undernourished, are just unable to concentrate. In

59 fact, in Tamil Nadu, M.G. Ramachandran, who was the Chief Minister, said that when he was a young boy, he used to go to school with his stomach half- empty. So, he could not concentrate. That is why he wanted to start School Noon Meal Programme, that is, the Universal Meal Programme. So, we now know the importance of nutrition. The interesting thing is that we don’t realise that in the last fifty years, from the Bengal Famine to the Right to Food, we are the only country in the world, which has, by an Act of Parliament, ensured food to everybody who needs it. It is called the Food Security Act. It is a remarkable development. It is the translation from ship to mouth, ships coming from PL48 carrying wheat from the United States, before we could feed our Public Distribution System and to go to the extent of Right to Food, a legal right to food. I don’t think many people realise the significance of this. This has been brought about largely through science, our agricultural universities, and above all, our hard-working farmers, and the Government’s own policy of procurement and pricing.

Assured and remunerative market is the best incentive for a farmer. I am not going into the details of the Act but I am sure that the organizers will provide a copy of the Act to those who want to have the same. Let me come to the important features. The Life Cycle approach to nutrition with special attention to the first 1,000 days, and, more importantly, the senior-most woman in the household is made the custodian of the entire thing. In other words, it is an explicit recognition of the role of the women with regard to food security.

The agenda here talks about sustainable and inclusive development. We all know, from Millennium Development Goals, the United Nations has now shifted to Sustainable Development Goals. There are 17 Goals and 169 Targets. But Goal number 4 is Quality Education, Equity and Access, both in gender terms and in economic terms. It is Equity and Access, Quality Education and Life Long Education. I am reminded of a poem by Gurudev Tagore who said that a candle which is not lit cannot light others, and, a teacher who is not learning cannot teach others.

Professor D.S. Kothari when he was the Chairman of the Education Commission strongly recommended all universities to provide teachers with an opportunity for a life-long learning. The whole area of hunger has been made into five action points by the UN Secretary General and these are called the ‘Five Pillars of the Zero Hunger Challenge’. Firstly, it was first invented by Mr. Lula, President of Brazil who started to form ‘Zero Hunger’. If you now read the document on ‘Zero Hunger’ project, a very large responsibility, particularly, in terms of nutritional literacy education, is not only of the home science colleges but it is of all the universities, and, all of them play an important role.

One of the problems which has cropped up in terms of sustainability is the environmental sustainability. For a very long time, sustainability was measured in economic terms. Even today, a commercial company will measure its success by the dividend it is able to give and the amount of money which they have been able to accumulate and so on. But later on, the environmental sustainability came completely on the developmental agenda. Thanks to early works of Rachel Carson, and, it is known to you, ‘Silent Spring’, and, Albert Schweitzer, who is also Nobel Peace Laureate, like my friend here on my right side. Albert Schewitzer said, “Man has lost the capacity to foresee and to forestall. He will end by destroying the earth.”

I think, that is coming true in many cases. Sustainable Development Goal No. 2 says, ‘End hunger, achieve sustainable food security and improved nutrition, and, promote sustainable agriculture’. There are a number of pathways for sustainable development, what I call, Evergreen Revolution. But since Professor Latha Pillai is sitting here, I must say that IGNOU, the Indira Gandhi National Open University, asked me to develop a course on Sustainability Science. It is an online course. A large number of students have taken it up all over the world. I would like to request all the Vice-Chancellors here to develop a Sustainability Science Course. It can be according to the institution’s own emphasis. Sustainability is everywhere. In fact, Social Sustainability Concept was introduced by Shrimati Indira Gandhi at Stockholm Conference. She said, “If you do not care for the poor, how you are going to be sustainable.” So, today, we have economic sustainability, environmental sustainability and social sustainability. All of them have to be put into the Sustainability Science course.

I coined the term ‘Evergreen Revolution’ largely because the Green Revolution was considered to have a number of environmental implications. Evergreen Revolution means that the world requires 50 per cent more rice in 2030 than in 2004 with approximately 30 per cent less arable land of today. In other words, only a vertical growth in productivity has to go, not horizontal growth.

Mainstream ecology in technology development and dissemination is the road to sustainable agriculture. When I was in the Union Planning Commission, now the name is changed, we thought it is very important for universities to play a greater role in our developmental agenda, particularly in terms of sustainable development. At least, three projects were introduced in the Plan. One is the Himalayan Eco Development, starting from Gangotri and going up to sagar, the whole area. At that time there were 18 Universities. These 18 Universities agreed to come together and start a programme for the Himalayan Eco Development. Similarly, the other project was Conservation of the Ganga, the Ganga we talk about today. There were a number of Universities along the Ganges. They came together, and it was published by

61 the Planning Commission called Universities and Development. I would like you to go through it, if possible. The third joint activity by Universities was the Western Ghats Development. All Universities along the Western Ghats started together a programme. It is a well-known quotation from Jawaharlal Nehru in his last will and testament when he said, ‘The Ganges, above all the rivers of India, which has held India’s heart captive and drawn uncounted millions to her banks.’ You know only Kumbh Mela and so on. Enormous numbers of people go there. ‘It is the story of India’s civilization and culture, of the rise and fall of empires, of great and proud cities, of the adventure of man…….’ The Supreme Court has pointed out that in spite of enormous amount of expenditure, still Ganga water is not potable, it can’t be drunk as it is unless you boil it because the point pollution can be controlled, but the non-point pollution is largely caused by the human beings and it can be controlled only by social mobilisation and education. That is where the Universities along with the NSS volunteers came forward along the Ganga to take up a longitudinal work. It cannot be done. One group of NSS will come; another group of NSS will come and so on. Over a long period of time, you develop a method by which all people going to the Ganga become aware of the need not to pollute the area.

The Green Revolution itself was a product of important genetic transformation. New genes, semi dwarf, were introduced both in wheat and rice. It happened, more or less, at the same time for wheat and rice. The genes in wheat came from Japan; the genes in rice came from China.

Today, if you want to take part in the Zero Hunger Challenge, there are three dimensions of hunger the Universities in its surroundings will have to handle. One is under nutrition. This is what is being addressed in the Food Security Act. Once the Food Security Act becomes operational all over the country, under-nutrition may not be a problem. Another is protein hunger. Yesterday, I read somewhere that ten million tons of pulses will have to be imported. I was reminded of import of ten million tons of wheat in 1966 under the PL 480 Programme. So, protein deficiency has become more serious. And micronutrient deficiency, called hidden hunger, is caused by inadequate consumption of Vitamin A, Vitamin B12, iron, iodine, zinc and so on. So, if your Universities are going to develop in your neighbourhood the Zero Hunger Programme, one has to look at the under-nutrition, which can be overcome by mobilising already on-going Government programmes, protein deficiency, the Tamil Nadu Government has just announced a very low price for pulses, and the micronutrient deficiency. All the three have to be taken care of. You can have three different approaches. One is bio fortification. I will mention the bio fortification in terms of what universities can do. It can be bio fortified plants like moringa, the ordinary drumstick, which is very rich in micronutrients. For example, sweet potatoes, there are new varieties of sweet potatoes with very

62 high Vitamin A. There are nutri-millets and fruits also. You can also do bio- fortified varieties by genetic breeding, by Mendelian breeding or you can also do it by means of genetic modification.

This was done by Ingo Potrykus in the case of rice called the Golden Rice but that led into a lot of trouble. What we are doing at my foundation in Chennai is in the places where there is high malnutrition burden, we are trying to appeal to colleges there or schools even to put genetic gardens of bio fortified plants. It is 150th Anniversary of Gregor Mendel’s genetic laws. Today, if you look at Moringa, there is 25 times iron in spinach, 17 times calcium in milk and so on. Nature has provided very rich and wonderful plants but those plants will have to be used.

You know how much diversity is there in millets. If you go to any of our tribal areas, millets are what we call as climate smart. They already have rich diversity but many of these are conserved by women. Women have been the greatest conservers. This is in Koraput in Odisha, which has been declared by a few as a global important agricultural heritage site. These are all women belonging to different tribes. There are nine different tribes. They have conserved different kinds of plants. You can see this Kandha. They have converted 124 medicinal plants. They have conserved medicinal plants but they know exactly which plant to use for which purpose. We call them the genome saviours. I was very happy when this time the Nobel in medicine was given to three persons. One of them happens to be a Chinese woman and her major contribution was the anti-malarial drug Artemisnin which was developed by her and has a herbal origin. It came from a plant. I hope our AYUSH and others will provide greater support to universities. They should work with universities, botany departments because formerly we used to have botanical gardens and conservation of gene banks through the universities. This one here, those who can see the bottom, is the Svalbard. Life-saving seeds are preserved there at a permafrost condition. A similar one has been developed by the DRDO in our country at Chang La at Ladakh in the Himalayas. When I was a young college student, most of the universities and colleges had good botanical gardens. Gradually, the support was not available to these botanical gardens and these botanical gardens have gone. Look at the Kew Botanical Garden. I will just give one example from Kew. They introduced natural rubber into Sri Lanka, India and so on, in 1875 by Sir Henry Wickham and you know the role of natural rubber today. Fortunately, synthetic rubber does not have the same properties. There is a lot of opposition to genetic modification. This is a recent example in the Philippines where Golden Rice was uprooted. Therefore, the point I want to make is universities and scientific departments must have a closer relationship. That is the agenda here – a closer relationship with the people. There is no use in saying you do not know. You cannot tell in democracy that you are an ordinary person and you do not

63 know. We should make them know if you think the GM is good then it is important to carry conviction with people. If you think nuclear power is good, at Kudankulam there was a lot of problem, particularly, after what happened in Fukushima. They were worried about the safety and so on. You have to ensure that safety and people should be convinced that they would be safe. There is one point I want to make. Recently, I think, Nature or Science had an editorial on the need for scientists and universities getting closer to society in terms of knowledge, sharing and so on. Climate change is a mega catastrophic agent. There is an increase in main temperature by 2 degrees more. Now, they say 3 degrees more will come as an average in which case about 7-8 million tonnes of wheat production will come down. There are differential impacts. There are countries where, like Canada for example, Saskatchewan and others will benefit if the temperature goes up because the duration of the crops will increase. In our country, the duration will come down. Therefore, it is very important to prepare for it. Government announced on the day before Gandhi Jayanti, what you call India’s Nationally Determined Contribution, to reduce by 2030 the emission intensity of the GDP by 32 to 35 per cent from 2005 level; to generate about 40 per cent of electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel. This can be done only by mobilising nuclear power, solar power, wind, biomass and biogas and, of course, ocean and thermal also is possible because we have nearly 8,000 kilometres of shoreline. That also can be done. These are areas where a lot of fundamental work will have to be done and that can be done only by the universities.

The commercial companies take over later on when it is ready for application. But the basic science has to be done only by the universities. When I came to Tamil Nadu to set up a centre, I found that all the mangrove forests were being cut. Sundarbans, Odisha and Tamil Nadu have large mangrove areas. We started saving these.

Ninety-seven per cent of the world’s water is sea water. When Gandhiji launched Salt Satyagraha, Dandi March, he said it could not be taxed. It is a public resource. It is a social resource and not a private resource. Today, it is possible to do seawater farming. One area has done it through entirely farmers’ work. I am saying this because Prof. C.N.R. Rao experienced tsunami. He told me that he was almost gone that day in Sri Lanka. Tsunami came with a powerful force. Nobody thought that it would come. People started getting afraid. Small fishermen would not go to the sea. Kuttanad people in Kerala started 150 years ago below sea level farming technique. I am happy that the Government of Kerala recently sanctioned an International Research and Training Centre for below sea level farming which will be put up somewhere in Kumarakom. It has got fish. It has got rice. It has got coconut.

I mentioned earlier a fisherman who lost his wife in tsunami. He was afraid of going into the sea. But now he carries a mobile phone and through

INCOIS, one of the institutions of the Ministry of Earth Sciences, in Hyderabad, it is possible to give them information about the heights of the waves, location of fish shoals, and so on.

As I said, if you want to educate the society, education of women is very important for that. We, therefore, started the Jamsetji Tata National Virtual Academy. He was responsible for the Indian Institute of Sciences. There are about 2,000 academicians. Their education is up to class eight or class ten. They have mastered digital technology. Our former President, whom we lost recently, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, was fond of this academy. When we had the first convocation, he came and asked me, “Swaminathan, will you call me for the second convocation also?” I told him that normally we call different people for different convocation. He said, ‘You make an exception and call me for the second convocation.’ He did come in Hyderabad. A remarkable man who could appreciate it. He said, ‘This academy represents the core competence of rural India.’ The reason I am saying this is because for a long time, we have neglected what is called traditional wisdom, farmers’ wisdom and local women’s wisdom. Fortunately, the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad is now developing the whole database.

There are a lot of unfinished challenges. I started by talking about Zero Hunger Project. Today, this is one of the greatest challenges. We are ranked 80 out of 104 countries. As per the 2015 Global Hunger Index, 39 per cent of the under five children are stunted. If you are going to develop a sustainability science course, I would request you to go through what has been done by the Indira Gandhi National Open University. It wanted us to develop a course and then modify apparently because we want to take part in the Sustainable Development Decade. It is very important to have a sustainability science course in our universities and colleges. That can vary from place to place. But that should include overcoming hunger.

Finally, today, people talk about the Young Scientists. A mention was made by Prof. C.N.R. Rao and Shri Kailash Satyarthi. I think this is from Visva Bharati where our President himself went. He attaches a lot of importance to this issue of the Young Scientists. Visva Bharati started Indian Youth Science Congress. Dr. Parasuraman, who is one of the catalysts of this, is also here. In the main Science Congress, young people don’t get so much opportunity. Except post recession, they don’t get so much opportunity.

They don’t get so many opportunities. I think it is important to have methods by which our universities can provide really critical opportunities for stimulating the young minds, recognising young minds, recognising their contribution and encouraging them to go further and further. Again thank you, Omitaji, for asking me to speak on this occasion. Thank you all.

PRESENTATION MADE BY PROF. M.S. SWAMINATHAN FOUNDER CHAIRMAN AND CHIEF MENTOR M.S. SWAMINATHAN RESEARCH FOUNDATION

Visitor’s Annual Conference Rashtrapati Bhavan New Delhi, 4 November 2015

M S Swaminathan

Role of Botanical Gardens

Introduction of rubber in South Asia from Kew in 1875 by Sir Henry Wickham led to a multi-billion dollar industry

Genetically Modified Golden Rice : Trial Site Vandalized in Bicol, Philippines

Strengthen Public Understanding of Science

Source: Rice Today, IRRI, Oct-Dec 2013, Vol.12, No.4

SHRI SURESH YADAV: Ladies and Gentlemen, we have some time for interaction with our distinguished speakers today. Those who are interested in raising some questions or making some observations may do so after identifying himself or herself and after indicating to whom you want to raise that particular point. Now, the floor is open.

QUESTIONER: My question is to Kailashji. You mentioned an incident of you being a five-year old and a five-year old cobbler’s son not having access to education. In the context of Right to Education, which is now a law, whereby 25 per cent seats are reserved for underprivileged, have things changed or are you confident that things will change?

SHRI KAILASH SATYARTHI: Definitely, there is a significant progress since the law has been enacted in India. But, when it comes to inclusion, quality and equity, these three aspects, which are now included in the Sustainable Development Goals agenda, are not very well taken care at the ground level. So, a lot of work has to be done to achieve quality, equity and inclusion in education system. As far as this is concerned, actually, many people will be surprised to know that this issue was taken up in the Supreme Court of India by the association of private schools that they do not want to adhere to this 25 per cent reservation for the categories below poverty line and the left-out children. So, my organisation, Bachpan Bachao Andolan, has fought against them in the court and so far, they have not succeeded. But, in many places, wherever civil society is active, it has been able to get it done. Normally, the

80 parents of such poor or deprived children are not so capable and not so much knowledgeable that they can knock the door of those schools and get admission for their children in the good private schooling system. But, wherever the people are vigilant and active, it has been possible.

QUESTIONER: My question is to Kailashji. All Central institutions of higher learning are producing good quality engineers and scientists, but all our talent has been attracted by other countries. So, my point is, our Indian industries are not able to attract them. If you see, Microsoft CEO, Google CEO and other CEOs are all Indians. We are the IT hub. Yet, we are unable to attract our Indian talent from other countries.

SHRI KAILASH SATYARTHI: I agree with you partially because it was a situation in the past. I have my personal experience. When I used to travel abroad 10-15 years ago, many of the young people were sitting in the same plane and when I asked as to where were they going, they said that they were going to join a job somewhere in the US or Germany or England. But, now, I see that the trend has reversed. I see that there are a lot of young people who are coming back to India and want to settle down here because they see a lot of opportunities here but it is not enough. I think we have to make more investment in education in higher learning institutions. We have to make more investment in research and we have to give them more respect and full opportunities, not just make opportunities, so that they can feel more comfortable and free to deliver coming back home. So, things are definitely changing and I am sure in 5-10 years’ time, we will see a much more stronger reverse trend.

CHIEF ECONOMIST, ADITYA BIRLA MANAGEMENT CORPORATION PVT. LTD. (SHRI AJIT RANADE): I am from the Aditya Birla Group. I would, first of all, thank all the speakers. My question is for Prof. Swaminathan. Prof. Swaminathan, in the Western world, we have this strange problem of obesity. I believe, in the United States, in more than 50 per cent of the population, there is obesity. And we talk about India where we have malnutrition, anaemia and underweight. Is there some global approach to this where we have, simultaneously, obesity and malnutrition? What are your thoughts in this unique challenge to the modern world?

PROF. M.S. SWAMINATHAN: Obesity is also considered to be, today, a symptom of malnutrition. When you see malnutrition figures, they put it as those who are undernourished and those who are not able to have enough calories. So, those who are suffering from obesity has also a different kind of malnutrition, that is, too much of calories and not enough of nutrition. But the only way is education. Today people have been talking about education. As I mentioned earlier also, even in the matter of Ganga, you can have a number

81 of restrictions; you can have regulations; you can put up a few people in prison, but, ultimately, education and social mobilisation will be the ones which can give the results. So, gradually, I think, the world is very conscious today of nutrition. Formerly, agriculture nutrition was separate. But today, they have come together. There is more and more understanding that nutrition is fundamental to your ability to perform. But whether you want to perform in schools, colleges or your workplace, balanced nutrition is important.

SHRI SWAPAN DATTA: I am from Visva Bharati. My question is to Prof. C.N.R. Rao. As you mentioned about the ranking of Indian Institutions and Universities to be below 200 being a difficult one, the Hon’ble President is always asking for a better ranking. Now, as we see, we have very little trust with the Indian science system and the bureaucracy, the process of approval, the lowest quotation system signs and so on. So, when we have to improve this particular system, as, in the Western world, you know that the Max Planck Institute, ETH, Zurich or many other institutions have such tremendous freedom of giving scientific community to do science and the project leader is given full freedom to conduct science which is, totally, absent in India, is there any suggestion that you could make to change this system?

PROF. C.N.R. RAO: I just mentioned about bureaucracy. There are many things like this. What you mentioned is only one. There are procedures, auditing procedures and so on, and we want our scientific institutions to be different. But what I am talking about is that there is not a human effort where, for example, nobody is talking about our good Universities to change the curricula, the kind of course packages that we offer to students. You go to most Universities and they still give this three-subject package and the bachelor’s degree. It is outdated. Ninety per cent of the Institutions in India have outdated curricula. I am still a Professor in Cambridge and the Oxford University of California, and I am telling you that the kind of courses, that we are offering, is totally outdated. All these can be done without any costs, where without any costs, a major improvement can be brought in education. That is what we, as Professors and scientists, must do. In addition, of course, the Government must help in decreasing the bureaucracy, auditing, purchase rules and so on and then bringing in more investment in infrastructure and all that. We have not done that. Why is it that we are not improving what we are teaching in classrooms?

QUESTIONER: I have a comment for Shri Satyarthi. He made a very strong point on ethics. But I don’t think that in the current educational system, ethics have been left with any place. Can you make a suggestion for all the Heads of Institutions, who have gathered here as to how to get ethics into the main curriculum and how to inculcate zero tolerance to corruption? Today we are having a debate on intolerance. But we have been too tolerant to corruption,

82 and we don’t mind it at all. How can we make a nation of zero tolerance to corruption?

SHRI KAILASH SATYARTHI: There is no readymade formula because the conventional teaching methods maybe by our faith leaders, faith institutions, maybe by our teachers, did not succeed actually in the present time with the young generation. But let me tell you that the young generation in India and elsewhere in the world is not only full of enthusiasm and energy but also full of idealism and a hunger to do something good and prove themselves better. Perhaps, we are not able to tap properly that hunger and that sense of idealism. They wanted to do something good for the society, which we are not able to do. So, we have to devise those methods, not simply in curricula but in action, as I was mentioning that maybe some of those children, some of those young people in the universities could be exposed to some of those problems and challenges in the society, and they have to see and learn that how they can meet those challenges and solve them so that they can become the change-makers and problem-solvers, and in that process, they can be more ethical than simply teaching them the ethics through the curricula. So, how to engage them as volunteers? I have seen that a number of young people come from all across the world to work with us in India, and when they go back, they feel more associated with the society in their own country and globally they become more responsible citizens. So, I think the responsible citizenship or global citizenship value will definitely help in bringing larger accountability and transparency in the society, and that will definitely result in ethical and moral values, besides other things.

SHRI GAUTAM SHROFF: We have heard a lot today about science and engineering. I think most of us are engineers, including myself. Satyarthiji mentioned things which are not about science. So, the question is to him, to Prof. Rao and Dr. Swaminathan also. What is the role and the focus we should be paying in arts and humanities, the values, ethics, music, literature? Is science the only solution to our problems? Are you giving enough educational focus in these areas?

PROF. C.N.R. RAO: I do believe that our course package, the way we give courses, the way we give exams, today is not conducive to the kind of education that you would like to see and I would like to see. In fact, we must have more flexible system of education where people can take courses of different types. For example, MIT is purely engineering institute, but they also have wonderful undergraduate education where people study all kinds of other things. In fact, what is amazing is that some of the technical courses or technical degree programmes have enough of humanities, enough of economics, enough of psychology, literature in many of the courses. In fact, I will tell you a one-minute story. A very close friend of mine did a B.A. English

83 in Harvard, as he wanted to become an English teacher. Then, he said, ‘B.A. is not enough, let me do M.A. in English’. Then, he did M.A. in English. Then, he said, ‘Actually, I do not like English, what I want to do is Biology or Medicine’. Then, he took three courses or six courses in Biology and then went to Columbia and did an M.D. in Medicine. Then, he became a Medical Doctor. Actually, he spent one-and-a-half years in India as an intern many years ago. Then, he went back. Several years later, he did a lot of research in cancer and got a Nobel Prize. He is a very close and good friend of mine, he is now the Director of the Cancer Research Institute in the United States, and his name is Harold Varmus. This is possible in America, where the course programme is such that people can go from one to another. You study science, become a journalist. After all, that is the kind of education we should have. Even in IITs, making them engineers with a capital ‘E’ and a scientist with a capital ‘S’ is not what I am talking about.

SHRI SURESH YADAV: Ladies and Gentlemen, I am sorry that we have to stop this interactive session. I know many of you have a large number of questions. So, I hope that you will take forward during the dinner time. Before I proceed, I would like to request you to give a big round of applause to all our three great speakers, great Indian minds. As a mark of our respect and appreciation to the distinguished guests, I request the Secretary to the President to kindly present mementos; first to Prof. C.N.R. Rao, to Shri Kailash Satyarthi and to Prof. M. S. Swaminathan. Thank you Madam. Ladies and Gentlemen, with this we come to an end of this session. I thank all of you for your active participation and cooperation. Now, I request you to kindly proceed towards the Ceremonial Hall for the banquet hosted by the Hon’ble President. Thank you once again.

(The Conference is then adjourned for the day)

*****

EXCHANGE OF MoUs BETWEEN INDUSTRY AND ACADEMIC INSTITUTIONS 04 November, 2015, 2000 – 2030 hrs (Ceremonial Hall, Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Centre)

DR. THOMAS MATHEW : Good Evening !

Hon’ble President of India, Hon’ble Ministers, Vice Chancellors & Directors of Institutes of Higher Learning, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I Welcome you all to this Session of Exchange of MoUs between Industry and Academic Institutions. Today, we have industry representatives and academic leaders, who have worked over months to conclude Memoranda of Understanding which will provide an eco-system for cooperation between industry and academia.

I extend a warm welcome to Noble Laureatue, Shri Kailash Satyarthi, Prof. CNR Rao and Prof. M.S. Swaminathan for being with us this evening.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

During this Conference, 43 Memoranda of Understanding have been concluded and signed. These MoUs will be exchanged in the presence of the Hon’ble President.

Now, I request Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi Director from IIT Madras and Mr B Thiagarajan Executive Director & President- AC&R Products Business from Blue Star Limited to exchange their MoU on Research partnerships, faculty exchanges and student internships.

[Exchange of MoU]

Now, I request Prof. Chetan Vaidya, Director from School of Planning & Architecture, Delhi and again Mr B Thiagarajan from Blue Star Limited to exchange their MoU on Research partnerships, faculty exchanges and student internships.

[Exchange of MoU]

Now, I request Prof Indranil Manna, Director from IIT Kanpur and Mr Sudhir Shenoy CEO from Dow Chemical International Private Limited to exchange their MoU on Evaluating use of various technologies in the field of water, nanotechnology, electronics, catalysts and polymers.

[Exchange of MoU]

I again request Prof Indranil Manna from IIT Kanpur and Mr Sunil Khanna, President & Managing Director from Emerson Network Power (India) Private Limited to exchange their MoU on Product design, development and design validation for AC Power, DC Power Solutions and Precision Cooling solutions for Data centre, Telecom and IT/ ITES applications.

[Exchange of MoU]

Now, I request Prof Ratnam V. Raja Kumar, Director from IIT Bhubaneswar and Mr D S Ravindra Raju, Whole time Director from Paradeep Phosphates Ltd. (PPL) to exchange their MoU on Improvements in plant operation management.

[Exchange of MoU]

Now, I request Dr. Sudhir K. Jain, Director from IIT Gandhinagar and Mr Yatindra Sharma, Managing Director from KHS Machinery Pvt Ltd. to exchange their MoU on Enhancing student performance through projects and internships.

[Exchange of MoU]

I again request Dr. Sudhir K. Jain, Director from Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat and again Mr Yatindra Sharma from KHS Machinery Pvt Ltd. to exchange their MoU on Enhancing student performance through projects and internships.

[Exchange of MoU]

Now, I request Prof. Anurag Kumar, Director from IISc Bangalore and Dr Steffen Berns, Managing Director from Bosch Limited to exchange their MoU on Intellectual Property.

[Exchange of MoU]

Now, I request Prof. T. Srinivasa Rao, Director from NIT Warangal and Mrs Vanitha Datla, Executive Director & CFO from Elico Ltd to exchange their MoU on Smart City.

[Exchange of MoU]

I again request Prof T Srinivasa Rao from NIT Warangal and Mr D Shivakumar, Chairman & CEO from PepsiCo India to exchange their MoU on Collaborative research and student development.

[Exchange of MoU]

Now, I request Dr. Srinivasan Sundarrajan, Director from NIT Tiruchirappalli and again Mr D Shivakumar from PepsiCo India to exchange their MoU on Collaborative research and student development.

[Exchange of MoU]

Now, I request Dr. Swapan Bhattacharya, Director from National Institute of Technology, Surathkal and once again Mr D Shivakumar from PepsiCo India to exchange their MoU on Collaborative research and Guest Lectures.

[Exchange of MoU]

Now, I request Prof P. Chakrabarti, Director from Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology, Allahabad and once more Mr D Shivakumar from PepsiCo India to exchange their MoU on Collaborative research and student development.

[Exchange of MoU]

I would like to again request Prof. P. Chakrabarti from Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology, Allahabad and Mr Harbhajan Singh, Sr Vice President, General & Corporate Affairs from Honda Motorcycles & Scooters India Ltd. to exchange their MoU on Enhancing student performance through projects and internships.

[Exchange of MoU]

Now, I request Prof. G.R.C. Reddy, Director from NIT Goa and Mr Anil Kher, Managing Director from Micro Interconnexion Pvt. Ltd. to exchange their MoU on Collaborative research and student development.

[Exchange of MoU]

Now, I request Prof. Rajat Gupta, Director from NIT Srinagar and Mr. Anil Sardana, CEO and MD from Tata Power to exchange their MoU on Enhancing student employability through internships and campus placements.

[Exchange of MoU]

Now, I request Dr. Ajay K. Sharma, Director from NIT Delhi and again Mr Anil Sardana from Tata Power to exchange their MoU on Enhancing student employability through internships and campus placements.

[Exchange of MoU]

Now, I request Prof. Narendra S. Chaudhari, Director from VNIT, Nagpur and Mr Vandan Shah, Executive Director from Veena Diecasters & Engineers Pvt. Ltd. to exchange their MoU on Industrial Testing & Use of Laboratories for Aluminum Die-casting.

[Exchange of MoU]

Now, I request Prof. (Dr.) R.C Kuhad, Vice Chancellor from Central University of Haryana and Mr. Adesh Gupta, CEO from Liberty Shoes Ltd. to exchange their MoU on Curriculum design & good governance.

[Exchange of MoU]

Now, I request Prof. Talat Ahmad, Vice Chancellor from Jamia Milia Islamia and Mr. Sudhanshu Vats, Group CEO from Viacom18 Media Private Limited to exchange their MoU on The #BrainWave Alliance.

[Exchange of MoU]

Now, I request Prof. Ajoy Kumar Ray, Director from IIEST Shibpur and Mr. Subrata Biswas, Director (Engg., R&D) from Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd to exchange their MoU on R&D relevant to energy, transportation and transmission sectors.

[Exchange of MoU]

I would like to again request Prof. Ajoy Kumar Ray from IIEST Shibpur and Mr. Sarat Kumar Jain, Chairman and Managing Director from Bitchem Asphalt Technologies to exchange their MoU on Collaborative research and green roadway.

[Exchange of MoU]

I once again request Prof. Ajoy Kumar Ray from IIEST Shibpur and Rear Admiral A.K. Verma, CMD from Garden Reach Ship Builders & Engineers Ltd. to exchange their MoU on Collaborative research, faculty, curriculum and infrastructure development.

[Exchange of MoU]

Once again, I request Prof. Ajoy Kumar Ray from IIEST Shibpur and Mr. Abhijit Dasgupta, Joint Managing Director from M N Dastur & Company (P) Ltd. to exchange their MoU on Materials science, engineering and technology.

[Exchange of MoU]

Prof. Ajoy Kumar Ray from IIEST Shibpur is once again requested to exchange MoU with Mr. Mrinal Das, Director from Sankalp Semiconductors on Joint academic and research program in analog and mixed signal VLSI integrated circuit design and fabrication.

[Exchange of MoU]

One last time Prof. Ajoy Kumar Ray from IIEST Shibpur is requested to exchange MoU with Mr. Debabrata Dutta, Founder & Executive Director from SkyBits Technologies Pvt Ltd. on Collaborative research, faculty exchange, curriculum and infrastructure development.

[Exchange of MoU]

Now, I request Dr Ahmed Kamal, Director from NIPER, Hyderabad and Mr Satish K. Reddy Chairman from Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd. to exchange their MoU on Exchange of scientific personnel for Education & Training; Research collaboration; Finishing school and Dr. Reddy’s Chair.

[Exchange of MoU]

I again request Dr Ahmed Kamal from NIPER, Hyderabad and Dr. Krishna Ella, Chairman and Managing Director from Bharat Biotech to exchange their MoU on Exchange of scientific personnel for Education and Training and research collaboration.

[Exchange of MoU]

I once again request Dr Ahmed Kamal from NIPER, Hyderabad and Dr A. K. S. Bhujanga Rao, President (Technical) from Natco Research Centre to exchange their MoU on Exchange of scientific personnel for Education and Training and research collaboration.

[Exchange of MoU]

Now, I request Prof. K.K. Bhutani, Officiating Director from NIPER, Mohali and Dr. Alexander Gebauer, President& Head- Global R&D from Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. to exchange their MoU on Formulation development.

[Exchange of MoU]

I again request Prof. K.K. Bhutani from NIPER, Mohali and Dr. Murtaza Khorakiwala, Managing Director from Wockhardt Limited to exchange their MoU on Research and development in anti-inflammatory and life-style disease segments.

[Exchange of MoU]

I once again request Prof. K.K. Bhutani from NIPER, Mohali and Mr. Sahir Khatib, Vice Chairman from Medley Pharmaceuticals Ltd. to exchange their MoU on Formulation development in the the area of Hematinics, Anti ulcerants, anti bacterials, pain management, gynaecology and cardiovascular.

[Exchange of MoU]

Prof. K.K. Bhutani from NIPER, Mohali is once again requested to exchange MoU wtih Dr. Rajesh Jain, Jt. Managing Director from Panacea Biotec Ltd. on Collaborative Research in the areas of Metabolic Disorders, CNS disorders, Oncology and Infectious diseases.

[Exchange of MoU]

Prof. K.K. Bhutani from NIPER, Mohali is again requested to exchange MoU and Mr. S B Bhadrannavar, Managing Director from Rajasthan Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Limited (RDPL) on Formulation Development and Training.

[Exchange of MoU]

Now, I request Dr. (Mrs.) Kiran Kalia, Director from NIPER, Ahmedabad and Dr Rajiv Modi Chairman & Managing Director from Cadila Pharmaceuticals Ltd. to exchange their MoU on Exchange of scientific personnel for Education and Training & Research collaboration.

[Exchange of MoU]

I again request Dr. (Mrs.) Kiran Kalia from NIPER, Ahmedabad and Dr. Mukul Jain, Senior Vice President -Pharmacology & Head Nonclinical Research & Development from Cadila Healthcare to exchange their MoU on Exchange of scientific personnel for Education and Training and Research collaboration.

[Exchange of MoU]

I would like to once again request Dr. (Mrs.) Kiran Kalia from NIPER, Ahmedabad and Dr Arvind L Patel, Chairman from Sahjanand Laser Technology Limited to exchange their MoU on Curriculum Development, Education and Industry project work to students.

[Exchange of MoU]

Dr. (Mrs.) Kiran Kalia from NIPER, Ahmedabad is again requested to exchange MoU with Mr. Raghvendra Shenoy, Vice-President from Johnson & Johnson Medical India on Curriculum Development, Education and Industry project work to students.

[Exchange of MoU]

I would like to request one more time Dr. (Mrs.) Kiran Kalia, from NIPER, Ahmedabad to exchange MoU on Formulation Development and Training with Mr. K.V. Varkey, Managing Director from Hindustan Antibiotics Limited (HAL).

[Exchange of MoU]

Now, I request Dr.K.C.Saikia, Director in charge from NIPER-Guwahati and Mr. K M Prasad, Managing Director from Karnataka Antibiotics & Pharmaceuticals Ltd., (KAPL) to exchange their MoU on Collaboration in the area of Biopharmaceuticals and Natural Products for drug discovery.

[Exchange of MoU]

Now, I request Dr. Pradeep Das, Director from NIPER, Hajipur and Mr.E.A. Subramanian. Managing Director from Bengal Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (BCPL) to exchange their MoU on Formulation Development and Training.

[Exchange of MoU]

Now, I request Dr.Ravichandiran.V, Director from NIPER, Kolkata and again Mr.E.A. Subramanian from Bengal Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (BCPL) to exchange their MoU on Product development and training.

[Exchange of MoU]

Lastly, I request Dr. P.K.Shukla, Project Director from NIPER, Raebareli and Mr.Praveen Kumar, CMD from Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Limited (IDPL) to exchange their MoU on Formulation Development and Training.

[Exchange of MoU]

LIST OF MEMORANDA OF UNDERSTANDING EXCHANGED (AT A GLANCE)

S.No. Subject of the MoU Name of Name of the representative of the representative of the Industry Central Institute of Higher Learning

1. Research Mr B Thiagarajan Prof. Bhaskar partnerships, faculty Executive Director & Ramamurthi Director exchanges and President- AC&R IIT Madras student internships Products Business Blue Star Limited

2. Research Mr B Thiagarajan Prof. Chetan Vaidya partnerships, faculty Executive Director & Director exchanges and President- AC&R SPA Delhi student internships Products Business Blue Star Limited

S.No. Subject of the MoU Name of Name of the representative of the representative of the Industry Central Institute of Higher Learning

3. Evaluating use of Mr Sudhir Shenoy Prof Indranil Manna various technologies CEO Director in the field of water, Dow Chemical IIT Kanpur nanotechnology, International Private electronics, catalysts Limited and polymers

4. Product design, Mr Sunil Khanna Prof Indranil Manna development and President & Director design validation for Managing Director IIT Kanpur AC Power, DC Power Emerson Network Solutions and Power (India) Precision Cooling Private Limited solutions for Data centre, Telecom and IT/ ITES applications

5. Improvements in Mr D S Ravindra Raju Prof Ratnam V. Raja plant operation Whole time Director Kumar management Paradeep Director Phosphates Ltd. IIT Bhubaneswar (PPL)

6. Enhancing student Mr Yatindra Sharma Dr. Sudhir K. Jain performance through Managing Director Director projects and KHS Machinery Pvt IIT Gandhinagar internships Ltd.

7. Enhancing student Mr Yatindra Sharma Dr. Sudhir K. Jain performance through Managing Director Director (Additional projects and KHS Machinery Pvt Charge) internships Ltd. SVNIT Surat

8. Intellectual Property Dr Steffen Berns Prof. Anurag Kumar Managing Director Director Bosch Limited IISc Bangalore

S.No. Subject of the MoU Name of Name of the representative of the representative of the Industry Central Institute of Higher Learning

9. Smart City Mrs Vanitha Datla Prof. T. Srinivasa Rao Executive Director & Director CFO NIT Warangal Elico Ltd

10. Collaborative Mr D Shivakumar Prof T Srinivasa Rao research and student Chairman & CEO Director development PepsiCo India NIT Warangal

11. Collaborative Mr D Shivakumar Dr.Srinivasan research and student Chairman & CEO Sundarrajan Director development PepsiCo India NIT Tiruchirappalli

12. Collaborative Mr D Shivakumar Dr. Swapan research and student Chairman & CEO Bhattacharya development PepsiCo India Director NITK-Surathkal

13. Collaborative Mr D Shivakumar Prof P. Chakrabarti research and student Chairman & CEO Director development PepsiCo India Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology, Allahabad

14. Enhancing student Mr Harbhajan Singh Prof. P. Chakrabarti performance through Sr Vice President, Director projects and General & Corporate MNNIT Allahabad internships Affairs Honda Motorcycles & Scooters India Ltd.

15. Collaborative Mr Anil Kher Prof. G.R.C. Reddy research and student Managing Director Director development Micro NIT Goa Interconnexion Pvt Ltd

S.No. Subject of the MoU Name of Name of the representative of the representative of the Industry Central Institute of Higher Learning

16. Enhancing student Mr Anil Sardana CEO Prof. Rajat Gupta employability through and MD Director internships and Tata Power NIT Srinagar campus placements

17. Enhancing student Mr Anil Sardana CEO Prof. Ajay K. Sharma employability through and MD Director internships and Tata Power NIT Delhi campus placements

18. Industrial Testing & Mr Vandan Shah Prof. Narendra S. Use of Laboratories Executive Director Chaudhari for Aluminum Die- Veena Diecasters & Director casting Engineers Pvt. Ltd. VNIT, Nagpur

19. Curriculum design & Mr Adesh Gupta CEO Prof. (Dr.) R.C Kuhad good governance Liberty Shoes Ltd. Vice Chancellor Central University of Haryana

20. The #BrainWave Mr Sudhanshu Vats Prof. Talat Ahmad Alliance Group CEO Vice Chancellor Viacom18 Media Jamia Milia Islamia Private Limited

21. R&D relevant to Mr. Subrata Biswas Prof. Ajoy Kumar Ray energy, transportation Director (Engg., R&D) Director and transmission Bharat Heavy IIEST Shibpur sectors Electricals Ltd.

22. Collaborative Mr. Sarat Kumar Jain Prof. Ajoy Kumar Ray research and green Chairman and Director roadway Managing Director IIEST Shibpur Bitchem Asphalt Technologies

S.No. Subject of the MoU Name of Name of the representative of the representative of the Industry Central Institute of Higher Learning

23. Collaborative Rear Admiral A.K. Prof. Ajoy Kumar Ray research, faculty, Verma, CMD Director curriculum and Garden Reach Ship IIEST Shibpur infrastructure Builders & development Engineers Ltd.

24. Materials science, Mr. Abhijit Dasgupta Prof. Ajoy Kumar Ray engineering and Joint Managing Director technology Director IIEST Shibpur M N Dastur & Company (P) Ltd.

25. Joint academic and Mr. Mrinal Das Prof. Ajoy Kumar Ray research program in Director Director analog and mixed Sankalp IIEST Shibpur signal VLSI integrated Semiconductors circuit design and fabrication

26. Collaborative Mr. Debabrata Dutta Prof. Ajoy Kumar Ray research, faculty Founder & Executive Director exchange, curriculum Director IIEST Shibpur and infrastructure SkyBits development Technologies Pvt Ltd

27. Exchange of scientific Mr Satish K. Reddy Dr Ahmed Kamal personnel for Chairman Project Director Education & Training; Dr. Reddy's NIPER, Hyderabad Research Laboratories Ltd. collaboration; Finishing school and Dr. Reddy’s Chair

28. Exchange of scientific Dr. Krishna Ella Dr Ahmed Kamal personnel for Chairman and Project Director Education and Managing Director NIPER, Hyderabad Training and research Bharat Biotech collaboration

S.No. Subject of the MoU Name of Name of the representative of the representative of the Industry Central Institute of Higher Learning

29. Exchange of scientific Dr A. K. S. Bhujanga Dr Ahmed Kamal personnel for Rao, Project Director Education and President (Technical) NIPER, Hyderabad Training and research Natco Research collaboration Centre

30. Formulation Dr. Alexander Prof. K.K. Bhutani development Gebauer Officiating Director, President& Head- NIPER, Mohali Global R&D, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.

31. Research and Dr. Murtaza Prof. K.K. Bhutani development in anti- Khorakiwala Officiating Director, inflammatory and life- Managing Director NIPER, Mohali style disease Wockhardt Limited segments.

32. Formulation Mr. Sahir Khatib Prof. K.K. Bhutani development in the Vice Chairman Officiating Director, the area of Medley NIPER, Mohali Hematinics, Anti Pharmaceuticals ulcerants, anti Ltd. bacterials, pain management, gynaecology and cardiovascular.

33. Collaborative Dr. Rajesh Jain Prof. K.K. Bhutani Research in the areas Jt. Managing Director Officiating Director, of Metabolic Panacea Biotec Ltd. NIPER, Mohali Disorders, CNS disorders, Oncology and Infectious diseases

S.No. Subject of the MoU Name of Name of the representative of the representative of the Industry Central Institute of Higher Learning

34. Formulation S B Bhadrannavar, Prof. K.K. Bhutani Development and Managing Director, Officiating Director, Training Rajasthan Drugs NIPER, Mohali and Pharmaceuticals Limited (RDPL)

35. Exchange of scientific Dr Rajiv Modi Prof. Kiran Kalia personnel for Chairman & Director Education and Managing Director NIPER, Ahmedabad Training & Research Cadila collaboration Pharmaceuticals Ltd

36. Exchange of scientific Dr. Mukul Jain Prof. Kiran Kalia personnel for Senior Vice President Director Education and – Pharmacology & NIPER, Ahmedabad Training and Head Nonclinical Research Research & collaboration Development Cadila Healthcare

37. Curriculum Dr Arvind L Patel Prof. Kiran Kalia Development, Chairman, Director Education and Sahjanand Laser NIPER, Ahmedabad Industry project work Technology Limited to students.

38. Curriculum Mr. Raghvendra Prof. Kiran Kalia Development, Shenoy Director Education and Vice-President NIPER, Ahmedabad

Industry project work Johnson & Johnson to students. Medical India & Vice President – Surgical

S.No. Subject of the MoU Name of Name of the representative of the representative of the Industry Central Institute of Higher Learning

39. Formulation Mr. K.V. Varkey, Prof. Kiran Kalia Development and Managing Director Director Training Hindustan NIPER, Ahmedabad Antibiotics Limited (HAL)

40. Collaboration in the Mr. K M Prasad Dr.K.C.Saikia area of Managing Director, Director in charge Biopharmaceuticals Karnataka NIPER-Guwahati and Natural Products Antibiotics & for drug discovery. Pharmaceuticals Ltd., (KAPL)

41. Formulation Mr.E.A. Subramanian Dr. Pradeep Das Development and Managing Director Project Director, Training Bengal Chemicals NIPER, Hajipur and Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (BCPL)

42. Product development Mr.E.A. Subramanian Dr.Ravichandiran.V and training Managing Director Director Bengal Chemicals NIPER, Kolkata and Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (BCPL)

43. Formulation Mr.Praveen Kumar Dr.P.K.Shukla Development and CMD Project Director Training Indian Drugs and NIPER, Raebareli Pharmaceuticals Limited (IDPL)

DR. THOMAS MATHEW: Ladies and Gentlemen,

It’s my privilege to request the Hon’ble President for his Address.

THE PRESIDENT (SHRI PRANAB MUKHERJEE) : Good Evening!

Smt Smriti Zubin Irani, Minister, Human Resource Development, Shri Hansraj Gangaram Ahir, Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers, Prof. C.N.R. Rao, Prof. M.S. Swaminathan, Shri Kailash Satyarthi, Vice Chancellors and Directors of Institutes of Higher Learning, Leaders of Indian Industries, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen.

Let me extend a warm welcome to you all. Today is an important day for higher education in our country. For the first time in Rashtrapati Bhavan, brilliant minds, captains of industry and academic leaders of 114 central institutions have come together on a common platform to deliberate on issues concerning the higher education sector.

Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen:

Let me confess, at the beginning of my Presidential term, I was a stranger to the role of Visitor of Central Institutions of Higher Learning. Visits to various universities - so far, I have visited over 100 institutions - and discussions with eminent educationists led to the convening of a series of Conferences of these institutions at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Starting from February, 2013, seven Conferences have been held so far. I have had this opportunity to interact with the heads of Central Institutions in groups - thrice with Central Universities, twice with the NITs and once each with IISERs and IITs. Recommendations emanating from these discussions have greatly benefitted all stakeholders and no doubt has enhanced my understanding of the problems of higher education sector in India.

The discussion during these conferences focused on:

 Improvement in the quality of education, research and innovation, and faculty development.

 Creating international linkages for joint research, and faculty and student exchanges.

 Improving the rankings of the institutions.

 Greater use of ICT networks and development of modified MOOCs to deliver quality education at affordable prices.

 Greater involvement of alumni in the management structure of the institutions.

 Deeper engagement of industry with the academic institutions.

The results we have achieved in these few years are remarkable. The credit goes to the dedicated teamwork of all the stakeholders. Thank you all.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

My constant refrain that we cannot aspire to be a world power without having a single world-class university, has found resonance amongst the institutions, who have now started looking at the international ranking processes in a more proactive and systematic manner. For the first time, two Indian institutions have found place in the top 200 positions in QS rankings. IISc Bangalore at 147th and IIT Delhi at 179th place deserve full praise and compliments. I congratulate them for their achievement.

If we provide enough funds to top 10 to 15 institutions for the next 4-5 years, I have no doubt that these institutions will storm into the top 100 of global academic rankings within next few years. The National Institutional Rankings Framework put in place by the Ministry of Human Resource Development with an India-centric approach will further help our institutions to compete nationally and globally. Apart from giving the nation, the institutions, its students and its alumni a sense of pride, a high rank can help attract quality faculty and meritorious students, open fresh avenues of growth and placement for students, and provide a benchmark for continuous improvement in standards.

Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen:

Innovation is the currency of the future. Innovation converts research into wealth. Unless we recognize this reality and start working in a focused manner on creating a strong innovation culture in our country now, we will be left behind in the march to modernity. Way back in February 2013, I had called upon the universities to establish links with grassroots innovators. The response has been very encouraging. Over 60 Central Institutions have started innovation clubs to provide a platform for interaction between the academic community and grassroots innovators. In April 2014, when I met the heads of IISc and IISERs, I stressed upon the need to create synergy between the activities of these clubs with innovation incubators located in the technical institutions like IITs and NITs to create an innovation network. The efforts needs a further push. I understand the National Innovation Foundation has compiled a catalogue of grassroots innovators after segregating them into three sectors. I am sure central institutions as well as participating industries will find it a useful document. I am confident that this linkage of grassroots innovators with entrepreneurs and financiers will yield a rich crop of “start ups”.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

A strong inter-linkage between industry and academia is a critical component for developing the educational and industrial eco-systems. In all

100 the conferences conducted so far, the participants were unanimous that this eco-system needs further strengthening. It is therefore a momentous day, today, as industry captains and leaders of academic institutions have joined hands to sign 43 Memoranda of Understanding and they have exchanged the Memorandum of Understanding between them. I congratulate all of them. It shows on the one hand, the increasing commitment of the industry towards institutes of higher learning, and on the other, exhibits a strong desire of academic institutions to constructively engage with industrial partners. I applaud all industry leaders, particularly CII as the focal point, for collaborating with the President’s Secretariat in this initiative. I will like to place on record my sincere appreciation for the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers and the Ministry of Human Resource Development for their efforts in finalizing these MOUs aimed at deepening the eco-system for industry-academia dialogue.

Today, the participants of the Conference have had the benefit of listening to the inspiring words of Prof. C.N.R. Rao, Prof. M.S. Swaminathan and Nobel laureate Shri Kailash Satyarthi. These mighty minds have travelled unchartered territories and excelled in trying circumstances. I thank them for sparing their time to come here and share their transformative ideas with the participants.

Before I conclude, I want to share with you this thought of Mahatma Gandhi. I quote: "A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history” (unquote). The gathering here today represents that small body of determined men and women. The mission is clear. We have to move forward now.

Thank you Ladies and Gentlemen.

Jai Hind.

DR. THOMAS MATHEW : Thank You, Sir.

With this we come to the conclusion of the Exchange of MoUs and invite you to join the Dinner hosted by the Hon’ble President.

*****

OPENING SESSION OF VISITOR’S CONFERENCE AND LAUNCH OF IMPRINT INDIA 05 November, 2015, 1000 – 1110 hrs (Darbar Hall, Rashtrapati Bhavan)

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(National Anthem)

ADDITIONAL SECRETARY TO THE PRESIDENT (DR. THOMAS MATHEW): Good Morning, Ladies and Gentlemen. We now begin the proceedings of the first Session of the second day of the Visitor's Conference, 2015.

Hon’ble President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee, Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi, Hon’ble HRD Minister, Shrimati Smriti Zubin Irani, Hon’ble MoS Chemicals and Fertilizers, Shri Hansraj Ahir, Hon’ble MoS HRD, Shri Ram Shankar Katheria, Prof. C.N.R. Rao, Shrimati Omita Paul, Secretary to the Hon’ble President, Vice-Chancellors, Directors of Institutes of Higher Learning, distinguished guests and ladies and gentlemen, we are gathered here in the historic Darbar Hall of Rashtrapati Bhavan to witness yet another historic event, the launching of IMPRINT, the acronym for Imparting Research, Innovation and Technology.

Perceived in the presence of the Hon’ble President and Hon’ble Prime Minister, in the last similar Conference, IMPRINT would develop a roadmap to research to address the major engineering and technological challenges in ten technology domains relevant to India. IMPRINT has a potential to yield rich dividends. It has a promise of being a grid on which the various innovative schemes like the 'Make in India' Programme personally launched by the Hon’ble Prime Minister to take the nation on an unprecedented economic trajectory to gain momentum and greater traction.

With these few words, I request Shrimati Omita Paul, Secretary to the Hon’ble President, to welcome this august gathering.

SHRIMATI OMITA PAUL: Hon’ble President, Hon’ble Prime Minister, Hon’ble Minister of HRD, MoS HRD, MoS Chemical and Fertilizers, Leaders of the institutions of higher learning, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good Morning!

I extend a very warm welcome to all of you to the Visitor’s Conference, 2015 at Rashtrapati Bhavan. I am really grateful to the Hon’ble Prime Minister for taking time to be with us this morning. His presence will serve as an inspiration for all the participants.

The Darbar Hall where we are seated today stands testimony to many historic events that have shaped the destiny of our nation, both pre and post- independence. I have no doubt that the present Visitor’s Conference shall be viewed as an important landmark in the annals of higher education in India.

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The Hon’ble President is a staunch believer in the transformative power of education. For him science, education, research and innovation are the four pillars on which the development as well as the work culture of a nation rests. In pursuance of his vision, we have, with the wholehearted support and co-operation of the Ministry of HRD, convened a total of seven Conferences of Heads of Central Universities, NITs, IITs and IISERs at Rashtrapati Bhavan over the last three years. The recommendations emanating from these Conferences have resulted in a number of initiatives and positive outcomes in the field of higher education.

We have now taken the next step forward by bringing together all 114 institutes of higher learning, where the President is the Visitor, on a common platform, with the hope that this will provide an opportunity to create synergies based on a shared vision.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the agenda for this Conference aims at drawing a roadmap for making our higher educational system more relevant, more contemporary and benchmarked to international standards. The major items for discussion include:

1) Improving the quality of higher education to bring it at par with the top institutions of the world through national and international networks. 2) Building the capacity of faculty to provide quality education. 3) Developing scientific and technological capacity for Innovation and Research. 4) Creating inter-linkages with Industry and deepening the involvement of alumni.

You will find novelty underlining the narrative of this Conference. Yesterday was devoted to pre-conference activities. We began with a vibrant session on industry-academia collaboration followed by an exchange of forty- three MoUs in various areas. This, by any standards, is an impressive beginning.

In the second session, we had the pleasure of listening to three eminent Indians -- Shri Kailash Satyarthi, Prof. C.N.R. Rao and Prof. M.S. Swaminathan -- sharing their life experiences with us. Their achievements and their contributions to society only serve to underline the fact that we, as a nation, abound in potentialities; we only have to learn to realise them. I would like to express our deep gratitude to them for their inspiring presence and the stirring interaction that followed.

During the first session today, we will see the launch of IMPRINT India by the Hon’ble President. IMPRINT, which stands for – Impacting Research Innovation and Technology -- is a pan-IIT and IISc initiative aimed at

103 developing a roadmap for research for solving major engineering and technology challenges in ten domain areas relevant to our country. This will be followed by the release of a brochure by the Hon’ble Prime Minister which would help in widespread dissemination of these topics of research amongst the scientific community. This, we are confident, will result in directing research activity to critically important areas, enabling our scientific and educational institutions to actively partner in the India growth story.

We will also have two panel discussions, one later in the day and another tomorrow, wherein eminent personalities from academia, industry and research organizations will share their perspectives on the agenda items for the Conference. The group work on agenda items for this year’s Conference, as also the status of action taken on previous years’ Conferences, shall be presented to the Hon’ble President by the heads of participating institutions.

In line with our emphasis on international rankings, the two major international rating agencies, QS and Times Higher Education (THE), shall be making detailed presentations on ranking methodology and related aspects. I am sure that this entire range of activities will keep us gainfully occupied over the next two days. We expect a clear and defined pathway for moving forward to emerge from these deliberations.

With these words, I once again welcome all of you to this Conference.

Thank you.

DR. THOMAS MATHEW: I now request Hon’ble HRD Minister, Shrimati Smriti Zubin Irani to address this gathering.

MINISTER OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI): Hon’ble President of India, Hon’ble Prime Minister, Minister of State for Education (Dr.) Ramshankar Katheria, Minister of State for Chemical & Fertilizer Shri Hansraj Gangaram Ahir, Vice Chancellors and Directors of all Central Educational Institutions, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

At the onset while I extend my warm greetings to institutional leaders, academia, industry leaders; I also extend my grateful thanks to the Hon’ble President of India for blessing us with a lasting legacy of engagement, debate and deliberation through this, the annual platform aptly named the Visitor's Conference. I take this opportunity to thank the Hon’ble Prime Minister who dared us to dream big and led us to transform that dream into reality. For who would have thought that an idea that germinated from this very conference a year ago would meet with success within a span of just 12 months.

A famous jurist once said “if we lose our sensitivity towards the quality of life, it can only mean that while our knowledge increases, our ignorance does

104 not diminish”. The Hon’ble Prime Minister gave a clarion call that institutions of higher education leverage their research capabilities for socially relevant programs, identify technology gaps and prepare plans for innovations that could substantially increase income and growth in rural India. Thus began a journey called Unnat Bharat Abhiyaan. While I congratulate Institutions that have adopted villages to help accelerate growth through technology transfer; I implore that much more can be done.

To complement our engagements with Central Institutions, while we recognise the need to infuse new knowledge into our academic ecosystem; we also bear in mind the economic challenges many of our students are confronted with when a desire to engage with foreign academicians manifests itself but the dream dies a painful death in the absence of money. Hence, I thank the Hon’ble Prime Minister for sharing his vision of enabling foreign academicians to come, Teach in India, at government institutions across the Nation at no added cost to our students under a program called GIAN. Starting this November, in the coming 1 year, we under GIAN will welcome 400 foreign academicians in government institutions to impart new knowledge to our students and share new teaching methodologies with our faculty.

Goethe once said – “whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it”. And begin we did. We translated the vision of the Hon’ble Prime Minister and dedicated to the Nation the 1st ever National Institutional Ranking Framework in September 2015; which will annually rank all higher educational institutions based on an objective and verifiable criteria. A system which will allow declaration of ranks by the 1st week of April every year thereby empowering our students to make informed choices.

And while we leverage technology to empower the choices our students make, we also recognise the power of technology to help create more learning opportunities. For a Nation is not built on bricks and mortar alone, a civilisation flourishes on enlightenment. Ministry of Human Resource Development has resolved, with the blessing of the Hon’ble Prime Minister, to build an Indian MOOCS platform which would bring in close to 2.5 lakh hours of e-content on a single platform thereby possibly making it the world’s largest repository of electronic learning resources under a single window. From school education modules of levels 9 to 12 to varied courses in Aerospace Engineering, Biotechnology, Atmospheric Science and languages, SWAYAM will ensure universal access to high quality education for every Indian. My sincere thanks to institutions present here today who have confirmed close to 714 courses that will be specially designed for SWAYAM.

Ladies and Gentlemen , before I conclude, let me also extend my gratitude to our friends from the industry who have engaged with our academic institutions to give impetus to research, enable and encourage

105 student placements. To them I say what Nani Palkhivala once famously said “this is the best investment you could have made, for knowledge is the only instrument of production which is not subject to diminishing returns”.

In the end, while I thank the Hon’ble Prime Minister for gracing this occasion & the Hon’ble President for hosting this much needed conference, I recognise that opportunities multiply when they are seized and die when they are neglected. Without much further ado I look forward to the historic opportunity to witness the launch of IMPRINT India with the blessings of the Hon’ble President and the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi.

Thank you Ladies and Gentlemen. Jai Hind!

DR. THOMAS MATHEW: Thank you, Madam. Ladies and gentlemen, I now hand over the floor to Prof. Indranil Manna, Director, IIT-Kanpur, for his presentation on IMPRINT.

DIRECTOR, INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, KANPUR (PROF. INDRANIL MANNA): Hon’ble President of India, Hon’ble Prime Minister, Hon’ble Minister for Human Resource Development, distinguished dignitaries, officials, esteemed colleagues from academic fraternity and friends; it is indeed a very rare privilege and a great honour to present before you, the august gathering, this initiative, the recent one - Impacting Research Innovation and Technology, acronymed ‘IMPRINT’. The second largest population of the world, which will soon be the youngest, aspires and deserves much better quality and security of life. Success in engineering endeavours can and should provide substantial solutions which are sustainable to all societal needs, challenges and aspirations by accelerating innovations, creating new jobs and opportunities and providing viable technologies.

IMPRINT is a national movement to integrate with all the academic, R&D institutions and industry to mutually complement each other and deliver what the country demands and aspires. And there is a uniqueness in this initiative. It is for the first time that all the IITs and the IIScs have come on board together and taken the pledge to work and deliver. We have a theme which comprises about 200 faculty members drawn from these 17 institutions, but this team will expand.

The focus is on sharpening India’s competitive edge by empowering the human resources, enhancing India’s international standing in science and technology, by boosting the economy, by taking enough measures to achieve inclusive growth and self-reliance.

For pursuing this course, we have chosen ten representative, not really exhaustive, technology domains where we want to start the initiative and that

106 is going to make the largest impact on the quality of life. These domains are chosen in terms of the priority and urgency.

Engineering innovation for inclusive growth and self-reliance should be addressed first towards the issues relating to the living world. When we talk of the issues relating to the living world, first and foremost, we want to ensure that housing is affordable and sustainable for all.

There are issues which are related to civil engineering, architecture, social infrastructure, transportation even leading to creation of Smart Cities. Healthcare, once upon a time, used to be the domain of only the medical practitioners. Today, you cannot think of healthcare; their engineering and technical interventions are absolute. In fact, we aspire to make healthcare affordable, effective and available to one and all. We have to create new diagnostic tools, new censors, imaging techniques, ICT solutions to reach out to all, create regenerative medicine, understand the knowledge behind traditional medicine and, most importantly, make healthcare management and sort out all the legal issues related to this.

The biggest insurance towards sustaining growth is to have energy security. The country today has about 300 Giga Watt installed capacity to sustain the double digit growth that we aspire to achieve. We immediately require to extend and expand by, at least, four to five times. Resources are limited. We must look for alternative and renewable resources but, at the same time, must realize that three-fourth of India’s energy is derived from fossil fuel resources. So, there has to be research and innovation to enable the country use fusion technology, convert coal based on fossil fuel based technology into clean coal technology, use Hydrogen energy, devise new innovations for storage of energy and, in fact, create a new strategy of energy economy.

Life does not exist without water; so we have to understand and address all critical challenges of water resources and river systems. This is one of the most precious resources which should be sparingly used but we often make things difficult for us by not being able to manage water resources and converting them into waste so waste management becomes another very important issue. In fact, river system is today called river science because the entire population living in the basins of the rivers, their lifestyle, culture and everything they aspire are all related to the river systems.

Finally, the environment is something that we cannot jeopardize even if we want to achieve the highest growth rate. So, we have to worry about climate, we have to worry about the ocean, take care of air pollution and minimize it. We should also make sure that Carbon sequestration, Nitrogen fixation and all other important issues are well-taken care of. Growth and prosperity without adverse impact on environment is something we want to

107 achieve through ‘IMPRINT’. The next domain or garland of issues related to our endeavour to achieve engineering innovation for inclusive growth and self- reliance is related to the materials world. It is not just advance material but materials, as a whole, acts as the backbone for any hardware industry. So, we must re-invent our technological excellence in structural materials, functional materials, emerging materials so as to achieve leadership in hardware through all these materials technology. In fact, if the country has to achieve the great goal set by Hon’ble Prime Minister of ‘Make in India’ then we must improve the competitiveness of Indian manufacturing industries and in order to do that we must realize that the process should start right from the grassroots. We have in this country now about 10-15 per cent contribution towards our GDP and more than half of the GDP coming from service and financial sectors.

This is not quite a sustainable model. Manufacturing must contribute very significantly towards country’s economic growth. In this endeavour, nanotechnology is something which cannot be ignored. We have made great strides in nanoscience. Just having high resolution with small lens or understanding of materials is not enough. Now is the time when we must translate that knowledge into viable products which are not only miniature but also help in achieving certain new functionality which is possible only because of the exploitation of nanometric materials and design.

Talking about materials, the country also requires security against all kinds of threats to homeland and even cyber space. The country must be capable of defending itself against any enemy attack and that depends, to a large extent, on the excellence which we can achieve to get material hardware that we can produce in this very country and reduce our dependence on external sources.

Today, a majority of information, science and technology leaders across the world are of Indian origin. If they could do it offshore, why can’t they do it onshore? We must aspire to achieve the global leadership in information and communication technology. All these pursuits that I mentioned are representative domains, not exhaustive. We certainly would like to expand it in the future if we need to address any other issue. But I must assure you that the initiatives of IMPRINT are not divorced from reality and are very much willing to strike a synergy with all the important national missions some of which Hon’ble Human Resource Development Minister just mentioned.

Manufacturing is going to contribute towards Make in India. The ICT based learning processes to reach out to millions would contribute towards the Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan and the Unnat Bharat Abhiyan. Nanotechnology and advance materials are integral parts of Digital India Mission. Skilling India is also equally important. We need to reach out to them. I must confess that we don’t envisage all the solutions of the technological challenges that we are

108 talking about to come only from degree-holding engineers. We believe many of the innovations would come from the grass-root level. We need to sharpen them and give them the required legitimacy. When we want to aspire and create path for prosperity, there is no escape from understanding the underlying role of science, engineering and technology. Typically, science addresses only the fundamental question of ‘know-why,’ whereas engineering translates those principles and informs us how to do it, hence ‘know- how’ and eventually only a part of this knowledge sees the light of real time applications. So technology is ‘know-what sells’ in the market.

Yesterday, we heard brilliant expositions on science in relation to society. While science, engineering and technology are integrally related to society, they themselves are closely knit. When science wants to unravel the nature by curiosity or need-inspired act leads to certain major discoveries at times, engineering tries to learn from nature and creates replica which leads to several new inventions. But a few of them eventually sees the light of application. And that happens through engineering interventions and innovation. We want to ensure that we work in tandem with all the scientific organizations, the laboratories and the industry together right from the beginning, so that whatever we try to innovate eventually sees the light of application.

The modern innovation eco-system thrives by contributions from the major components. While academia creates and disseminates new knowledge either by teaching or by research, R&D institutions pursue innovation and add value, and industry delivers or produces viable technology. All this happens because the society consumes and, at the same time, demands. So, the entire initiative under IMPRINT is directed towards this eco-system. Whatever we pursue, aspire and eventually innovate should actually go through this eco- system so that every invention or innovation is sustainable.

I would like to draw your attention to one of the important phrases that are used in the beginning – million challenges and billion minds – and explained where is this million coming from. We decided to select ten domains and have about ten themes in each one of them and further divided those themes into ten targets with each target leading towards ten topics. If you distribute this among 100 partners, that makes a million challenges, engineering challenges, that we should address to solve the major problems, not problems but challenges, faced by the country. In order to pursue that, the first phase of IMPRINT is devoted to creating a new education policy in the engineering domain and creating a new research roadmap. Why new? It is because these need to be directed to allow translation of knowledge to create new opportunities and national wealth. We need funding. There is no denying from that and we hope that about Rs.1,000 crore is made available to us for pursuing the challenges that we define. We also need convergent action from

109 the Government agencies and Departments. We should not work in isolation. There must be a synergy leading to a common goal. Many of the innovations never see the light of application because the solution that we create may eventually not be possible to be adopted by the society. This can be overcome or ensured if industry participates actively as a stakeholder, not as a sponsor. We believe that these million challenges that you are talking about can easily be solved by crowd-sourcing. I am happy to inform you that we already made a progress in this by conducting, first of all, a National Logo Competition to give a face to IMPRINT and we also conducted a National Essay Competition. Many of the prize winners, about 30 of them, are actually present here today. They are students from engineering institutions across the country.

Recently, in an international forum where scientists from the National Academy of Engineering, USA, participated, one of the colleagues made a mention that in India, you enjoy an unfair advantage. What he meant was that in a population of 1.25 billion, close to a billion are about 35 or younger. We will soon be the youngest nation in the world. If this country has one major source, it is this human resource and IMPRINT is committed to empower them through new engineering education so that solutions will automatically emerge from the enthusiasm of them.

I would like to mention that the whole deliberation of IMPRINT started in Rashtrapati Bhavan last year when the Hon’ble President invited us and one of the themes that we presented was on technology domains. Subsequently, this year in April, the Ministry issued a memo and we started official work. Several meetings took place; close to 200 faculty members have joined; almost a dozen interactions took place; and, we are now determined to create a new education policy and a research roadmap in another few months’ time.

But the real work will begin when we have identified and defined the problems because in science and technology, we always mention, a problem defined is half the problem done. Once that is done, then, we have to get going, and, by that, what we mean is not just the IITs and IIScs but the entire country, the entire engineering fraternity. Million challenges may sound many but the resources are even more. We have billion minds and success will eventually come to us provided we remain focussed and devoted.

On behalf of the entire team IMPRINT, I would like to acknowledge our gratitude for giving us this very, very important platform to talk about IMPRINT. The highest political leadership of the country has given us this opportunity and we will remain grateful forever. Thank you for your kind attention. Jai Hind.

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DR. THOMAS MATHEW: Thank you, Professor Manna. It is my proud privilege to request Hon’ble Prime Minister to release the IMPRINT India brochure and present its first copy to the Hon’ble President.

(RELEASE OF IMPRINT)

Thank you, Sir. It is my proud privilege to request the Hon’ble President to launch the IMPRINT India.

(LAUNCH OF IMPRINT INDIA)

PROF. INDRANIL MANNA: With your permission, Sir, may I explain that this website is a repository of all the knowledge that will be generated under IMPRINT but this repository will be a dynamic one and will serve as a window to the rest of the world, including all the young minds that we want to attract. We have, in this website, message from our Hon’ble Minister. We also have an introduction about IMPRINT. All the domains are listed here. We have also provisions for engaging young minds, and, most importantly, we are looking forward to connect to the entire world and leverage from whatever knowledge is available.

Apart from these 10 domains, we also have the possibility of interaction with young minds where they can actually contribute and even pose questions which will allow the young minds to interact with the experts at their convenience. Thank you very much.

PRESENTATION MADE BY PROF. INDRANIL MANNA DIRECTOR, INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, KANPUR

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DR. THOMAS MATHEW: Thank you, Sir. It is my proud privilege to request the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi, to address us.

प्रधान मंत्री (श्री नरेन्द्र मोदी) : परम आदरणीय राष्ट्रपति जी, मंत्रिपररषद के मेरे साथी एवं सभी उपस्थथि वररष्ट्ठ महानभु ाव, म ℂ आदरणीय राष्ट्रपति जी का बहुि आभारी ह ं कक आपने इस व्यवथथा को प्राणवान बनाया, वरना अभी िक, आना, ममलना, कु छ इधर से, कु छ उधर से और किर बाय-बाय हो जािा था। इस ररचअु ल से, उस व्यवथथा को बाहर तनकाल कर, उसमᴂ प्राण भरने की कोमिि हुई है और समय की मांग के अनसु ार उसमᴂ पार्टिमसपेिन, इन्वॉ쥍वमᴂट और कोऑर्डिनेिन पर अधधक बल र्दया गया है। यह जो व्यवथथा ववकमसि हुई है, इसके मंथन से जो अमिृ प्राप्ि हो रहा है, वह भववष्ट्य मᴂ राष्ट्र की ववकास यािा के रोड मैप को िैयार करेगा, उसमᴂ ज्ञान और अनभु व के सामर्थयि को जोड़ेगा और समय सीमा मᴂ पररवििन लाने के प्रयासⴂ को बल देगा।

म ℂ हमेिा सोचिा ह ं कक प्राथममक मिक्षा व्यस्ति के जीवन तनमािण मᴂ बहुि बड़ी भम मका अदा करिी है। प्राथममक मिक्षा इन्सान को जड़ⴂ से जोड़िी है, लेककन हायर एजकु े िन आसमान छ न े के अरमान जगािी है, इसमलए स्जिना महात्म्य प्राथममक मिक्षा के माध्यम से जीवन को िैयार करने का है, प्राथममक मिक्षा के माध्यम से जड़ⴂ से जुड़ने का है, उिना ही महात्म्य, हायर एजुके िन के माध्यम से आसमान को छ न े वाले अरमान कैसे जगᴂ, इसका भी है। यह बहुि ज셂री है। अगर प्राथममक मिक्षा व्यस्ति को गढ़ने पर बल देिी है, िो हायर एजकु े िन राष्ट्र को गढ़ने का आधार बनिी है। राष्ट्र कैसे िस्तििाली बनेगा, उसका एक रोड मैप, उसका एक ब्लव प्रटं इसी कालखंड मᴂ िैयार होिा है। अब उस अथि मᴂ आप लोगⴂ का योगदान और आपके इंथटी絍यि ंस का योगदान, राष्ट्र ववकास की यािा को, राष्ट्र तनमािण के प्रयासⴂ को, समयानकु ल स्जन िाकिⴂ की आवश्यकिा है, उससे जोड़ने के काम आिा है।

िायद इससे पव ि की कोई भी ििाब्दी ऐसी नहीं होगी, स्जस पर टेतनोलॉजी का इिना अधधक प्रभाव रहा हो। एक प्रकार से पर ा सामास्जक जीवन टेतनोलॉजी-र्िवन हो गया है और ऐसे मᴂ हमारे मलए भी आवश्यक हो जािा है कक टेतनोलॉजी के इस महात्म्य को थवीकार करिे हुए, भववष्ट्य को ध्यान मᴂ रखिे हुए हम एिोडबे ल टेतनोलॉजी की िरि आगे बढ़ᴂ, सथटेनेबल टेतनोलॉजी पर बल दᴂ। अगर हमᴂ यह करना है िो हमᴂ इन्नोवेिंस पर बल देना पड़ेगा। Millions and millions of challenges are there, लेककन जैसा अभी बिाया गया कक billions of minds are also there, लेककन अगर वह माइंड इन्नोवेिन के साथ नहीं जड़ु िा

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है, अगर वह मसिि उपभोतिा ही बना रहिा है, िो म ℂ नहीं समझिा कक हम इिने सारे माइं蕍स को खरु ाक दे भी पाएंगे या नहीं। उनको जो र्दमागी खुराक चार्हए, वह हम नहीं दे पाएंगे। हम भाग्यवान हℂ कक हमारे पास billions and billions of minds हℂ, लेककन जब िक हम इन्नोवेिन के मलए प्रॉपर एनवायरनमᴂट नहीं देिे हℂ, मकै े तनज़म ् डेवलप नहीं करिे हℂ, ररसोसि मोत्रबलाइज़ नहीं करिे हℂ, िो ऐसा भी होिा है कक कभी-कभी ववचार धरे के धरे रह जािे हℂ।

सपनⴂ को साकार करने का एक मागि होिा है- ‘इनोवेिन’। हमारी इंथटी絍यि सं इनोवेिन को प्राथममकिा देने मᴂ ककिनी कामयाब हो रही हℂ? अब आज दतु नया मᴂ global warming, environment इन सारी इश्यज़ की चचाि हो रही है। कु छ लोगⴂ के मलए ग्लोबल ग एक माके ट का कारणﴂग एक धचन्िा का ववषय है, िो कु छ लोगⴂ के मलए ग्लोबल वाममﴂवामम होिा है। उन्हⴂने इसको एक market opportunity मᴂ convert करने की सोची है। वे चाहिे हℂ ग के नाम पर दतु नया के माके ट कोﴂकक हम टेतनोलॉजी मᴂ इनोवेिन करᴂगे और ग्लोबल वामम कैप्चर करᴂगे। भारि जैसे देि के मलए यह आवश्यकिा बन जािी है कक हम भावी पीढ़ी की रक्षा के मलए तया ऐसे इनोवेिंस दतु नया के सामने ला सकिे हℂ, जो अ楍छा भी हो, सथिा भी हो और सामान्य मानव के जीवन के साथ सहजिा से adaptable हो? अगर ये व्यवथथाय ᴂ हम ववकमसि करिे हℂ, िब िो billions and billions of people एक कदम चल कर भी तलाइमेट चᴂज की इिनी बड़ी समथया के समाधान के मलए राथिे खोल सकिे हℂ।

आज दतु नया मᴂ एक क쥍चर डेवलप हुआ- ‘throw away culture’, लेककन दतु नया मᴂ जो संकट पैदा हुआ है, उसके कारण अब ‘throw away culture’ धचन्िन का कारण बना है और उसके कारण re-use कैसे ककया जाए, recycle कैसे ककया जाए, इस पर मंथन चल रहे हℂ। भारि जैसे इिने बड़े देि मᴂ हम waste को wealth मᴂ create करने के मलए तया इनोवेिन कर सकिे हℂ? मान लीस्जए हमᴂ 50 मममलयन मकान बनाने हℂ, िो आज स्जस मैटीररयल के आधार पर हम मकान बना रहे हℂ, तया हम उिने मकान बनाने के मलए मैटीररयल प्रोवाइड कर सकिे हℂ? हम जानिे हℂ कक इन र्दनⴂ नदी की रेि/बाल की थमगमलंग होिी है। इसे एक रा煍य दस रे रा煍य मᴂ थमगल करिा है, तयⴂकक उसको कंथरतिन के मलए रेि उपलब्ध नहीं है और एन्वायरनमᴂट के कारण भी ऐसे हℂ कक रेि लेना भी अब मस्ु श्कल होिा जा रहा है। िब हमारी इनोवेिन के मलए सबसे बड़ा चैलᴂज यह है कक हम मकानⴂ की रचना मᴂ ककस मैटीररयल को प्रोवाइड करᴂगे, िो जो हमारे पास वेथट पड़ा होगा, वही वे쥍थ किएिन का कारण बनेगा।

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हम इनोवेिन को कैसे ला रहे हℂ? हम कभी-कभी बाहरी या उधारी चीज़ⴂ को िुरन्ि एडॉप्ट कर लेिे हℂ। स्जस जगह पर मस्ु श्कल से सप्िाह मᴂ एकाध र्दन सर ज के दििन होिे हℂ, वहााँ अगर कोई मकान की रचना करेगा, िो चारⴂ िरि िीिे लगायेगा, िाकक कहीं से एक ककरण ममल जाये, िो वह चली न जाये, मेरे नसीब मᴂ आ जाये। लेककन हम भी अगर वैसा करᴂगे, िो किर हमᴂ तया करना पड़िा है- एक कटेन लगाओ, दो कटᴂस लगाओ, पााँच कटᴂस लगाओ, यानी हमᴂ अपनी ररतवारयमᴂट के अनसु ार अपने आककिटेतचर को डेवलप करना पड़ेगा। जब िक हम अपनी ररतवारयमᴂट के अनसु ार अपने आककिटेतचर को डेवलप नहीं करिे हℂ और हम borrow की हुई व्यवथथाओं को थवीकार करᴂगे िो िायद हम ही संकट को बढ़ाने मᴂ र्हथसेदार बनᴂगे। इसमलए, science is universal but technology must be local. हमᴂ इस पर emphasise करना चार्हए। अब मान लीस्जए, मझु े असम के अन्दर पानी तनकालना या पानी पहुाँचाना है, िो म ℂ पचास बार सोचाँग ा कक तया मझु े वहााँ थटील की पाइप की ज셂रि है। मेरा आंसर है कक वहााँ थटील की पाइप के बजाए bamboo को पाइप मᴂ कन्वटि करके पानी पहुाँचाया जा सकिा है। थटील से उसकी लाइि 煍यादा होिी है। कहने का िात्मपयि यह है कक अगर वहााँ bamboo से काम चलिा है, िो मझु े थटील ले जाने की ज셂रि तया है। इसमलए सामान्य जीवन की जो थवाभाववक आवश्यकिाएाँ हℂ, उनमᴂ हम कैसे चीज़ⴂ को उस प्रकार से उपयोग करᴂ? तया हम एक वचअुि ल प्लेटिामि िैयार कर सकिे हℂ?

आज हमारे सामने एक वेबसाइट ‘IMPRINT’की आई है। एक ऐसा वचअुि ल प्लेटिामि िैयार करᴂ, जो इस प्रकार के ग्लोब सहज प्रयोग हो रहे हℂ, हम उनको इनवाइट करᴂ। हम उस पर सेममनार करᴂ, चचाि करᴂ और हो सकिा है कक उसमᴂ से कु छ चीजᴂ हमारे मलए sparking point बनᴂ और वे हमᴂ कु छ करने के मलए प्रेरणा दे सकिे हℂ। तया हम इसका उपयोग कर सकिे हℂ? अगर हम इस प्रकार से लोगⴂ को जोड़िे हℂ, अधधक प्रयास करिे हℂ िो पररणाम ममलिा है। हम जानिे हℂ कक हमारे Institutions मᴂ जो students आिे हℂ, वे ककस प्रकार से आिे हℂ? यह धचंिा का ववषय है कक अब 煍यादािर जो students हमारे पास पहुंच रहे हℂ, वे entrance exam कैसे पार करना है, इसी मᴂ उनकी माथटरी होिी है। वे उस प्रकार की classes को attend करिे हℂ, जो आपको exam को पार कराने का राथिा र्दखािी हℂ। हम इसके कारण उसके real talent and capability से अनमभज्ञ रह जािे हℂ और वह एडममिन ले लेिा है। उसको यह मालम है कक हमारा देि ऐसा है कक पाइप-लाइन के इस दौर मᴂ एक बार अगर कोई अंदर प्रवेि कर गया, िो दस री िरि तनकलना ही तनकलना है, बीच मᴂ कोई राथिा ही नहीं है।

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हमारे यहां यर्द कोई IAS officer 24 घंटे पढ़ाई करके , exam पास करके अंदर आ गया, िो किर सेिेटेरी बनकर ही तनकलेगा। हमारे यहां जो यह स्थथति है, तया हम अपने यहां लगािार ranking करने की पति को बदल सकिे हℂ? वरना हम investment करिे जाएं- यह काम समाज का है- म ℂ सरकार की बाि नहीं कर रहा ह ं, लेककन ultimate product जो हℂ, वे हमारे काम न आएं; उसका िो गजु ारा कर लᴂ। वह खुद का गजु ारा िो teacher बनकर भी कर लेगा। आज हमारा देि इिनी बड़ी मािा मᴂ defence equipment import करिा है। देि का बहुि बड़ा बजट defence sector मᴂ लगा है। तया मेरे देि के technical institutions research and innovation मᴂ lead नहीं कर सकिे हℂ? जो defence equipment manufacturing के मलए resource mobilization है, उसमᴂ सबसे बड़ी िाकि talent and human resource है। उस human resource की capability इिनी हो कक दतु नया के चाहे ककसी भी defence manufacturing वाले लोग हℂ, उनके ध्यान मᴂ पहले यह आना चार्हए, the best talent is here. म ℂ manufacturing मᴂ काम क셂ंगा और अगर मझु े cheap talent ममल जािा है, िो म ℂ ग्लोबल माके ट के अंदर affordable 셂प मᴂ खड़ा हो जाऊंगा। इसका मिलब यह हुआ कक हमारे देि की defence requirement के मलए अगर इिना equipment import है, अगर मेरे इिने institutions ममलकर िय करᴂ, िो र्हन्दथु िान मᴂ दस सालⴂ के अंदर हम defence equipment import करने मᴂ fifty per cent कम कर दᴂगे। म ℂ समझिा ह ं कक भारि सरकार का स्जिना बजट बचेगा, िो इसी education system को बढ़ावा देने मᴂ कोई हज़ि नहीं होगा। इससे ककिना बड़ा िायदा होगा। हम इससे आत्ममतनभिर बनᴂगे। इसमलए जब िक हम यह नहीं सोचिे कक हमारी आवश्यकिाएं तया हℂ, िब िक कु छ नहीं हो सकिा है। आज solar energy की ओर सबका ध्यान गया है। 175 Gigawatts बहुि बड़ा ambitious plan है। जब भारि दतु नया के ककसी भी देि के व्यस्ति के साथ 175 Gigawatts renewable energy की बाि करिा है, िो वह आदमी पांच ममनट िक िो समझ ही नहीं पािा है कक म ℂ gigawatts बोल रहा ह ं या megawatts बोल रहा ह ं। उनको अचरज हो रहा है कक तया कोई देि इिना बड़ा initiative ले सकिा है, लेककन अगर हम technology मᴂ innovations करᴂ, हम solar manufacturing मᴂ, solar के equipment manufacturing मᴂ नए innovations कर कर के , maximum power generation की र्दिा मᴂ कैसे जा सकिे हℂ, हम उसको और cost-effective कैसे बना सकिे हℂ, इससे हम देि की ककिनी बड़ी सेवा कर सकिे हℂ। म ℂ अभी एक साइंस मैगजीन देख रहा था, म ℂ 煍यादा िो पढ़ नहीं पािा ह ं, लेककन उससे एक चीज मेरे ध्यान मᴂ आई है। एक प्रयोग wind energy के संबंध

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मᴂ चल रहा है। जो wind turbines हℂ और हवा मᴂ जो humidity है, उसको भी capture कर रहे हℂ।

अब वे ववंड के कारण पावर िो जनरेट करिे हℂ, लेककन उसी व्यवथथा से वे ह्यम मर्डटी को कैप्चर करके उसे पानी मᴂ कं वटि करिे हℂ। एक ववंड ममल 24 घंटे मᴂ 10,000 लीटर थवीट वाटर हवा से लेकर दे सकिी है। मिलब कक मान लीस्जए रेधगथिान के इलाके के गााँव हℂ, अगर वहााँ हमारी ऐसी ववंड ममल लगिी है, जहााँ ववंड वेलोमसटी भी है और अगर म ℂ 10,000 लीटर थवीट वाटर देिा ह ाँ, िो म ℂ हे쥍थ की सारी प्रॉब्ल्स का सॉलिु न करिा ह ाँ और जीवन जीने की तवामलटी ऑि लाइि मᴂ बदलाव लािा ह ाँ। तया मेरी टेतनोलॉजी म쥍टीपल एस्तटववटीज़ वाली हो सकिी है, स्जससे एक मᴂ से अनेक लाभ ममल सकᴂ ? तया इस र्दिा मᴂ हम कु छ कर सकिे हℂ? हमारे पास हमारे नौजवान हℂ, जो दतु नया के ककसी भी देि मᴂ जाएाँ, िो इस प्रकार के परािम कर सकिे हℂ। तया अब हम भारि मᴂ वह अवसर दे सकिे हℂ? हमारे सभी इंथटी絍यि ंस अपने इन-हाउस इनतयब ेिन सᴂटर को कैसे डेवलप करᴂ और कॉरपोरेट व쥍डि को पाटिनरमिप कैसे दी जाए, इस पर हमᴂ ध्यान देना होगा, िाकक कॉरपोरेट व쥍डि की जो आवश्यकिाएाँ हℂ, जो कॉममिियल िी쥍ड मᴂ जाने वाले हℂ, वे पर ी हो सकᴂ । अगर Incubation Centre with educational institution होगा और अगर इन िीनⴂ का मेलजोल होगा, िो म ℂ समझिा ह ाँ कक हम नए-नए ररसचि के मलए, कॉममिियल िी쥍ड मᴂ जाने के मलए िुरंि तनणिय कर सकिे हℂ और एक-दस रे को बल दे सकिे हℂ।

हम ‘मेक इन इंर्डया’ की बाि करिे हℂ। ‘मेक इन इंर्डया’ की सबसे बड़ी िाकि तया है? रॉ मैटीररयल हमारे हℂ, हम ऐसा दावा नहीं कर सकिे हℂ, लेककन हमारे पास ह्यम न कैवपटल का इिना थरााँग बेस है कक हम ‘मेक इन इंर्डया’ के मलए दतु नया मᴂ तलेम कर सकिे हℂ। उसके मलए स्थकल डवे लपमᴂट चार्हए। हम स्जन ववषयⴂ पर काम करᴂ, मान लीस्जए मेरी पेरोमलयम यत नवमसटि ी है, गैस बेथड इकोनॉमी की र्दिा मᴂ देि आगे बढ़ रहा है, अगर गैस बेथड इकोनॉमी की र्दिा मᴂ मेरा देि आगे बढ़ रहा है, िो मझु े एक छोटे से गााँव मᴂ भी गैस से स्बस्न्धि जो टेतनोलॉजी है, जैसे ररपेयररंग, पाइप ररपेयररंग, सेफ्टी मेज़सि, इनके मलए छोटे-छोटे लोगⴂ की ज셂रि पड़ेगी। हमारे इंथटी絍यि ंस आखखरी छोड़ पर हमᴂ ककस प्रकार का ह्यम न ररसॉसि डवे लपमᴂट चार्हए, उसका मसलेबस िैयार करके स्थकल डवे लपमᴂट करने वाले इंथटी絍यि ंस िक उसकी मलंकेज करᴂ, िो मेरी यत नवमसटि ी प्रोिेिनल लोगⴂ को िैयार करेगी, मेरी यत नवमसटि ी एतसपटि सायंर्टथ絍स को िैयार करेगी, टेस्तनमियंस को िैयार करेगी, लेककन

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बैक-अप के मलए मझु े स्जस प्रकार के ह्यम न िोसि की ज셂रि होगी, वह भी simultaneously िैयार होगी। इिना बड़ा बदलाव आ सकिा है, लेककन हमारा काम टुकड़ⴂ मᴂ होिा है। जब िक हम होमलस्थटक एप्रोच नहीं करिे हℂ, इंटीग्रेटेड एप्रोच नहीं करिे हℂ, िब यह टुकड़ⴂ से जो व्यवथथा बनिी है, उससे हमारी कर्ठनाई बढ़ जािी है। इसमलए हमारे मलए यह भी आवश्यकिा है। स्जस प्रकार कोई देि in isolation नहीं चल सकिा है, उसी प्रकार से कोई इंथटी絍यि न in isolation नहीं चल सकिा है। हमारे मलए आवश्यक है कक समग्र दतु नया कहााँ जा रही है, उस दतु नया मᴂ हम कहााँ जा सकिे हℂ, उस जगह पर पहुाँचने के मलए हमारे ways and means तया हℂ, हमारी ररसॉसेज तया हℂ, हमारी कैपेत्रबमलटी तया है, उसमᴂ हम िाइव ईयर प्लान बना कर, टेन ईयर प्लान बना कर इन-इन चीजⴂ पर िोकस करᴂगे, हम इिना पहुाँचᴂगे, िब जाकर यह काम होगा। Otherwise, मझु े याद है कक जब म ℂ नया-नया गुजराि मᴂ सीएम बना, िो मेरा िोकस आईटीआई पर था। एक प्रकार से वह टेतनोलॉजी व쥍डि का मिि ु मंर्दर है। उसे बाल मंर्दर कह दीस्जए। मनℂ े उस पर िोकस ककया, िो म ℂ हैरान था कक वहााँ पर जो ऑटोमोबाइल के कोसेज थे, वहााँ वे कोसेज चल रहे थे, स्जससे स्बस्न्धि गाड़ी अब नहीं बनिी है। अब वैसी कार अवेलेबल नहीं है, लेककन आपका थट डᴂट बेचारा एडममिन लेकर एक साल उन चीजⴂ को पढ़िा है। यानी यह बदलाव लाने के मलए आप जहााँ पर हℂ, वहााँ से पीछे तया हो सकिा है, इसके जररए आप बहुि बड़ा कं रीब्यि न कर सकिे हℂ। इस IMPRINT के माध्यम से आप बहुि बड़ा कं रीब्यि न कर सकिे हℂ। इसमलए हम एक नए ववज़न के साथ, लंबी सोच के साथ इन चीजⴂ को कैसे करᴂ, इस पर हमᴂ ध्यान देना चार्हए। हम लोग भाग्यवान हℂ कक हमारे राष्ट्रपति जी थवयं अपने आपमᴂ एक चलिी-किरिी यत नवमसटि ी हℂ।

अगर मझु से कोई पछ े कक आपको प्रधान मंिी बनने का सबसे बड़ा िायदा तया हुआ है, िो म ℂ कह ंगा कक मझु े सबसे बड़ा िायदा राष्ट्रपति जी के तनकट आने का हुआ है। जब भी म ℂ उनसे ममलिा ह ं, िो पािा ह ाँ कक उनके पास ज्ञान का भंडार भरा हुआ है। यह म ℂ आपको सच बिा रहा ह ं। वे बारीकी के साथ इिनी चीज़ᴂ बिािे हℂ, स्जनके साथ उनका एतसपीररएंस भी जुड़ा हुआ होिा है। आप सब लोगⴂ को सीधे-सीधे उनका मागिदििन उपलब्ध है और आपको उनके मागिदििन मᴂ काम करना है। म ℂ नहीं मानिा ह ं कक अब हमᴂ आगे बढ़ने से कोई रोक सकिा है। Sky is the limit. अगर आप राष्ट्रपति जी के आदेिⴂ के अनसु ार, उनकी इ楍छा के अनसु ार चीज़ⴂ को करᴂगे, िो म ℂ मानिा ह ं कक इससे राष्ट्र अवश्य लाभास्न्वि होगा। आप सबको मेरी बहुि-बहुि िभु कामनाएं। म ℂ राष्ट्रपति जी का बहुि आभारी ह ं कक उन्हⴂने मझु े आप सबके बीच आने का अवसर र्दया। बहुि-बहुि धन्यवाद।

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DR. THOMAS MATHEW: Thank you, Hon’ble Prime Minister, Sir, for your inspirational and stirring address. I now have the privilege to request the Hon’ble President, Shri Pranab Mukherjee, to address this gathering. Hon’ble President, Sir.

THE PRESIDENT: Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, HRD Minister, Shrimati Smriti Zubin Irani, other Ministers, leaders of the institutions of higher learning, distinguished guests and Ladies and Gentlemen, Good Morning to all of you.

I extend a warm welcome to you all who are here to attend the first-ever Visitor's Conference. In the past, I have had the occasion to meet many of you during the different conferences organized at the Rashtrapati Bhavan and Convocations at your Institutions. This is, however, for the first time, that, as Visitor, I am meeting you all together, and I am glad that I have the opportunity of welcoming you to this historic hall which has witnessed many momentous events, which has impacted on the evolution and forward movement of this country. These magnificent columns, beautiful chandeliers, high dome witnessed at the midnight of 14th-15th August the ending of colonial rule of 190 years. This all witnessed within three years of our Independence when we began our tryst with destiny how India came out of dominion status and converted itself into the ‘Republic’ where the people of this country in the Constituent Assembly gave to themselves a unique Constitution which has kept us together amidst so much diversities. I am glad to have the first Visitor's Conference inviting all Heads of the Central Institutions at this Hall.

Thank you for the attendance. As mentioned by my Secretary, the outcome of the previous Conferences have given us the confidence that the institutions of higher learning, if they come together, can make a difference, within a short span of time, to the higher education sector in our country. With this shared belief we are here today.

I thank the Hon’ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, for his gracious presence. His enchanting speech, inspiring words, I have no doubt, would set the tone for the deliberations during the Conference. I take this opportunity to also place on record my appreciation for Shrimati Smriti Zubin Irani, the Minister for Human Resource Development. By steering various initiatives with purpose and energy she has taken forward the education sector. I compliment the Prime Minister and the HRD Minister for the just launched programmes of IMPRINT, a pan-IIT and IISc initiative. The ten themes of this Programme, identifying the immediate requirement of the society will lay down the research roadmap for institutes of national importance. I call upon the academic leaders of institutes in the Social Sciences and Humanities domain to formulate a

123 similar joint initiative for conducting research on themes of relevance to public policy making.

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, it is true that the past ten years have seen a vast expansion of the higher education infrastructure, though the Gross Enrolment Ratio at 21 per cent in India as against the world average of 27 per cent remains a cause of concern. A new education policy is being formulated. I am told that a process of consultation has commenced on 13 themes for school education and 20 themes for higher education. The new policy must alter the dynamics of the education sector and help us achieve the GER target of 30 per cent by the year 2020, a goal we cannot afford to miss.

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, at the altar of its function, quality should not be sacrificed. Greater number of institutions translates into greater number of seats, enhancing access and equity in higher education. However, it has generated a lively debate on reach versus excellence, quality versus affordability and accountability versus autonomy. A calm assessment will make it clear to all stakeholders that we need all, reach and excellence, quality and affordability and autonomy with accountability.

Increasing access in higher education through digital inclusion is a way forward. We should, without delay, think of taking modified MOOCs to the secondary education level. To skill India, we must design MOOCs that is interactive and offer vocational aspirations and opportunities to learn. This could revolutionalise delivery of skill knowledge. Distinguished participants, Institutes of higher learning find its real value by excelling in education, research and innovation. This calls for faculty development and augmentation of teaching resources across the board; this calls for inspire teachers, keen-to- learn students and good physical and research infrastructure; this calls for a reliable and extensive ICT network. Some encouraging developments of the recent past that, I can recall, are intensification of exchange of faculty through formal arrangements with foreign institutions. In addition to the MoUs that must have been signed by various institutions of higher learning, over eighty MoUs with 50 overseas institutions have been signed during my visit abroad in the last two years. This demonstrates the interest and potential for collaboration with international institutions. Removal of bottlenecks and simplification of procedure for filling faculty position, engagement of adjunct faculty and hiring of foreign experts, the global initiative for academic networks is a welcome step in tapping the global pool of talented scientists and entrepreneurs. By encouraging their engagement with Indian institutes, we can augment our country’s academic resources. Distinguished participants, it is good to see research moving centre-stage in our institutes of higher learning. This will, in the near future, help us to meet the needs for good faculty. A recent example is IIT, Delhi which has awarded 221 PhDs this year,

124 the highest in a year so far. It has resolved to increase the number to 400 in the next few years. Such initiatives will not only lead to higher research quotient for the nation, but also improve rankings of the institutions. I congratulate them. Earlier, not a single Indian institution came within the top 200 institutions in international rankings. It seems that my persistent exhortation has paid off. Many of you have responded to my call. I am grateful for that. Our institutions are now taking the ranking process more seriously in a pro-active and systematic manner. In the QS World University Ranking 2015-16, Indian institutions have broken into the top 200 for the first time.

I compliment the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, which is ranked 147th and the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, ranked 179th, for this achievement. If we provide enough funds to top 10-20 institutions for the next four-five years, we will soon see them storm into the top 100 places.

The National Institutional Ranking Framework launched by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, with an India-centric approach, is a step in the right direction. This initiative should enable Indian institutes of higher learning to realize their potential and emerge as world-class institutions.

Ladies and Gentlemen, knowledge is indivisible. We must follow a multi- disciplinary approach that allows students to learn and seek knowledge holistically. Our institutions must impart education to the students that help expand their intellect, form their character, instil in them a spirit of service and love for motherland. It must equip them to face the struggles of real life. It must deepen the students’ linkage with the society. It is also necessary to develop in our students a scientific temper, which allows the flight of imagination beyond the realm of grades and classrooms. Promotion of research at the under-graduate level would assist such an objective.

Distinguished participants, the link between progress and innovation is direct. History is witness to many nations, low on natural resources, emerging as advanced economies only on the strength of rapid technological development. India today stands within a striking distance of realising the dreams or touching of dreams of the founding fathers of our nation. Indian youth are second to none in entrepreneurship. India serves as the fastest start-up base worldwide and stands third with 4,200 start-ups and next only to the United States and the United Kingdom. The Government has initiated the ‘Start-up India, Stand up India’ campaign to incentivise the entrepreneurial ventures. The Prime Minister’s speech this morning, I have no doubt, will inspire the entrepreneurs to build up this campaign at higher level.

Heads of institutes of higher learning must work towards creating an innovation and research network that will produce entrepreneurs and nurture

125 innovations. The setting up of Innovation Clubs in our 60 Central Institutions in the last few years is a good beginning for a platform where noble ideas can be nurtured and innovators mentored to develop new products.

In response to the decision taken in the Conference of Vice-Chancellors of Central Universities in 2014, Industry Interface Cells have been set up in many institutions.

The cells are now lending vigour to activities like joint research, faculty exchange and setting up of chairs and endowments. These cells can also interact closely with innovation incubators for monetizing ideas and research. The 43 MOUs signed with the industry yesterday takes us to the next level of partnership between industry and academia.

Ladies and Gentlemen, academic institutions are an important stakeholder for the socio-economic development of the nation. I had earlier asked the Central Universities and NITs to adopt, at least, five villages and transform them into the model villages. I now extend my call to all the 114 Central Institutions. After identifying problems in the adopted villages, they must pool all academic and technical resources at their disposal to provide solutions that will enhance the quality of life of our countrymen.

As we start the deliberations in this Conference, I assure you of an exciting journey ahead in the world of education. Be ready for roadblocks, criticisms, failures and successes. But continue to work with a fresh and positive mind. Do take heart from what Mahatma Gandhi had said, and, I quote, “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” And win you shall. Thank you, Ladies and Gentlemen.

Jai Hind.

DR. THOMAS MATHEW: Thank you, Hon’ble President, Sir for your words of wisdom and guidance. Now, I request Shri Vinay Sheel Oberoi, Secretary (Higher Education), Ministry of Human Resource Development, to extend a Vote of Thanks.

SECRETARY (HE), MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (SHRI VINAY SHEEL OBEROI): Hon’ble President of India, Hon’ble Prime Minister, Hon’ble Minister of Human Resource Development, Hon’ble Members of the Cabinet, Secretary to the President, Heads of Institutions of Higher Learning, distinguished academicians and representatives of the industry, my colleagues from the Government, ladies and gentlemen, it is my honour and privilege to extend a Vote of Thanks on this rare and unique morning where we have had the privilege of listening to the leaders of our

126 nation, as they shared their thoughts, their mind and their vision for the educational sector of India. It is our responsibility now to take this vision to translate it into our dreams and then to reality.

Sir, I would like to thank the Hon’ble President for the initiative of this edition, the largest edition, of the Visitors Conference, which has evolved into a growing and impactful platform for sharing review and dialogue, and, a productive platform as we have seen that over the past year, we have taken many of the ideas, many of the directions, the roadmap, and sought to make them into a blueprint for the future.

Sir, the Hon’ble President, in his address, reminded us through the advice and encouragement of the need to expand access to higher education ratio. Our gross enrolment ratio is still a little over 22 per cent and we need to take this to 30 per cent over the next few years to expand not only access but also equity and quality and to ensure that the educational system meets the aspirations of our people. The Hon’ble President referred to the consultative and inclusive process through which the new education policy is being formulated, and reminded us of our responsibilities that quality must be maintained and enhanced. He referred to the issues of autonomy and also of accountability. He referred to many programmes and many of these have had their seeds in the Addresses delivered at this Conference and elsewhere by the Hon’ble President and by the Hon’ble Prime Minister.

The Hon’ble Prime Minister spoke of the issues, the paths to their resolution and the structures that must support a nation-wide effort to bring education to the forefront as a catalytic agent, as an instrument of change. That science must be universal but technology must be local and that you need local solutions for local needs and that we must move ahead not just in borrowed technologies but our own. He cited many sectors and examples from climate change to defence to the everyday problems that confront our people. The Hon’ble Prime Minister spoke of the need to have a holistic and integrated approach, that institutions cannot work in isolation, that technologies that we develop must be adaptable, affordable and adoptable and that we must move in that direction.

I would like to thank the Secretary to the President and her team for her guidance and for the meticulous efforts that have gone into this Conference which has had this remarkably insightful and auspicious beginning.

I thank the IMPRINT team led by Prof. Indranil Manna and all our family of institutions represented here by their heads for their participation and for what I believe will be two days of both dialogues, discussion and outcome.

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At the end, I would like to thank again the Hon’ble President and the Hon’ble Prime Minister for sharing their vision and also guiding us on how they can achieve it. I must express my thanks to the Hon’ble Minister of Human Resource Development for her constant encouragement and motivation which has taken our team at the Ministry and our family of institutions to believe in itself and to move towards bringing about the change that has been spoken of this morning.

Thank you all and thank you for this morning.

(National Anthem)

(The Conference is then adjourned for tea)

*****

GROUP WORK BY SIX GROUPS ON ACTION TAKEN REPORT / PROGRESS REPORT BY THE RESPECTIVE CENTRAL INSTITUTES OF HIGHER LEARNING ON RECOMMENDATIONS MADE IN THE CONFERENCES ATTENDED BY THEM DURING APRIL 2014 TO FEBRUARY 2015

*****

Date & Timing of Group Work 05 February, 2015 1145 hrs to 1345 hrs

*****

Venue & Timings for Presentation of Group Work Ceremonial Hall, Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Centre 1635 hrs to 1735 hrs (maximum 10 minutes to each group) 128

Group A

Venue – South Hall – B, RBCC

Moderators – Dr. Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, Joint Secretary (CU&L), M/o. Human Resource Development and Shri Siddharth Sharma, Internal Financial Adviser, President’s Secretariat

Group Representative – Prof. S.A. Bari, Vice Chancellor, Central University of Gujarat, Ahmedabad

Participants 1. Aligarh Muslim University, Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Zameer Uddin Aligarh Shah, PVSM, SM, VSM. 2. Assam University, Silchar Prof. Somnath Dasgupta 3. Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Prof. R.C. Sobti University, Lucknow 4. Banaras Hindu University, Prof. Girish Chandra Tripathi Varanasi 5. Central University of Gujarat, Prof. S.A. Bari Ahmedabad 6. Central University of Haryana, Prof. (Dr.) Ramesh Chander Kuhad Mahendergarh, Pali 7. Central University of Himachal Prof. Kuldip Chand Agnihotri Pradesh, Dharamshala 8. Central University of Jammu, Prof. Ashok Aima Jammu 9. Central University of Jharkhand, Prof. Nand Kumar Yadav ‘Indu’ Brambe, Ranchi 10. Central University of Karnataka, Prof. H.M. Maheshwaraiah Gulbarga 11. Central University of Kashmir, Prof. Mehraj-ud-din Mir Ganderbal 12. Central University of Kerala, Prof. (Dr.) G. Gopa Kumar Kasaragod 13. Central University of Punjab, Prof. (Dr.) R.K. Kohli Bathinda 14. Central University of Orissa, Prof. Sachidananda Mohanty Koraput 15. Central University of Rajasthan, Prof. Arun Kumar Pujari Ajmer 16. Central University of South Prof. Harish Chandra Singh Rathore

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Bihar, Gaya 17. Central University of Tamil Prof. A.P. Dash Nadu, Thiruvarur 18. Dr. Hari Singh Gour Prof. Raghvendra P. Tiwari Vishwavidyalaya, Sagar 19. Guru Ghasidas Prof. Anjila Gupta Vishwavidyalaya, Bilaspur 20. Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Prof. Jawahar Lal Kaul Garhwal University, Srinagar (Uttarakhand) Special Invitees 1. Central Agricultural University, Dr. Moirangthem Premjit Singh Imphal 2. Nalanda University, Rajgir Dr. Gopa Sabharwal 3. The Rani Lakshmi Bai Central Dr. Arvind Kumar Agricultural University, Jhansi

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Group B

Venue – West Hall, RBCC

Moderator – Dr. Thomas Mathew, Additional Secretary to the President

Group Representative – Prof. Talat Ahmad, Vice Chancellor, Jamia Millia Islamia

Participants 1. Indira Gandhi National Open Prof. Nageshwar Rao, Acting VC University, New Delhi 2. Indira Gandhi National Tribal Prof. T.V. Kattimani University, Amarkantak 3. Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi Prof. Talat Ahmad 4. Jawaharlal Nehru University, Prof. Sudhir Kumar Sopory New Delhi 5. Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Prof. Girishwar Misra Hindi Vishwavidyalaya, Wardha 6. Manipur University, Canchipur, Prof. Hidangmayum Nandakumar Imphal Sarma

7. Maulana Azad National Urdu Prof. Mohammed Aslam Parvaiz University, Hyderabad 8. Mizoram University, Aizawl Prof. R. Lalthantluanga

9. Nagaland University, Lumami Prof. Bolin Kumar Konwar

10. North Eastern Hill University, Prof. S.K. Srivastava Shillong 11. Pondicherry University, Prof. (Smt.) Anisa Basheer Khan, Puducherry Acting VC 12. Rajiv Gandhi University, Rono Prof. Tamo Mibang Hills, Doimukh, Arunachal Pradesh 13. Sikkim University, Tadong, Prof. Tanka Bahadur Subba Gangtok 14. Tezpur University, Tezpur Prof. Mihir K. Chaudhuri 15. The English and Foreign Dr. Sunaina Singh Languages University, Hyderabad 16. Tripura University, Prof. Anjan Kumar Ghosh Suryamaninagar, Agartala

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17. University of Allahabad, Prof. R.K. Singh, Prof.-in-Charge, Allahabad Academic Programmes

18. University of Delhi, Delhi Prof. Sudhish Pachauri, Acting VC 19. University of Hyderabad, Prof. Dr. Appa Rao Podile Hyderabad 20. Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan Prof. Swapan Kumar Datta, Acting VC

Special Invitees 1. Indian Maritime University, Shri K. Ashok Vardhan Shetty Chennai 2. Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Dr. J.P. Gupta Petroleum Technology, Rae Bareli 3. Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Dr. Latha Pillai Youth Development, Sriperumbudur

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Group C

Venue – President’s Drawing Room, RBCC

Moderators – Shri Shashi Prakash Goyal, Joint Secretary (TEL), M/o. Human Resource Development and Smt. Shamima Siddiqui, Deputy Press Secretary, President’s Secretariat

Group Representative – Prof. Inder Krishen Bhat, Director, Malaviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur

Participants 1. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar National Prof. Inder Krishen Bhat Institute of Technology, (Additional Charge) Jalandhar 2. Malaviya National Institute of Prof. Inder Krishen Bhat Technology, Jaipur 3. Maulana Azad National Institute Dr. Appu Kuttan K.K. of Technology, Bhopal (Absent) 4. Motilal Nehru National Institute Prof. Parthasarathi Chakrabarti of Technology, Allahabad 5. National Institute of Technology Dr. Gopal Mugeraya – Agartala 6. National Institute of Technology Prof. Chandan Tilak Bhunia – Arunachal Pradesh 7. National Institute of Technology Dr. Shivaji Chakravarti – Calicut 8. National Institute of Technology Dr. Ajay K. Sharma – Delhi 9. National Institute of Technology Dr. Tarkeshwar Kumar – Durgapur 10. National Institute of Technology Prof. G.R.C. Reddy – Goa 11. National Institute of Technology Prof. Rajnish Shrivastava – Hamirpur 12. National Institute of Technology Prof. Rambabu Kodali – Jamshedpur 13. National Institute of Technology Dr. Swapan Bhattacharya Karnataka – Surathkal 14. National Institute of Technology Prof. Anand Mohan – Kurukshetra 15. National Institute of Technology - Dr. Sarungbam Birendra Singh

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Manipur Special Invitees 1. Atal Bihari Vajpayee Indian Dr. S.G. Deshmukh Institute of Information Technology & Management, Gwalior 2. Indian Institute of Information Prof. Somenath Biswas Technology, Allahabad 3. Indian Institute of Information Prof. R. Gnanamoorthy Technology, Design & Manufacturing, Kancheepuram, Chennai 4. Pandit Dwarka Prasad Mishra Dr. S.G. Deshmukh Indian Institute of Information (Additional Charge) Technology, Design & Manufacturing, Jabalpur

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Group D

Venue – VIPs’ Drawing Room, RBCC

Moderator – Shri Venu Rajamony, Press Secretary to the President

Group Representative – Prof. Sunil Kumar Sarangi, Director, National Institute of Technology, Rourkela

Participants 1. National Institute of Technology Prof. Dilip Kumar Saikia – Meghalaya 2. National Institute of Technology Prof. U.C. Ray – Mizoram 3. National Institute of Technology Dr. V. Ramachandran – Nagaland 4. National Institute of Technology Prof. Asok De – Patna 5. National Institute of Technology Dr. (Mrs.) Shashi Krishna Pandey – Puducherry 6. National Institute of Technology Dr. Sudarshan Tiwari – Raipur 7. National Institute of Technology Prof. Sunil Kumar Sarangi – Rourkela 8. National Institute of Technology Dr. Arun Baran Samaddar – Sikkim 9. National Institute of Technology Dr. N.V. Deshpande – Silchar 10. National Institute of Technology Prof. Rajat Gupta – Srinagar 11. National Institute of Technology Prof. Srinivasan Sundarrajan – Tiruchirappalli 12. National Institute of Technology Dr. H.T. Thorat – Uttarakhand 13. National Institute of Technology Prof. T. Srinivasa Rao – Warangal 14. Sardar Vallabhbhai National Prof. Sudhir K. Jain Institute of Technology – Surat (Additional Charge) 15. Visvesvaraya National Institute Prof. Narendra S. Chaudhari of Technology – Nagpur Special Invitees 1. Indian Institute of Engineering Prof. Ajoy Kumar Ray Science & Technology, Shibpur,

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West Bengal 4. National Institute of Fashion Dr. Sudhir Tripathi Technology 5. School of Planning and Prof. Chetan Vaidya Architecture, Bhopal (Additional Charge) 6. School of Planning and Prof. Chetan Vaidya Architecture, New Delhi

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Group E

Venue – North Hall, RBCC

Moderators – Shri R. Subrahmanyam, Additional Secretary (HE), M/o. Human Resource Development and Dr. Mahammed Ariz Ahammed, Joint Secretary, Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers

Group Representative – Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Director, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras

Participants 1. Indian Institute of Technology, Prof. Rajeev Sangal BHU 2. Indian Institute of Technology, Prof. Ratnam V. Rajakumar Bhubaneswar 3. Indian Institute of Technology, Prof. Devang V. Khakhar Bombay 4. Indian Institute of Technology, Prof. Kshitij Gupta Delhi (Acting Director)

5. Indian Institute of Technology, Prof. Sudhir K. Jain Gandhinagar 6. Indian Institute of Technology, Prof. Gautam Biswas Guwahati 7. Indian Institute of Technology, Prof. Uday B. Desai Hyderabad 8. Indian Institute of Technology, Prof. Pradeep Mathur Indore 9. Indian Institute of Technology, Prof. C.V.R. Murty Jodhpur 10. Indian Institute of Technology, Prof. Indranil Manna Kanpur 11. Indian Institute of Technology, Prof. Partha Pratim Chakrabarti Kharagpur 12. Indian Institute of Technology, Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi Madras 13. Indian Institute of Technology, Prof. Timothy A. Gonsalves Mandi 14. Indian Institute of Technology, Prof. Puspak Bhattacharyya Patna 15. Indian Institute of Technology, Prof. Pradipta Banerji Roorkee

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16. Indian Institute of Technology, Prof. Sarit Kumar Das Ropar Special Invitees 1. National Institute of Dr.(Mrs.) Kiran Kalia Pharmaceutical Education & Research, Ahmedabad 2. National Institute of Dr. K.C. Saikia Pharmaceutical Education & Director-in-Charge Research, Guwahati 3. National Institute of Dr. Pradeep Das Pharmaceutical Education & Research, Hajipur 4. School of Planning and Prof. Uday B. Desai Architecture, Vijayawada (Additional Charge)

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Group F

Venue – South Hall – A, RBCC

Moderators – Smt. Gaitri Issar Kumar, Joint Secretary-cum-Social Secretary to the President

Group Representative – Prof. N. Sathyamurthy, Director, Indian Institute of Science Education & Research, Mohali

Participants 1. Indian Institute of Science, Prof. Anurag Kumar Bangalore 2. Indian Institute of Science Prof. Vinod Kumar Singh Education & Research, Bhopal 3. Indian Institute of Science Prof. R.N. Mukherjee Education & Research, Kolkata 4. Indian Institute of Science Prof. N. Sathyamurthy Education & Research, Mohali 5. Indian Institute of Science Prof. Krishna N. Ganesh Education & Research, Pune 6. Indian Institute of Science Prof. V. Ramakrishnan Education & Research, Thiruvananthapuram Special Invitees 1. National Institute of Dr. Ahmed Kamal Pharmaceutical Education & Project Director Research, Hyderabad 2. National Institute of Dr. V. Ravichandiran Pharmaceutical Education & Research, Kolkata 3. National Institute of Dr. K.K. Bhutani Pharmaceutical Education & (Officiating Director) Research, S.A.S. Nagar, Mohali 4. National Institute of Dr. P.K. Shukla Pharmaceutical Education & Project Director Research, Rae Bareli

PANEL DISCUSSION ON – AGENDA ITEMS ALLOTTED TO PANEL 1 05 November, 2015, 1445 – 1615 hrs (Ceremonial Hall, Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Centre) 139

05 NOVEMBER, 2015

PANEL DISCUSSION - 1

Timing : 1445 hrs to 1615 hrs (Ceremonial Hall, RBCC)

Agenda Items  Improving the quality of higher education in Institutions to bring them at par with the top institutions of the world by:

(vi) Creating inter-linkages of Industry-Academia; (vii) Interfacing with ranking agencies; (viii) Providing impetus to research and innovation in educational eco-system; (ix) Establishing international networks; and (x) Enhanced involvement of alumni

 Engagement of institutes of higher learning with community and society for sustainable and inclusive development



Date & Timings for Observation by Chair/Co-Chair of the Panel

06 November, 2015 1605 hrs to 1615 hrs

140 PANEL - 1

Panelists

1. Vice Chairperson, NITI Aayog Dr. Arvind Panagariya (Chair) 2. Chairperson, National Innovation Dr. R.A. Mashelkar Foundation (Co-Chair)

3. Director, Indian Institute of Prof. Ashish Nanda Management, Ahmedabad

4. Chairman, BoG, IIT-Gandhinagar; Dr. Baldev Raj Director, National Institute of Advanced Studies, IISc-Bangalore; President- International Council of Academies of Engg. & Technological Sciences 5. Chairman, BoG, IIT-Indore; Chairman, Shri Ajay Piramal Piramal Enterprises Limited 6. Chairman, Executive Council, National Prof. V.S. Chauhan Assessment and Accreditation Council 7. Former Vice Chairman & Co-Founder, Shri Senapathy ‘Kris’ Infosys Gopalakrishnan 8. Group General Manager and Country Ms. Naina Lal Kidwai Head, HSBC India



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SHRI SURESH YADAV: Good afternoon and let me welcome you all to this Panel Discussion Session for which Dr. Arvind Panagariya is Chairman and Dr. R.A. Mashelkar is co-Chair. It is my privilege to welcome the Chair, Co- Chair and distinguished panelists to this Session. We have an exciting agenda for the Panel Discussion and surely we are going to enjoy the discussion today.

VICE CHAIRMAN, NITI AYOG (DR. ARVIND PANAGARIYA): Thank you very much. I am Arvind Panagariya and I am the Vice-Chairman of NITI Ayog. Let me first offer my gratitude for giving me the opportunity to chair this Session, indeed more so, to be able to share this honour with Dr. Mashelkar. The subject for our discussion today is the ‘Quality of higher education’. How do we improve this quality? How do we bridge the gap in the quality of education in our institutions? One thing that we observed in the top institutions of the world and, as many of you, perhaps, are aware in the international rankings, our universities still do not rank very high. Rankings are not everything but they do tell us something. For the first time this year, in 2015, two of our institutions did actually make it to the top 200 of the international rankings - Indian Institute of Science and IIT-Delhi. IIT-Bombay came right below 200; so, hopefully, next year, this will also be able to make it. On the whole, we do lag behind and much needs to be done to bring our institutions to the frontiers of the global quality of higher education. This includes academia interface with the ranking agencies providing international network and linking them with many other related factors. So, I am hoping, we will have a very vibrant and exciting discussion today. With those remarks, let me hand over the proceedings to Dr. Mashelkar.

CHAIRPERSON, NATIONAL INNOVATION FOUNDATION (DR. R.A. MASHELKAR): Thank you very much. May I say at the outset, what a great honour, a great privilege it is to have been asked to co-chair this, and, that too, with none other than one of my iconic heroes, Professor Arvind Panagariya, and, as you can see judiciously, I am sitting on his right. It has been an inspiring morning as we all saw the Hon’ble President, Hon’ble Prime Minister gave some very inspiring speeches and messages. Only one point I want to make and that is, it is all about finally balancing excellence and relevance. As you will kindly recollect, our Hon’ble Prime Minister said that science is universal and technology is local. Therefore, the only way you can judge excellence in science is by global standards. You cannot set your own standards. But when he talked about technology is local, what he actually meant was that technology must make a difference to the people in India and to India. Therefore, H-Index will judge your excellence which is universal but it is the I-Index, what difference you are making to India, that will be sort of relevant. So, science must solve, technology must transform but innovation must impact.

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I think that fundamental is very clear. I would not make further remarks. I would reserve them when the Chair and I would make concluding remarks.

I would now start the panel discussion. All the rules of the game have been clearly spelt out, so I would not repeat that. The CVs and brief CVs of the speakers have been included, so I would not introduce them. The order in which I would go will be precisely the order in which they have been listed in the index of the booklet on panel discussion. Each one will have approximately four minutes to give their thoughts to it and then we will open it up for comments or discussion or questions to the panel.

With these brief remarks, I now request Prof. Ashish Nanda, Director, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, for his opening four-minute remarks.

DIRECTOR, INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, AHMEDABAD (PROF. ASHISH NANDA): Thank you very much, Dr. Mashelkar. It is an honour to be here. I am going to focus on the five sub-points of the first bullet. I don’t think I will be able to cover everything else. I will share our experience at the IIM, Ahmedabad, which is very different from the IITs to some extent and similar also and the NITs and some other universities. So I would just deal with some key points. I would be happy to discuss these in greater detail later. I think there are two ways of creating industry-academia linkage. One is to bring the industry into the classroom and second is to take the students to the industry. How do we bring the industry to the classroom? For that, we need to have case studies that talk about experiences in the field. How do we go out to them? There are traditional ways to do it like internship, etc. But we also try to go out to them by having projects out in the field. We also try increasingly to include our concept of education to be lifelong education. Executive education forms a very significant part of what we do in terms of teaching. That is a two- way teaching. Even as the faculty is instructing the participants, it is learning from them what is happening out in the field. Of course, there are conferences, joint research papers, etc. But broadly one can think of it in those two ways.

I would jump to how we enhance involvement of alumni because that, in some ways, is very similar to the industry-academia relationship. One is bringing alumni back to the institution and the second is taking the institution to the alumni. One of the striking differences is the connect between institutions in India and the alumni and the institutions abroad, particularly in the USA, and their alumni. You will find how proactive US institutions are in reaching out to their alumni. I think the IITs with which I am familiar have done an excellent job in recent years of reaching out to them. The IIM-A is also

143 trying hard to do so. We try to bring alumni into our classroom. They bring their experience as guests, visitors and Professors. We also try to reach out to them. We have local alumni chapters and we visit with them. They are excellent source of information, case studies and so on. In addition, however, with alumni, I think it is particularly important that they have a feeling of identification with the institute. So things like having alumni reunion at the institute, giving them a voice on the direction of where the institute is heading by giving them positions in the board and building advisory boards really strengthens that relationship.

On interface with the ranking agencies, let me toot a horn a little bit here. Amongst management schools, IIM-A, according to at least one of the rankings, which is Financial Times, is having rank 15 this year. We do very well in ranking on many dimensions. There are two dimensions where all Indian institutions get hit very hard. One is international students. If you are a Swiss School, you will have a lot of international students, whereas if you are a school in India, you might have a lot of diversity across geography and economics but according to some ranking measures, it does not show.

Second element where we suffer, at least in the management school rankings, is that they look at careers after you graduate and in some of the rankings such as by the economists, they actually look at what your income is at exchange rate parity and not at purchasing power parity. That tends to hit us. So, there are two things where we have an ongoing dialogue with ranking agencies saying that these two are a little bit against us. But, actually, the practice of seeing how you do in rankings, I think, is a good practice. It is not the objective we should go for, but it is a good matrix to look at as we are aiming for our objective. We should not be, I think, playing the ranking per se, but we should use it as a measure. I don’t know how much time I have left. One minute! Okay. I will talk about innovation first of all. IIM-A has CIIE. It’s an incubation centre at IIM-A. If you think of building an innovation culture in an academic institution, it rests on a tripod. One of it is nurturing innovation amongst practitioners; one of it is building an innovation awareness and mindset, and what does it take to be entrepreneurial amongst students; and, one of it is building an appreciation of innovation as a field amongst academics. We have been very successful in IIM-A in helping build the eco- system and infrastructure for innovation. I think there is a lot happening in India right now. We are increasingly trying to build it among students. The third leg of the tripod, which is getting our academics to be actively engaged, is a little bit of a challenge and we have to keep working on it. Let me pause here rather than try to cover everything. Thank you.

DR. R.A. MASHELKAR: Thank you very much, Prof. Nanda. Now, Dr. Baldev Raj. Your four minutes start now.

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CHAIRMAN, BOG, IIT-GANDHINAGAR; DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ADVANCED STUDIES, IISC-BANGALORE; PRESIDENT- INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF ACADEMIES OF ENGG. & TECHNOLOGICAL SCIENCES (DR. BALDEV RAJ): Thank you very much, Dr. Mashelkar. It is indeed a pleasure to be able to contribute to this forum and also to learn. I would specifically touch on two aspects – the academia- industry interaction and the innovations. In respect of academia-industry interaction, there are very successful examples in this country. You ask the Chairman of any Space Mission. They would tell you how much academia has contributed. In fact, there would not have been Mars Mission or Chandrayaan without large participation. Myself pursuing a career in atomic energy, I am sure none of our reactors would have been built or worked without a large participation by academia. Dr. Mashelkar has headed NCL. He has been responsible for ICT and all that. I think these are the institutes which have done extremely well and visibly well in the academia-industry interaction. Obviously, this is not enough. Much more has to be done. While chairing the Committee of CII-Higher Education on Academia-Industry Interaction, after a few days of debate, we came to a sort of recommendation that we can set up centres of pursuits – I would not call them centres of excellence because excellence must be earned over a period of time – where the industry was willing to say at least that they would put 51 per cent of the money. Forty-nine per cent money must come from Government and it should jointly take accountability to steer in the challenges of the kind which were spelt out today morning with the IMPRINT. This would change the mechanism totally and bring out all the aspects with respect to deep problems, relevance and things like that. In all the institutes which I have visited in this country, there are no good innovation labs. Innovations must come at an early age, preferably in schools but definitely when they join the institutes which are represented here. We can afford to spend a large amount of money to design extremely good innovation labs and they can be in specified areas like optics, acoustics, mechanics, etc. which give the students a playground to make a lot of mistakes, connect things up and design the future machines, consumables and things like that. I think that small amount of money spent on running these innovation labs would make a lot of difference for these young people to become entrepreneurs or very innovative.

Otherwise, one of the things which you hear, when you hear about Ph D students who join the organisation, is that they are very good, they are very analytical, but they are afraid to touch the things. They believe that if they touch the things in a wrong way, it would not come through. I think innovation means first connecting things in a wrong way and then discovering the right way to do it. So, the third thing, which I would like to say, is that a few years back, the Prime Minister’s Fellowship was started where the Ph D scholars

145 could do, with their researcher or academician, the area which is of interest to the industry, and it was funded by the industry. We have reviewed that programme over the last four or five years and it has done well. But for a country of 1.2 billion population, there is never a word ‘enough’. This kind of a scheme has to grow, at least, hundred fold, with quality, to be able to make a difference. But in the review, we have found that it brings the industry and academia closer. About the Ph D Students, one of the complaints that we get is that they work on problems which are not relevant to the country and industry. This scheme, exactly, asks whether you are going to do something for the industry. So, I think, some things have been done and we can learn from them. But we have to discover more mechanisms like centre of pursuits, innovation labs and learn from mission programmes. Under the challenge of denial, they only had academia to go after and all these Institutes have done wonderfully well to collaborate. So, the industry should have more confidence and put money in the academia.

DR. R.A. MASHELKAR: Thank you very much, Dr. Baldev Raj. May I now invite Shri Ajay Piramal to make his comments.

CHAIRMAN, BOG, IIT-INDORE; CHAIRMAN, PIRAMAL ENTERPRISES LIMITED (SHRI AJAY PIRAMAL): Prof. Panagariya, Dr. Mashelkar and Distinguished Guests, I want to begin with an example of an Institute from where I studied, that is, the Bajaj Institute of Management Studies in Mumbai. It was started 50 years ago, and at that time, it was one of the leading institutions in Management Studies along with the IIM, Ahmedabad. Today, it does not even feature among the top 20 in the country. Its infrastructure is pathetic. We have, for a Management Institute, just four full-time Professors and the Director changes every two or three years by rotation. There was an attempt made to the autonomy last year. We had a very distinguished Board which included the Managing Director of ICICI, the Chairman of the Hindustan Unilever Limited, the Head of McKinsey and so on. We got a commitment from alumni to raise Rs.200 crores in a year, which is higher than the corpus which the Mumbai University was able to raise in 150 years. And, going by what we have talked today, about linkages between industry and academia, alumni and academia, research and global faculty, we worked out a unique programme. One-third was fixed for Academic Professors, one-third of faculty was from industry and one-third was Visiting Faculty and those students who spent time with companies. All this was worked out last year. This year, we had a change in the Vice-Chancellor of the Mumbai University and a change in the Director of the Institute, and all this has come to naught. So, what are we talking about? Unless we sort these things out and really grant genuine autonomy, I don’t see much happening. What we really require are accountability and autonomy which the Hon’ble President spoke of. Why can’t we have a regulator? We have seen in the examples of telecom, we have

146 seen in the airlines, that as and when there has been an autonomy given and there is regulation, you can get A high quality service at a least cost. So, affordability is also there. In Directors’ appointments, why do we need to go by rotation? Why can’t the best persons be appointed? In fact, the Hon’ble Prime Minister, when he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat, did this. In Gujarat, all the headmasters of the public schools were appointed on selection criteria, not on the basis of age or the length of service.

The other point is, the Hon’ble President spoke this morning about the G.R.E. index going from 22 per cent to 30 per cent. That means, virtually increasing our education intake by 50 per cent from what it is today.

And what do we find that to open a university is virtually impossible. It is a sad part that I know people who are opening institutes or universities’ centres in Dubai, Singapore and Australia, they are taking faculty from India, they are taking students from India, and teaching them there. Why can’t we do that here? I think we need to consider these issues. Almost 10 billion dollars we are spending every year in outflow of foreign exchange because our students go abroad. There is no chance that most of the people who go abroad can get admission in a good institute in India. Why not open more? Why not allow autonomous opening up of institutions and then rate them? Like a credit rating agency, have an agency which rates them. So, that is the other thing which I want to state here. I think the Andhra Government is doing that.

There is one final point. I Chair IIT, Indore. We were given permission to open the University in 2008. In 2015, our building is still under construction because the land that was to be given to us was only given in 2013. So, we have lost seven years in this. And by the time the building comes over, it will be 2017. You can’t run a great university, as all of you know better than I do, without a campus. How can you attract faculty; how can you attract students and how can you do research? And, my one more final point of view is, as we want to attract the best faculty, we should open universities which are near larger cities because that is how faculty will come. If you want global faculty and if you want the best faculty in India, they need infrastructure around them, they need occupations for their spouses, they need schools for their children, and, therefore, it has to be near a good city. Thank you.

DR. R.A. MASHELKAR: Thank you very much. I now move on to our next speaker, Dr. V.S. Chauhan, the former Director of ICGEB and one of our top- most Life Scientists of this country. Dr. Chauhan.

CHAIRMAN, EXECUTIVE COUNCIL, NATIONAL ASSESSMENT AND ACCREDITATION COUNCIL (DR. V.S. CHAUHAN): I will quickly focus on three points. I think I will try to get innovation out of the way first. My own

147 sense about innovation is this is something which has been talked about for the past five-six years. I don’t know where this wave has really come from, but be it as it may, innovation really is a very old style of applied research. But I would like to just flow against the tide here, and to say that the research which was done to understand a system and asking a question for the sake of asking, actually, has produced much more results in the history of Science than a Director, Research would have. Having said that, we live in the age of smaller budgets, economic constraints, so I would very much be comfortable with the notion that we should have mission approaches. For instance, you want to solve the problems of, let us say, infectious diseases, you want to make a dengue vaccine, but you would not be able to do so until you understood the system of dengue itself or how the virus propagates, etc. So, I would really like to say that innovation per se actually does not happen in teaching institutions. It happens just outside the teaching system whereby the industry would drive it. You could do fantastic research on something industry is not interested, you will not have innovation taking place. The job of a teaching institution or a university or IIT or IISER or NIPER would be to train people with very good quality mind, ability to ask right questions, and then move on wherever the innovation can be actualised. So, I leave innovation here. That is my idea of innovation.

I would like to also focus on this ranking simply because I being the Chairman of EC of NAC. I am not going to spend time on telling you the complexity of the Indian situation, but should you want to rank, as we do, and I think we moved beyond the debate whether we should or we should not, I think that debate is over, we should. It is all over mandatory now.

Now, we are looking at more than 35,000 units. Prof. Ajay has just now said, if our GER has to increase by 30 per cent, if we wish to, then, we are talking about 40,000 units to be ranked. Now, it is going to be a complex system. But, before I run ahead of myself with this, I say it is doable. In fact, we just finished working on a template which has not only international standard but also an Indian flavour to it. All of you would have a look at it very soon. So, it is doable. It would have its plus points, it will have its negative points, there will be criticism of it which will be most welcome, but there would be obvious advantages of ranking. Why are international rankings important? But I just want to say this and I will drop this issue that international rankings themselves are only about 11 to 12 years old. There were no rankings before that. So, I think we should spend two, three minutes thinking, all of us to ourselves, why were rankings introduced, to begin with, internationally? Was it globalisation, was it expansion of the middle class getting into the university, was it clientele that had to be reached, was it Internet that was already in the being, so, we had to sell, was education per se a commodity which had to be sold; therefore, you had to advertise and, therefore, you had to be ranked, but

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I leave it at that, that is not my discussion; I just want all of us to ponder about it. The ranking in itself will be a good idea. I want to go to the last bullet. Last bullet is, engagement of Institutes of Higher Education, community and society for sustainable and inclusive development, and this is something very close to everybody’s heart. But I think, in the air, there is all about innovation, technology, science and solving problems which are science-based. I think we should spare a thought for social sciences and fine arts. If you ignore research, social sciences and fine arts, you would lose the little room that you have to understand communities. You want to go and help the community without understanding the community. I think we will do great damage by ignoring social sciences, especially in our universities and especially universities which have had tradition of doing very good quality social science research. Instead of ignoring it, I think we should heavily support it. Thank you.

DR. R.A. MASHELKAR: Thank you very much, Dr. Chauhan. I now move on to Shri Kris Gopalakrishnan.

FORMER VICE CHAIRMAN & CO-FOUNDER, INFOSYS (SHRI SENAPATHY ‘KRIS’ GOPALAKRISHNAN): Thank you and good afternoon to everyone. I will try and cover all but the second topic, that is, ranking. First of all, when I look at the requirements of the students, most of the students are looking at education as a way for them to get a job to move up in life, to create some wealth and create a family and things like that. There are very few students who are looking at research as a career. Hence, we need to separate these two requirements. But when it comes to faculty, it is clear that more and more we want faculty to be up-to-date when it comes to knowledge, and, hence, a research-based institution is the long-term objective, especially when it comes to faculty. So, when I look at involvement of industry, involvement of alumni establishing international networks, clearly, the objective is to satisfy the needs of the students and satisfy the needs of the faculty. So, first, when you look at the need to create a world-class educational institution, linking with academia, linking with industry and linking with alumni, there is an opportunity to look at continuous input from industry, from alumni, etc., on creation of training material, educational material, train the trainer courses, looking at sabbatical opportunities, looking at even programmes that allow a constant flow of people both from industry and academia.

Campus Connect Programme from Infosys was one such programme where we connected with about 400 engineering colleges and approximately touched about 8,000 faculty over a 10-year period, and, of course, this was focussed on IT, Information Technology.

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Then, when I look at the research side, I feel that alumni will have to play even bigger role because a lot of alumni are in senior positions and they are the people who understand the institute and who have a need to or who have a desire to give back to their alma mater, and hence alumni becomes an important part of actually looking at research and things like that.

So, let me come to actually alumni. I believe that we need to create a defined-process. I feel that we need to create a development office in order to create a linkage with alumni and, of course, to the industry. You know it has to be done programmatically; it has to be done systematically; it has to be done regularly. These interactions will require a level of transparency and accountability in order to sustain this over a long period of time and in order to increase the size and scale of these relationships. So, it has to be done in a systematic way with, maybe, a separate dean or a separate person, leader, responsible for these interactions and things like that. In a study in the US when they looked at alumni funding the institution, there were ‘14 touch-points’ before the alumni started contributing. Now, how many of our institutions wait for 14 such touch-points before they actually ask for money? The first time they meet, they ask for the money. They don’t get it and they forget to come back to the alumni again.

Now, second is about innovation. You know innovation in education will require us to rethink the pedagogy for education. I strongly believe that with Internet and with the knowledge that is available with Internet, the role of the teacher has changed from a person transferring knowledge to a person facilitating teamwork or teaching teamwork, a coach, a person who will allow learning by doing it happen in the classroom. So, you give the instructions to the students to go and research, they come back; and the classroom then becomes a lab. We need to then leverage technology for creation of this content, best professors capture their lectures, and these are available for the students. They can listen to this, they can listen to it ten times if they need to; and then they come to the classroom and learn how to use this knowledge and do something worthwhile. Innovation also requires close proximity between industry and academia. I take the example of IIT, Madras Research Park where the research organization or research department of the industry is co-located with the research that is happening in the IIT. It is easy movement of students’ faculty from the institute to the research park, and from the research park, the employees of the companies actually go and teach and, maybe, guide projects at the institute. We need many such examples in order for us to look at creating a vibrant innovation ecosystem. These research parks also become incubators for start-ups that come out of the research that is done and hence if it is co-located, then the faculty and students can actually easily go and work at the research park at the start-up centre. If you look at many of the world-class institutions in the US and look at what percentage of

150 their funding comes from licensing IPR versus the funding that comes from alumni, almost 90 per cent actually comes from grants from alumni and less than 10 per cent comes from licensing. So, we need to simplify the licensing roles. Application of the knowledge, application of the research and creating impact in society is equally important as creation of new knowledge.

And we need to track this, we need to facilitate this and we need to simplify the process for commercialisation. I think the goal must actually be commercialisation in as many cases as possible.

The last point that I want to touch upon, since the time is limited, is creation of a student-entrepreneurship policy. Every student will tell you today, or many students will tell you, that they want to become like Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Lary Page or Michael Dell. These are the heroes. Every one of these people created their business while studying. So, why not actually allow those students, who have the inclination to create a business, to start business? Let us say someone is in the second year of Engineering, they run the business for the next three years while studying, you give them 20 per cent attendance waiver and five per cent grace marks – this is done in the Kerala University and the Cochin University – and let them learn business by creating and running a business. That is the best way to learn about business. In fact, I would even dare to say that if you look at our business schools, the case studies actually look at the past. The future models are created out in the business world and then the case studies are written much later. A model like Uber or any of these models, like Airbnb, didn’t come out of the business school but came in practice.

I am going to stop here at this point. Thank you.

DR. R.A. MASHELKAR: Thank you very much. Now we come to the last panelist, Ms. Naina Lal Kidwai.

GROUP GENERAL MANAGER AND COUNTRY HEAD, HSBC INDIA (MS. NAINA LAL KIDWAI): Thank you, Dr. Panagariya and Dr. Mashelkar. It is, indeed, an honour to be here. An advantage in being the last speaker is that I have little course to disagree with any of the illustrious panelists that have gone ahead of me. So, I restructured my thoughts to, maybe, just share with you the overarching needs as we see this going forward.

I am prompted somewhat by the excellent presentation this morning on IMPRINT. I was struck by the fact that some of the areas in which we need the most support for our country’s programmes going forward are spaces which, in fact, are very close to my heart. Sanitation is a huge agenda as we look at our urban and rural environment and given the programmes the country has in

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Swachch Bharat, the whole area of renewables and water resources. And then, if we reflect in terms of where are our programmes of learning in these spaces, it makes us want to think about what we need to do in terms of marrying what we train, what we create and what the large programmes in our country are.

The second stream that strikes me therein is frugal engineering. I have been at various sessions around the world in these spaces and the world actually looks at India for this frugal engineering – what are the low-cost solutions for the bottom of the pyramid; what are the innovations that India can bring, not just for India but also for the rest of the world. The theme was so well articulated by our Prime Minister this morning in terms of creating the local solutions, which is really what we look for. The thinking, then, has to be about where are we in these spaces, what are we generating, not just in terms of the broad thing in these spaces, but the frugal engineering spaces, and related to that, the innovations that come in these spaces. We have talked about the innovation cycle. I do think we need to do a lot more at our university level. I have no doubt that young people coming out of college today want to be start-ups exactly in the mode of Bill Gates and others, as suggested by Kris, but are we being able to engender an environment where we will create these young Bill Gates, but in the fields that we require them? And what do we need to do for that? I would argue that it goes beyond just connecting back with universities across the world. Some of the best thinking in these spaces is coming from think-tanks; it is coming from research institutions that sit outside universities. So, do we have a list of these? Do we know who these are? These are people who have come out of the universities. They are on the lecture circuit and they may well be available to us here as we reach out across the agenda.

So, we need to think beyond the university-consultancy world into the research organisations that are providing some of this thinking. I would also say that, as we look at innovations, we cannot ignore the world of finance and some of the thinking that comes out of social impact and venture capital organisations can actively engage in the innovation space because they work with these innovators. So, we have to be able to think beyond an academic- academia inter-linkage into a much broader world that is sitting out there driving change. I am also struck by another trend. Let us call it trend number three. One is, you know, the broad sort of living world; second is frugal engineering and the third is boundary less learning. And I see this with some experience I have been associated for a long while now with my alma mater, the Howard Business School. And frankly, we struggle at Howard University also to create inter-linkages between the different colleges. But the need of the day is to create the inter-linkages between different colleges. The world of pharmaceuticals today is extremely linked into the world of medical devices.

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The world of business is also linked into the world of Government and we need to create these inter-linkages by allowing people to cross register, at least, where the universities exist with multiple colleges within them. We don’t make this easy. It is not easy to cross register. We barely encourage this and, I think, maybe, this is a trend that we have to really be able to allow our kids to benefit from.

I would lastly just add that the world of Liberal Arts and the Social Sciences, as Prof. Chauhan raised it, I think, is very pertinent. As we look at the challenges in the sanitation space, where I have been doing some work, clearly behaviour change is important, and we struggle to find that technology and understanding in a way that we can have sit beside the technologies of sanitation, which also frankly are sadly missing in the Indian space. So, I was struck, and I shall end on this, by a remark made by the head of a very important Power Equipment company in this country. He said, “They are having a much better experience with kids coming out of a young university like Ashoka University which has really more Liberal Arts than they are with the kids they have traditionally hired from the Institutes of Technology.” So, what we are seeing in a more Liberal Arts type of education possibly, when administered properly, is the ability to think, the ability to think out of the box, the ability to adapt and, I think, we have to really get the core of what is it that allows a kid to succeed in the world of today versus just a pure narrow education in itself. So, we need to, maybe, rethink what we provide in the name of education looking at the world of tomorrow which will have to be much more about having an open mind. I can certainly tell you that everything I learnt at the Business School is irrelevant today because it changed. The only thing that is relevant is what I was taught --- how to learn, the self- confidence that it gave me in order to express my views and my ability to reach out and learn and learn again. And, I think, if that is what we can leave at the core of the education that we provide to our children, we would have done what is required of us. On that note, thank you.

DR. R.A. MASHELKAR: Thank you very much indeed. I am looking at the watch and like an engineer I am doing some calculations in terms of how much time we have left for response and closing remarks. So, we open it up with two or three ground rules, I thought, we could agree on. One is that panelists have taken approximately four minutes. So, the question cannot be more than four minutes. It has to be a fraction of that. So, you could kindly limit yourself to making a quick comment observation or a question – very brief, and as sharp as possible -- so that we can have as many questions as possible. Secondly, do mention the name of the panelist if it is directed to a panelist. If it is a general question, all my fellow panelist members will take note of it.

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Please do state your name and affiliation so that we have the record of who is asking the question. I think, these are simple ground rules that we will follow. And I will open it up now. I do have a disadvantage of not being able to see on my right and see on my left horizontally. So, please do stand up when somebody from here wants to ask a question. In front, there is no issue.

VICE CHANCELLOR, CENTRAL UNIVERSITY OF ORISSA (PROF. SACHIDANANDA MOHANTY): I am from the Central University of Odisha. Thank you, first of all, for the wonderful panel and for the presentation you have all made, briefly though. I have two concerns which I would like to pose as two questions directed at the panel depending upon the person who had really highlighted that point of view.

One is that much has been said about the alumni participation in the academia and the university system. But I believe that the relationship between the alumnus with the parent organisation, whether it is superannuated professoriate or the students who have passed out, is not sufficiently thought through. By that, I mean whether we are going to have the alumni in an advisory capacity, or, whether they are going to play a substantive role. I think, as an administrator, I am also wary of the political dimension of involving the alumni, the ex-students particularly, in an active role. It has certain implications.

Secondly, we have heard two schools of thought. One school of thought came out today and there is an implication about the location of the university. The school of thought that we heard today was that the university or the institution of higher learning ought to be located near an established town or metro, for example, so that there are facilities for the self and the spouse. The second one, which we have not heard, which is equally important, that prompted me to take up the job in the Central University of Odisha rather than Hyderabad University, where I had spent nearly 30 years, is the societal consideration. The societal consideration, which is a democratic and demographic consideration, for example, is an important one. I would like to hear from the panel about the societal consideration, which I believe deeply.

DIRECTOR, IIT-INDORE (PROF. PRADEEP MATHUR): I would like to make a point on the industry-academia issue. So, my question would be addressed to CRIS and Ajay, of course, already knows about IIT, Indore. I am Director, IIT-Indore.

One of the resources, which I feel, in India, we seem to be missing out are actually the under-graduates. In IIT, Indore, what we have done is that we have revised our curriculum to relieve one of the semesters and combine that with the summer giving seven months free to the student at the under-

154 graduate level to take part in projects which could be based in industry, in external research institutions, or within the own institute. This has been going on for the last two years and we have found a lot of benefits. The students are able to engage themselves in projects which they themselves identify and, I think, that is the beginning of innovation coming out of the under-graduate students. Now, we are able to do this at our young Institute because we only have 120 under-graduates in a year. Now, as we grow, we would be looking for more and more industry to actually accept our under-graduates to work in their laboratories and their centres. I think that is the challenge which the industry has to address with regard to engaging our under-graduate students.

PROF. SWAPAN KUMAR DATTA: I am from Visva-Bharati. I have a very straight question. It is a general question to all the panelists. Why are the endowment funds missing or not coming to the academic institution development in the country?

DIRECTOR, INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, KHARAGPUR (PROF. PARTHA PRATIM CHAKRABARTI): I am Director, IIT-Kharagpur. I have one question to the panelists. Should the IITs, especially the elder ones, graduate into full-fledged universities or should they remain technical institutes?

DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF PHARMACEUTICAL EDUCATION & RESEARCH, AHMEDABAD [DR. (SHRIMATI) KIRAN KALIA]: I am from NIPER, Ahmedabad. I have a question to all the panelists in general. When we go for academia-industry interaction, one of the things that we have observed is that students are more accountable when they go and work in industry rather than when they are studying in academic institutions.

Now, do you think that industry should also financially support the students so that they are more accountable, and, industry should also be a part for their evaluation; like when we take up any kind of joint programmes? The objective is to bring more accountability in the students when they are in academic institutions. Thank you.

DR. SWAPAN BHATTACHARYA: I am Director, NITK, Suratkhal. My question is that after we have so many new IITs and new NITs, should we still continue with the system of IITs and NITs, or, dismantle everything and consider every institute as an individual institute?

VICE CHANCELLOR, NAGALAND UNIVERSITY (SHRI B.K. KONWAR): Thank you. I am from Nagaland University. In the case of a traditional university like ours, where we have got all the schools, when we talk about the industry-academia interaction, it is looking at employment prospects or experience with regard to undergraduates and post-graduates; they are not

155 looking into the research perspective at this moment. But while we look at it, we are really finding it very difficult in areas where there is hardly any industry. How can we look in that aspect?

DR. R. A. MASHELKAR: Several hands went up at the same time. My suggestion is that while the question is being asked, it would be nice if the next person, who wishes to put a question, raises his hand in advance.

EÖò±É{ÉÊiÉ, ¨É½þÉi¨ÉÉ MÉÉÄvÉÒ +ÆiÉ®úÉÇ¹]ÅõÒªÉ Ê½þxnùÒ Ê´É·ÉÊ´ÉtÉ±ÉªÉ, ´ÉvÉÉÇ (|ÉÉä. ÊMÉÊ®ú·É®ú Ê¨É¸ÉÉ) : म ℂ महात्ममा गााँधी अंिरािष्ट्रीय ववश्ववव饍यालय, वधाि से ह ं। यहां पर सभी पैनमलथ絍स ने स्जन मु ⴂ को हमारे सामने रखा है, वे भारि की करीब एक ििाब्दी परु ानी जो मिक्षा व्यवथथा है, उसके ऊपर कु छ प्रश्न धचह्न उठािे हℂ। हम लोग एक प्रकार की ररचअु ल ककथम की पढ़ाई कर रहे हℂ। सश्रु ी ककदवई ने स्जन प्रश्नⴂ की ओर हमारा ध्यान आकृ ष्ट्ट ककया है कक पढ़ाई-मलखाई मᴂ अनभु व को ककस िरह स्जन्दगी से जोड़ा जाए, इसके मलए एक प्रकार के paradigm shift की ज셂रि है। जो ररचअु ल हम कर रहे हℂ, यर्द उन्हीं को करिे चले जािे हℂ, िो कोई पररवििन नहीं आने वाला है। हमारे सामने बड़ा भारी 饍वं饍व है, a kind of conflict, कक हम ववश्व मᴂ अपनी रℂककं ग ऊपर करना चाहिे हℂ और स्जस िरह का समाज ववज्ञान वे कर रहे हℂ, उसमᴂ हम और अधधक अ楍छा करना चाहिे हℂ, लेककन इसके मलए हमᴂ यह देखना पड़ेगा कक हमारे समाज की आवश्यकिा तया है और हमारी मिक्षा समाज के मलए ककिनी उपयोगी सात्रबि हो रही है। म ℂ यह बाि गंभीरिा से कहना चाहिा ह ं, तयⴂकक बेरोज़गार नवयवु कⴂ की संख्या बढ़िी चली जा रही है। मिक्षा और नौकरी के बीच जो स्बन्ध है, कहीं न कहीं हम उसे थथावपि नहीं कर पा रहे हℂ। इस पर ववचार करना बहुि आवश्यक है। मिक्षा मᴂ नये िरीके , उसकी pedagogy, उसके पढ़ाने-मलखाने की जो पति है, उनमᴂ बदलाव लाने की आवश्यकिा है। जो मसथटम के constituents हℂ, स्जनकी ओर धीमे-धीमे सबने इिारा ककया है और यहां पर स्जिने लोग बैठे हुए हℂ, वे सभी इसका अनभु व करिे हℂ, म ℂ समझिा ह ं कक इसके ऊपर गंभीर ववचार करने की ज셂रि है। हमᴂ ritualistic mode से हट कर, नये ढंग से कु छ सोचने की आवश्यकिा है। बहुि-बहुि धन्यवाद।

QUESTIONER: I would just like to give a suggestion. Most engineering institutions in their final year have a design problem that they give to students. It would be an easier way for industry and academia to interact if those problems are posed by industry and they also help students sail through those problems by visiting the institutions a couple of times in a semester.

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VICE CHANCELLOR, INDIRA GANDHI NATIONAL TRIBAL UNIVERSITY, AMARKANTAK (PROF. T.V. KATTIMANI): My question is to Dr. Mashelkar. Tribals are born innovators. The unfortunate thing in our country is never does our country try to certify the indigenous knowledge of tribes. My University is situated in a tribal-dominated place in Amarkantak. How the University can interface with the tribes, please guide me. Thank you.

DR. GOPAL MUGERAYA: Good afternoon. My point is about first creating the interlinkage between the industry and the academia. Sir, you know, in India, we have very powerful CSI laboratories. In addition to the industry and academia linkage, an institution should have a very effective linkage with the CSI laboratories so that we can come out with very good solutions. Thank you.

VICE CHANCELLOR, THE RANI LAKSHMI BAI CENTRAL AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY, JHANSI (DR. ARVIND KUMAR): Excellent platform has been created here, and the industry-academia interface, I think, is a unique exercise. My suggestion would be, the industry should make a futuristic demand in different sectors to enable institutions to adjust the appropriate enrolment. The second question is why we are lagging behind in ranking. It is basically because of lack of functional and financial autonomy to the institutions. We need to make a policy change in this direction. Particularly the State Universities are the worst sufferers for want of functional and financial autonomy. Thank you very much.

VICE CHANCELLOR, BANARAS HINDU UNIVERSITY, VARANASI (PROF. GIRISH CHANDRA TRIPATHI): I have just to make a very simple suggestion and observation. It is a very high time to think and plan a comprehensive roadmap for improving the quality of teaching and research in the institutions of higher learning in India. In my opinion, there are two approaches, one is balanced approach and the other is unbalanced approach, and both are time- tested. I would like to suggest that first we should identify institutions with potential, departments, centres and individuals who have potential for research, who have potential of quality. They should be facilitated. In this way, we shall be able to prepare a roadmap for future planning and course of action. Thank you.

DR. R.A. MASHELKAR: Is there anyone left? I think we will now have response from our distinguished panelists. We have to be innovative. We always have to do something different. So, I will start in the reverse order. So, Ms. Naina, you may start responding. You can answer one, two or all questions, but the time limit is three minutes.

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MS. NAINA LAL KIDWAI: Let me take a stab at some of them. The question on location of universities had me thinking, and I can see how there would be advantages to putting universities in areas which then become a hub of activity for particularly our regions which have not had this. We have certainly benefited from this in the world of BPO and ITES where I have been instrumental in some of the decision-making of where we located some of our centres. We typically picked centres where there was a rich group of students and rich grouping of universities from which these students emanated. So, there is clearly a merit to looking at location. But I think Ajay’s point is a very relevant one when he made it about having universities located near urban areas as, I am sure, many of you have the issues in terms of attracting talent and teachers.

So, the answer probably is we need a combination but certainly keeping in mind that some of the areas where you need top notch teachers, proximity to cities is very helpful because not everyone is motivated the way the speaker from Orissa was. I think, this issue of the industry and university working together was well-encompassed yesterday through some of the MoUs which, I hope, are put to good use. The idea of apprenticeships coming in – and I would say coming in as early as possible at the school level – is really quite important in terms of creating the linkage with universities. The reason would be that you have young kids who become used to a work environment. I must say industry itself is very poor a partner in this regard. Ours is one of the few countries where there are not even formal programmes in our companies for undergraduates. It is very hard for a young undergraduate to get a job today in industry before he can go on for an MBA unlike the rest of the world, particularly, in US where having had the work experience is, indeed, a big advantage. In fact, it is a requirement before you get into the business school. So, I think, we and industry do also have to rethink the way we can offer internship programmes for undergraduates before they go on through their graduate programmes. So, that point is well-taken.

The question asked on environment funds and why do they not come more readily to the universities, I suspect this is a bit of a chicken and egg situation because if the programme itself is not well-packaged and understood, you are not going to see much engagement from international environment institutions or indeed Government ones. But we do have to look at creating some of these programmes together and make sure that we can have a programme that is packaged in order to get the funding because we need this. It is, particularly, pertinent when we come to the urban environment and urban planning as we go forward creating Smart Cities or indeed we, in fact, create a city of size of Chicago everywhere, just the way our cities grow. So, we should make sure that we can co-create these programmes. The issues on should IITs be full-fledged universities or, you know, the

158 technicalities of this, I would defer to the better expertise of those around this room. But just to make the comment that anything which enables some disciplines to work with others is helpful. However, you create it and, of course, being in a university, that can be an advantage. But I have been in universities where that advantage is also not used. It really is about creating some trimming, some partnerships, some co-cross registrations which enable us to think beyond the narrow divide into which we register for the first programme and really with a view to having the broader exposure that is required in the world of today.

The issue regarding the whole area of work-readiness skills is something that was not, maybe, touched on enough but I would say that we still do not have kids coming out of our colleges who are work-ready. There is yet another programme which industry creates to get people work-ready. Can we look at bringing some of these work readiness skills into our programmes to help the immediate employability of our kids as they come out?

Lastly, I would just talk again in terms of partnership with institutions that how can we bring the whole spirit of NGOs and, therefore, frugal engineering, social understanding of grassroots in and I am very struck by a programme that Harvard University does because it encourages all summer students to consider summer jobs with NGOs. There is a roster of job opportunities on offer. Can we create these sorts of social enterprise initiatives which are helpful to bring our kids closer to the needs of the day as well? That is all from me. Thank you for your query.

SHRI SENAPATHY ‘KRIS’ GOPALAKRISHNAN: The first point I would take on is alumni participation in management. Ultimately, the current board or the current management decides who joins the Board. A single representative from the alumni is really not going to completely change the complexion of the Board. I think, that involvement, I completely support and would like to see happen. (Contd. by YSR/2H)

This is also giving a signal to the alumni that their voice is important. They are the stakeholders in the alma mater. In many ways, they are a source of ideas; they are a source of funds; they are a source of knowledge; and they are a source of support. Having one person as part of the Board is something I completely support.

IITs or some institutions becoming full-fledged universities, I support this, because many areas, especially in research, are becoming interdisciplinary. The intersection of biology and engineering or liberal arts with engineering when it comes to ethics and things like that. There is a need to look at these things very seriously. I think some of the institutes must actually

159 become full-fledged universities, including a medical hospital and a medical college. For example, when it comes to clinical research on brain, it is completely interdisciplinary having maths, physics, chemistry, engineering, biology, etc.

The next point is about the paradigm shift in learning. I think we indeed need to make that happen. The students are actually changing. They have significant opportunities to learn from the sources that are available to them. They have aspirations. We need to make sure that we are able to meet those aspirations and we are able to help them achieve those aspirations and then learning truly becomes a way for them to either get a job or pursue research or become better citizens.

People talked about work-readiness. Again, learning by doing is the way in which we will make that happen. This requires a paradigm shift, a change in how the whole operation works today. I also believe that we need to look at how at least some of the research can be converted to product services business and its impact on society. We need to engage faculty and students to look at start-ups or look at working closely with an industry to take the research out into creating products and solutions. Thank you.

PROF. V.S. CHAUHAN: I would just revisit a couple of points which might address some of the questions that have been raised. I will start with the ranking business. One is the question of global ranking. I guess there are systems already in place and you cannot tweak them sitting here. The other thing, which has been talked about, is ranking of the university system. And the system that we are looking at is a hugely complex one. This is the country where you have Central Universities, State Universities, IISERs, IITs, NIPER, etc. There is a whole lot. They have to be treated in one sort of basket if you have to have a homogenous template for ranking. Needless to say that this will have some Indianness added to this. At the same time, quality is not something that you can define for yourself. Quality is international quality. So, you would have a lot of things. You have trends coming for international quality assessment templates.

Somebody raised this issue and, absolutely, we also have responsibility for social upliftment or access with equity. The point is well taken. I think, through the UGC, soon you will have a look at the system that we all are working. It is really taking that question into consideration.

On alumni, there are standard models which will be of help. IITs are maturing. But you have to look at how alumni work internationally. Somebody pointed a question that there is a danger of alumni getting involved in curriculum design or telling how to run the university. Alumni really don’t do

160 that and if they do that, they should be discouraged. Alumni are to strengthen the system that exists. Here, I want to say that the universities actually have a lot of inherent flexibility. Universities change. Universities are organic systems. I think the gentleman from Wardha said that we have been doing this and that, but universities have abilities to change. Universities do change. I think what you see coming out over the years is because the universities are changing. I think alumni should not be able to interfere.

Then, I come to the point of education and job-relatedness. I think these points have really gone beyond debate that you go to a university or an educational institute because you want to get a good job. The question of what education is or is it only an end to a mean or means to an end is not even debated. I still think personally that you go to universities to get your mind educated and get your mind to adapt to situations. That is why I was mentioning about liberal education. Then, you go out to the world and a job will find you; it is not that you go to find a job through education. Then comes what I call directed research. I for one believe that a good university will produce a good mind and a good mind will go out and do good things in the society. Thank you.

SHRI AJAY PIRAMAL: I will start with the location point since I had raised it. I have no quarrel with starting a university in the backward areas or the less developed areas. That was not my point. My point was that if we want industry-academia interlinkages, if we want alumni-academia linkages, if we want international linkages and foreign faculty, then, we have to have a university where foreign faculty will come and where industry will come. We have to create a centre of excellence. It does not mean that we don’t do it in less developed areas, but that does not mean we don’t do it in the developed areas. Very often, when we want to have a socialistic view, it’s that everybody goes to the lowest common denominator. I think there will have to be differences. Someone in a better location will have a better chance of attracting all these things than others and that is the way it is.

The second point was on alumni. I think it is important that we engage alumni. As Kris said, there are 14 different areas or touch points before alumni come and to involve alumni in administration is not a bad thing. Obviously, we have to restrict what they can do. But, alumni who are successful who have gone through the institute actually have a feeling for the institute and I think to involve them is important because, otherwise, you won’t get the funds. In the long run, alumni must get back to the institution and everywhere, I see that. If the USA is the right example of the best universities, you can see how much the alumni contribute.

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I have another point on endowment funds and alumni. I think we need to create a whole group of people, who will look to keep in touch with alumni and who will look to raise funds. However, Naina will be better than me in this, probably 120 people just looking at alumni and corporate relationships. We probably may be having one or two in each of our universities. So, why? There is some value in doing that.

There was a question about environment funds not being given. One question which we should think of is that any contribution to research is not counted as CSR. So, contributions to research be defined as the two per cent, which is the sort of recommended spending of corporates into CSR. So, could research funding also be counted as CSR funding?

And, probably, this Group could suggest to the Finance Ministry to do that. Now, Prof. Chauhan and Ms. Naina have talked about liberal arts. I think it is very important. No doubt, people, who come to IITs, are the best in India. But when you select them, you find that they can’t even write a paragraph in good language. They cannot express themselves. I think it is just the way we select people. Today, with multiple choice questions and so on, it is very difficult. And when they come to industry, I find that people are not able to express themselves either in verbal communications or in written ones. That is really poor and it is becoming worse year by year. I cannot see a single paragraph, at least, in English without a mistake. So, we need to look at that as well.

There was a point as to whether the industry should go for students who are working. I don’t think so. I think the value is that we should encourage industry to take more students. Let us not load them by asking them to pay. That will just discourage them because most companies feel that when students come, they are more of a pain and that they really restrict the normal work. Let us not do that. Our idea is not to raise funds but our idea is to establish the linkage and to have the good experience of the students. That is all I have to say.

DR. BALDEV RAJ: When I look at many of the responses which we had from our colleagues, the future challenges, without the involvement of Social Sciences and Humanities, I believe, would be impossible to achieve. These could be genetically modified crops, stem cells, climate change challenges and so on. But my personal experience, as far as Social Sciences is concerned, is that you don’t have a funding for this kind of a thing where you want to integrate Social Sciences and technology. We have to find a way. If we are discussing technology, we should discuss more deeply as to how many good scientists we are producing who can really address the challenges. So, I think, this is extremely important.

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The second is that we always talk about Government funding and this being less as compared to many other countries. Industry funding in the Academia is dismal, and even if we ask the Government to double it, unless the industry puts, at least, one per cent of the GDP collectively, I think, most of our objectives would not be achieved. So, we have to find a way very seriously. It may be that there is trust-deficient. Or, maybe, there is no communication. I, personally, saw the Hitachi Chief Executive and President sitting for a presentation of doctor students because he was interested in that problem. How many top industrialists would spend a day in an Academic Institute to find out what opportunities are there or what doctor students have to do! I do not want to say anything more. But, I think, the trust-deficiency has to be abridged, there has to be more communication, and equal funding would be a great idea to move this country forward. And there is no evidence-based research. We take actions, but we don’t spend money to collect the evidence- based research in science and technology. I think we have to spend a lot of money to find out, in whatever actions we take, in whatever we invest, what we are getting back, what our failures are and what we are learning from the failures. And these are the missing links. If we are able to connect them, we have a strong rope on which we can put the weight. Thank you very much.

DR. R.A. MASHELKAR: And the last, Prof. Ashish Nanda.

PROF. ASHISH NANDA: I am going to focus on the need for increasing the number of students who are going through higher education, given limited resources, human capital as well as financial, and my worry is that given that, whether it is from 22 per cent or 30 per cent... (No Audio Feed) ...we may tend to choose corner solutions, and corner solutions are typically not optimal.

This morning, our President mentioned the dichotomy, the false dichotomy, I think, that sometimes comes between expanding reach and improving quality. I think we have to do both, given limited resources, and given our desire to expand reach. And it comes in different dimensions, such as, where should we locate a university, should we invest more in building more universities, how much should we invest in centres of excellence, etc. A second dichotomy, however, also is, we have to, of course, build new institutions, as Ajay mentioned, and as others have mentioned, but we also need to grow existing institutions. Many of our academic institutions today are under scale. In fact, it takes an enormous amount of effort to build a new academic institution. And I can understand that when you are building a new institution, there are significant externalities outside that institution, society benefits, people benefit around. But you have a great deal of challenge in starting new institutions. The example we had, where you got a campus seven years after it was allowed. How many years does it take for a place that has

163 been started to truly become a vibrant institution? Compare that with taking some of the existing institutions and building them up to a scale so that they are of enough size in terms of departments, for example, where people can bounce ideas of one another, and there is a vibrant academic community. In fact, if we have a few centres of excellence in different places in the nation, it doesn’t matter where they are located; people will come from all over the nation, there will be wonderful ways of integrating the country.

On the alumni point, my own feeling is, I agree entirely with everybody on the Panel, and I agree strongly -- we said it is not a bad idea -- I think it is a great idea to have alumni engaged with an institution. They are conscientious keepers for the institution. They have a passion for the institution, and as a matter of fact, some of the mature IITs, and I think, IIMs may have tried that, if you bring them close to the institution, they give back; and, they give back in many, many ways, endowments being only one of them.

DR. R.A. MASHELKAR: Thank you very much. As we draw to the close of this fascinating dialogue, what we will do is like this. I will make some remarks, as a Co-Chairman, and the final word will have to be from our Chair. Of course, there was a question which was directed towards me, specifically. So, I will respond to that, first, and it had to do with tribal knowledge. You know, all knowledge systems are very important, and some of these knowledge systems which are based on the work that these people do in what I like to call as ‘laboratories of life’, not the Harvard, the MITs, the Delhi University, or, IITs of this world, but in ‘laboratories of life’, they are as precious. In fact, all of you will remember that this year’s Chemistry Nobel Prize went to the discovery of artemisinin, which came from Artemisia, which was something that was a traditional knowledge, a traditional medicine, from which this new discovery came up. So, they are very precious. That is number one. It is very important to integrate these systems. In fact, one effort, you will be aware, the Turmeric Patent was granted to U.S., and you remember our fighting it, and the Basmati, and so on. And I found out what was the reason. It is because they had no access to many of these traditional knowledge systems. So, when I was the Chairman of the World Intellectual Property Organisations, Standing Committee on Information Technology, with 176 nations sitting there, I said, ‘it is the knowledge generated in Harvard knowledge, and not knowledge generated my ancestors, my predecessors, our tribals’. And that is where we changed the international patent classification. (No Audio Feed) ...Traditional Knowledge Digital Library. So, that is the response to your question. Yes, it needs to be done, and it needs to be integrated.

The second point I would like to make is about the rankings. I just mentioned it, but I want to repeat it again. When it comes to innovation, and everybody has been talking about innovation, if you look at 2011, our world

164 ranking in world innovation index was 62; it went to 64, 68, 76, and this year, it has come to 83. And we need to worry about this not because we are not doing well. In fact, we are doing better, but others are running faster. In fact, I was the member of the International Advisory Board of this Global Innovation Index, and I have raised fundamental issues about how do you measure innovations, just the technological innovation and what is measurable like patents, etc.

Many of the other things like business model innovations, etc., were superb basically. Our system delivery innovations and others are not being measured. So, as far as the indicators are concerned, what one tends to do is to measure what is measurable. I think we need to do our own rethinking, like we say both excellence and relevance to the society are important. Ms. Naina, you mentioned about frugal innovation and that the world looks towards us. This is true. As a matter of fact, just last week, at the most powerful research agency in Germany, they had a full discussion on what is called a more from less for more, something that Shri C.K. Prahlad and I in the Harvard Business Paper Innovation’s Holy Grail’ have propagated. You know, why Europeans would do that? Very simple. They are now bothered about the refugees coming in, the migrants coming in, and so on and so forth. So, it is becoming so important and they are looking to countries like India. Ms. Naina, you are, absolutely, right there. This is our comparative advantage which we have to leverage.

The final point I want to make is that there has to be a paradigm shift, very frankly. We have been known as a nation which is expert in export of talent, export of technology, from job seekers to job creation, and that is where our Hon’ble Prime Minister as well as Hon’ble President today mentioned. They mentioned India a Start-up Nation, where talent, technology and trust has to come up together to be the Start-up Nation, and the mindset of being first to India to first to the world has to change. Education is not only learning but also about doing and that is where the Panel is mentioning liberal education, and education in liberal arts becomes very, very important.

The last point I would like to make is that most of the time we are very fascinated by looking at just the best practices. I am not a great believer in best practices, because, then, you are copying somebody’s best practices. This country has the capability of creating next practices and those next practices have to be in what? President Obama had once said that education and innovation are currencies of the Twenty First Century. One would go one step forward and say education and innovation and innovation and education are the real currencies and that is where we need to create.... Now, I hand over to our Chairman to give his last word.

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DR. ARVIND PANAGARIYA: Thank you, Dr. Mashelkar, for conducting the proceedings so beautifully, to the satisfaction of everybody. I will just make one last remark. In the whole issue of teaching, research and industry linkages, I think, in our system, as it has been created, there is a fundamental problem, defect or whatever you might want to call it. That is, at least, by design that teaching and research have been separated. Universities and colleges do the teaching and researches then housed in various councils. This was the design as conceived of in the 50’s and 60’s. This creates a problem, actually. I did the Masters from Rajasthan University and then, I went on to do PhD at the Princeton University in the United States. One of the big differences I found was that really in the end a lot of the good research comes out of students questioning their Professors. Through that questioning, the Professors, actually, learn what the defect of their own existing thinking is. Likewise, Professors who are on the frontiers of research and doing the teaching, they introduce the students to the actual frontiers of specific discipline. Divorcing the two simply hurts both, research and teaching. So, I don’t know at this stage how we can bring research and teaching together in the major part of the institutions. We do have some institutions with divorced teaching and research and, maybe, they are over-represented here. But, certainly, the State University, where I went, this, simply, did not exist. Really, there were no incentives, actually, for research, for the teachers, because the promotions never depended on how many papers in international journals you would publish; this largely depended on your experience.

It was done by seniority and therefore there was also that sort of incentive lacking. Now that also ties into the industry linkages of the universities that industries again in the United States, at least, and in most of the countries come to the universities to get some of these specific problems solved. Lot of big funding that comes from the industry to the US universities involves large projects that the universities do for the industries and that, of course, means that there has to be a solid base of applied research in existence of the universities and there also, I am afraid, we are still lacking. Again it varies in some institutions across the country, but, by and large, if you look particularly where the vast majority of the students in higher education are, which is the State universities, that kind of a link seems to be missing. So, I think, they need to think a bit more outside the box, a bit away from our existing equilibrium. In the end, if you really want to bridge the gap between where we are today and where we would like to be at the very top of the world of academic education and research, we would need to make a much larger leap rather than look at improvements just around the equilibrium where we are today.

With that, let me conclude. I think, Mr. Yadav, would like to say a few words.

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SHRI SURESH YADAV: First of all, thank you very much to the Chair, Co- Chair and all the panelists. I request you all to join me in giving a big round of applause to our Chair and Co-Chair.

Now, I invite Mrs. Gaitri Kumar to present mementos on behalf of the President’s Secretariat to Chair, co-Chair and our panelists.

(Mrs. Gaitri Kumar then presented the Mementos)

Before we break for this session, there is a small announcement that the Hon’ble President will join here at 4.30 sharp. So, we will have 10-12 minutes break. But before that, I have a very important announcement to make that during that session with the Hon’ble President, six groups are going to make presentations, and there is a podium there. So, all the representatives of the six groups like Group A – Prof. Bari; Group B – Prof. Talat Ahmad; Group C – Dr. Bhat; Group D – Prof. Sarangi; and Group E – Prof. Ramamurthi will have to move to the podium. Once their name is announced by Secretary to the President, they will move to the podium which is there and from there, they will make the presentation to the Hon’ble President. So, thank you very much once again, Sir, for wonderful presentation.

DR. R.A. MASHELKAR: Thank you very much. I can’t resist myself. We started two minutes before time and we are ending two minutes before time. If India does it all the time, you can see what India will be. I think, this deserves an applause.

SHRI SURESH YADAV: Thank you, Sir. So, the tea is on your left side. You all can move to the amphitheatre. There is a tea arrangement for all of you.

(The Conference then adjourned for Tea)

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SESSION WITH THE PRESIDENT 05 November, 2015, 1635 – 1735 hrs (Ceremonial Hall, Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Centre) 167

SHRIMATI OMITA PAUL: Good afternoon, respected President Sir, Vice- Chancellors and Directors of Central institutions, Secretary, Department of Higher Education, officers from the Rashtrapati Bhavan and Ministries, Hon’ble Minister for HRD, earlier today, the group work activity was held, in which the Vice-Chancellors and Directors or Central institutions deliberated on the action taken on the recommendations of previous Conferences held at Rashtrapati Bhavan. The Vice-Chancellors and Directors were divided in six groups for deliberations, which were moderated by senior officers from President’s Secretariat, Department of Higher Education, UGC and Department of Pharmaceuticals.

In this session, one representative from each of the six groups will present a summary of the deliberations before the Hon’ble President. Each speaker will get ten minutes for the presentation. I first invite the leader of the first group, Group A, Prof. Syed A. Bari, Vice-Chancellor, Central University of Gujarat, to make the presentation.

VICE CHANCELLOR, CENTRAL UNIVERSITY OF GUJARAT (PROF. SYED A. BARI): Hon’ble President, Sir, Hon’ble Minister for Human Resource Development, I am representing the group work on action taken report of the first Group.

In Group A, we had 20 Central Universities and three special invitees, in which we have both old and new universities. The moderators of this Group are Shri Siddharth Sharma and Dr. S.S. Sandhu. The Group assessed the implementation of recommendations of its constituent units arising out of the previous years Conferences. The Group observed that they have 20 sets of actionable points pertaining to different areas such as shortage of faculty, improvement in international rankings, NAC accreditation, engaging institutions of higher learning in the process of community development, etc. The Group examined these in detail and decided to zero down on the ten most important actionable points and assess the progress with regard to each of these.

The findings of the Group are reflected in the succeeding slides. There are two parts of my presentation in these slides. The first is the assessment of implementation of important recommendations. The second part is the operational difficulties that were experienced. In the action taken by the universities, there are vacancies to be filled, NAC accreditation, choice-based credit system, R&D involvement, MOOCS, international ranking, centres of excellence, innovation and incubation centres, recognition of inspired teachers, community development cells, as well as action taken by the universities in this Group.

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In terms of filling up of the vacancies, in Gr.’A’ all the posts of Vice- Chancellors have been filled and there is, presently, no vacancy in any of the universities of Gr. ’A’ as far as the post of Vice-Chancellor is concerned. As far as the faculty recruitment is concerned, all universities in this group have initiated the process of new recruitment and some of them still continue to recruit. As far as NAAC accreditation is concerned, in this group of 20, there are 6 universities which already have completed the NAAC accreditation, that is, Aligarh Muslim University, Assam University, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Banaras Hindu University, Dr. Hari Singh Gour Vishwavidyalaya and Guru Ghasidas Vishwavidyalaya. These have received the NAAC accreditation. The Central University of Himachal Pradesh and the Central University of Odisha shall be applying soon for accreditation. The remaining universities are at different stages of obtaining NAAC accreditation. All 20 universities have implemented the Choice Based Credit System at various levels within the university. As far as alumni involvement is concerned, 19 universities have appointed nodal officers and coordinators for overseeing the process of creation of alumni database. The Central University of Jharkhand is yet to move forward in this area. As far as MOOCs are concerned, all the 20 universities have initiated MOOCs at various levels. Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University has resubmitted the proposal for MOOCs and the identification process is on as far as the preparing the list of experts and their areas of interest is concerned. The Central University of Jharkhand and the Central University of Odisha have mentioned that they have no competent faculty for the same. Now, I come to international rankings. All 20 universities are reporting compliance in this important area. Fifteen universities have appointed nodal officers. The Central University of Gujarat and Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University have appointed coordinators and Banaras Hindu University has also constituted the committee for the same. As far as Centre of Excellence is concerned, most of the universities are yet to attain NAAC accreditation and, therefore, the process of setting up Centre for Excellences has not yet been initiated. It will be clarified here that 13 universities in this group, which are new, are not eligible to apply for getting Centre of Excellence status. Guru Ghasidas Vishwavidyalaya has sent its proposal to UGC and is awaiting a response. Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Central University of Haryana, Dr. Hari Singh Gour Vishwavidyala are in the process of formulating their proposals. As far as Innovation and Incubation centres are concerned, out of the 20 universities, 19 universities have Innovation Clubs which are functioning. The Central University of Kashmir is yet to initiate this process. Twelve universities have set up Incubation Centres, while the rest are in the process of setting this up. In terms of recognition of INSPIRE Teachers, 19 universities have INSPIRE Teachers’ Programme functioning at different levels. Most of the universities have deputed teachers for the INSPIRE Teachers’ Programme at the Rashtrapati Bhawan. The Central University of Odisha expects to do this in

169 the next three to four months. In terms of Community Development Cell, 18 universities have started Community Development Cells at various levels. Sixteen universities have adopted villages whereas the Central University of Gujarat and the Central University of Kashmir have adopted two villages each. The Central University of Kerala has, at the moment, identified villages, while the Central University of Jharkhand has not responded on this.

I would like to come to the operational difficulties here in implementing many of these programmes which the Universities had taken up, as far as Action Taken is concerned. In terms of operational difficulties, most of the universities and Vice-Chancellors have expressed that there are a few areas where they have felt operational difficulties, for example, vacancies to be filled. In this area, most of the universities have notified the vacancies and have commenced the recruitment procedure. However, there are difficulties that they face in terms of people not accepting some of these appointments that were offered to them because of the portability of pension, and there are certain difficulties in recruitment when it comes to certain categories of students because of the non-availability of some of the candidates, as far as the cadres of Assistant Professor, Associate Professor and Professors are concerned.

When we come to NAAC accreditation, it was expressed that there are certain difficulties which are seen in accreditation, as there is a single yardstick for both, old and new universities. It is suggested that new universities should be exempted from NAAC for the first ten years and, at least, some relaxation for new universities may be considered.

As far as Choice-Based Credit System is concerned, the universities and the Vice-Chancellors feel that the present space is not sufficient. Though almost all the 20 universities have implemented the Choice-Based Credit System in their universities, they feel that additional space and additional faculty is required for the successful implementation of the Choice-Based Credit System.

As far as Community Development Cell is concerned, the adoption of villages is posing a set of operational challenges to most of the universities, which needs to be addressed in conjunction with the Ministry of Human Resource Development and other stakeholders.

There are certain common difficulties which both, the new and old universities in this group, have felt and they have tried to express some here. Some Central Universities have not been allotted land by the respective States. This has to be attended to at the earliest. Infrastructure - there is a lack of space. It is felt that the buildings were not sufficient. In some areas,

170 there is no water supply, there is no electricity and the connectivity, both in terms of ICT as well as transport, is very meagre. This has to be addressed at the earliest.

The universities also felt that there is a great problem as far as procurement of vehicles is concerned, particularly in terms of transporting the students from hostels or in bringing them to various venues in the campuses or in case of new universities, where there are different campuses in different sites. It should be looked into and the purchase of new vehicles like buses and other required vehicles should be sanctioned and relaxation in the provision of the order of not purchasing vehicles should be made, at least, in the case of new universities. It is also felt that additional funding for ongoing civil works in the universities should be provided at the earliest.

Finally, it is pointed out that the UGC should provide sufficient administrative positions to the universities with a special focus on new universities, who have locational disadvantages. It should be looked into. Thank you.

PRESENTATION MADE BY PROF. SYED A. BARI VICE CHANCELLOR, CENTRAL UNIVERSITY OF GUJARAT

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SHRIMATI OMITA PAUL: I now invite the leader of the Group-B, Prof. Talat Ahmad, Vice-Chancellor, Jamia Milia Islamia, to make his presentation.

VICE CHANCELLOR, JAMIA MILLIA ISLAMIA (PROF. TALAT AHMAD): Thank you, Madam. Good afternoon, Hon’ble President of India, Hon’ble Minister of Human Resource Development, other dignitaries and my colleagues from the universities, IITs and NITs, I am going to make this presentation on behalf of 20 universities in Group ‘B’ wherein we are going to inform in the form of Action Taken Report for the period between April, 2014 to February, 2015. This was done with able coordination of Dr. Thomas Mathew, Additional Secretary to the Hon’ble President.

Here, we have the universities and the three special invitees that we had. Let us take the important items that we have been supposed to look into and make some assessment on. Regarding filling up the posts, actually all the twenty universities have made good progress. None of these universities have said that they have not. Even where we have some problem of not having the regular Vice-Chancellor, they have taken action in terms of advertising the positions.

Out of twenty universities, eleven have already got through NAAC- accreditation and eight of them are in the process. One university, that is, Indira Gandhi National Open University, does not come under the category to be accredited by NAAC. Some work is going on in that direction.

Nineteen of these universities have already implemented Choice-Based Credit Systems, and, again, in case of IGNOU, they are in the process of making the material, and, so they will also be on board very soon. This is the first year where you have some difficulties to start with for Choice-Based Credit System but, as Prof. Bari has also mentioned, in some of the universities, we face problems of space as well as faculty members to cover and give Choice-Based Credit Systems.

Utilisation of Grant is also quite satisfactory. You can see that fifteen of these universities have already given the utilization details, and, five of these are in the process of doing it. So, all the four criteria, that is mentioned here, is quite satisfactory.

Regarding alumni involvement, eight universities have already taken action and they are in place. Twelve of these are in the process because some of these universities have to take the Academic Council and Executive Council on board to have alumni involvement. We appreciate the discussion that we had today in the afternoon with the experts. So, now, it becomes

176 clearer as to how the involvement of alumni is going to be useful for all these universities.

Nine universities have already taken action in terms of MOOCs and they are in good satisfactory position, and, the other ones are in the process of developing the MOOCs programme.

In terms of ICT consolidation, nine universities have quite good facilities and everything is in place. Eleven universities are in the process. There is some difficulty, which I will be pointing out, particularly, the multi-campus institutions have the problem of linking with each other.

Regarding Inspired Teachers’ Network, twelve universities have already done this, and, eight universities are in the process of doing the work in terms of having the Inspired Teachers’ Networking.

So, in general, what we see is that there is quite good progress with respect to the items from 5 to 8 and the only problem that I pointed out was that multiple campus institutions have difficulty of linkages. That needs to be taken care of. International ranking -- we see that 18 Universities have already taken action and they have made the contributions. Two of them are in the process. Centre of Excellence -- as Prof. Bari has explained, 4 of the older Universities or Universities that are there for quite some time, have Centre of Excellence. Out of the 16 Universities, some are actually waiting for NAAC accreditation. They have put their papers. As soon as they have their NAAC accreditation, they will be approaching UGC for the Centre. Innovation club -- 14 of our Universities already have and it is working. Six of these Universities, particularly those which are more focussed in terms of Social Science and Humanities, are working out on how to have these innovation clubs. This includes Jawaharlal Nehru University and the University in Hyderabad which is specialised for languages. Wi-Fi facility wise, 10 of the Universities are already in good shape and in the other ten, it is in the process. They have initiated the process and waiting for the MHRD action in this regard. B.Voc. Programme -- 14 Universities have got this and 6 other Universities have applied to the UGC, which is under consideration. Development of community colleges, 18 of these groups have already got the community college which is very good and 2 of these are in the process of doing that. Guest faculty, 15 of these Universities have taken the right action and they have got the same and 5 have applied. Particularly for the 5, they have already furnished the list and they are waiting for the outcome now.

So, I should conclude by saying that substantial progress under all the action heads has been achieved. Year-to-year progress achieved would be in the range of 80 to 90 per cent because if you take overall, the progress is

177 quite good. Progress has been less appreciable in institutions without a regular head. Special efforts in all Universities for higher ranking are there and all these Universities are trying. I am happy to mention here that some of the departments of individual Universities are already on the world ranking. Particularly from Jawaharlal Nehru University and Delhi University, we have some of the departments which are ranked internationally. Inter-university linkages, knowledge network, University-community linkages, that is, Unnat Bharat Abhiyan, are being strengthened.

A few more points that have not been mentioned here but we discussed and we thought we should mention about them. Inter-University linkages, we have got good progress in some of the Universities. We have got some big projects, like Jamia Millia, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi University and Kashmir University, we have worked together on Himalayan tri-sphere and traditional knowledge of Himalayan region. So, all these things are coming up very well as we have planned.

As mentioned by the earlier speaker, there is difficulty of funding which needs to be improved. We feel that industry needs to come up to have funding for research and studentship, which will be required. We had the fortune of being with the President of India to a few countries recently. Small universities like University of Jordan has a budget of Rs.1,200 crores. To become an international player, we need to have enough fundings to use and make better facilities to have international rankings. Some of these universities, which are in far-flung areas, have problem of getting the faculty members, particularly, at senior level and we had discussed this last time also. So, we need that this should be addressed at the earliest.

We also suggest that industry supports research in the university. One is that the students and teachers can have linkage and can go to the industry but even industry can have small units within the universities where students can get direct linkage to the industry and see how they can learn and get practical knowledge. So, these are some of thoughts that we have. I thank, in particular, Dr. Thomas Mathew and all my colleagues, for making this Report. Thank you so much.

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PRESENTATION MADE BY PROF. TALAT AHMAD VICE CHANCELLOR, JAMIA MILLIA ISLAMIA

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SHRIMATI OMITA PAUL: Thank you Prof. Talat Ahmad. Now, I request the leader of Group C Prof. Inder Krishen Bhat to make his presentation.

DIRECTOR, MALAVIYA NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, JAIPUR (PROF. INDER KRISHEN BHAT): Good afternoon, Hon’ble President, Hon’ble HR Madam, respected dignitaries and dear colleagues. In this group there were 14 IITs present and there were four special invitees who came from IIIT and various issues which were addressed were based on whether we have addressed the National Development Goals, R&D activities and innovations, teaching learning processes, international collaborations and linkages, and training of faculty. This group consists of the following members, who were present there, and let me come to the ATR.

In this, the first one was deepening research and technological innovation for meeting National Developmental Goals through adoption and creation of model villages. In this, all the NIITs have adopted villages around them to make them as model villages. It is suggested that institutions should take a holistic and composite view of various domains like energy, water, housing, environment, skill development and human resources. Most of the institutions have organised the awareness camps to identify gaps regarding skills, training of people has been undertaken by many of the institutions and it has been done involving students as well.

Besides this, other initiatives, which have been taken in this regard and may be adopted by other institutions, are involvement of students for teaching science and maths, specially, for girl students in various schools.

The other recommendation was regarding the creation of research professor with sufficient research funds and all NIITs have made a provision for research professors in their institutes and some NIITs have already appointed them. However, attracting funds for conducting research is an issue, especially, with some of the NIITs and research professors with sufficient available funds is a challenge for some NIITs, especially, in the North-Eastern States. It was suggested that the industry may be roped in for funding of such positions for working on their specific problems and despite that it was felt that new NIITs, which have been created in North-Eastern Region, need support in terms of funds which MHRD may provide. In some institutions, in fact, the research professors have come with projects worth a few crores of rupees and who mentor younger faculty and some institutions have more than hundred sponsored funded research projects which have come during the last few years now.

As far as annual summit, research and the award of best innovation are concerned, research, seminars, conferences and summits are being

184 organised and attended by faculty members of NITs and various awards have been conferred.

The Council of NITs in its recent meeting has constituted a committee for drafting the research pathway. The participants in the group today resolved that each NIT should identify one or more domain discussed in IMPRINT for adoption and carrying it forward. Some of these institutions, in fact, have trained on an average at least 500 faculty members from other AICTE approved institutions and helped them in the domain knowledge as well as in pedagogy.

As far as increased effectiveness of NKN and NMEICT are concerned, all the NITs have been using NKN and NMEICT effectively. Since the last Conference, NKN and NMEICT have been augmented.

Distance learning and teaching through virtual classrooms, etc., have been implemented by various NITs. However, speed and connectivity is the concern of some of the NITs which are in the remote areas. It is also suggested that the scope of project SOLVE be scaled up and extended to other NITs as well.

On setting up of virtual classrooms, most of the NITs have established them and some of them are in the process of starting these virtual classrooms.

On low cost access to high quality education on mass scale through MOOCs platform, all NITs have been utilising available MOOCs platform in some form. The Ministry of HRD has initiated a flagship programme of MOOCs which will further facilitate NITs to utilise low cost high quality education. Some NITs have given assurance for developing content for MOOCs. NITs have also been participating in GIAN Programme to get advantage of foreign experts who will be coming to this country. More courses are also being developed in various institutions which have been identified and these will be used to deliver on this e-platform.

On building international linkages for quality improvement, including setting up of inter NIT platform, a consortium of NITs called Co-NITs has been meeting from time to time and developing an inter NIT platform for international collaborations. Cooperation has been taken up in this consortium for undertaking joint initiatives to initiate and enhance international cooperation. In the last meeting of the consortium of NITs, which was attended by 23 NITs out of 30 NITs, various issues were taken up. The issue of governance, improving teaching-learning processes because of some of the current trends and tools which have come up, enhancing R&D activities, creating an eco-system for innovation and entrepreneurship and how to handhold new NITs by the earlier NITs were discussed.

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On nomination of International Cooperation Officer in each of the NITs, all the NITs have already nominated one faculty member as the International Cooperation Officer. Some of the NITs have also created a position of Dean, International Affairs, and are moving in this direction. The Ministry of Human Resource Development and the Ministry of External Affairs should facilitate NITs entering into MOU with the international universities to promote research collaboration, visit of the faculty to other NITs and sabbatical of NIT faculty to other universities abroad. The Ministry of HRD has taken up this matter with the Cabinet Secretariat and the Ministry of External Affairs. Necessary instructions have been issued to facilitate NITs entering into MOUs with the international universities to promote research collaborations.

These MoUs have resulted in a number of joint research publications, faculty and student visits, several joint events like thesis supervision, etc. Initiatives for capacity development of faculty includes shortfall in capacity. The NITs have identified the shortfall in capacity in quantitative as well as qualitative terms and NITs have started recruitment of faculty and staff, and training of the existing and the new faculty which is being recruited in these institutions.

Then, I come to training of faculty. All NITs have done the training need analysis for faculty. It is suggested that consortium of NITs should adopt an integrated plan and the same should be funded by MHRD. Then, I come to providing adequate funding and monitoring of outcomes. All NITs have been utilising either the cumulative professional development allowance or TEQIP funds for professional development of faculty. The core competence of faculty has been consistently developed in areas of their expertise including pedagogy. All NITs have done monitoring of their outcomes as per NIT Review Committee Report. There were some suggestions which the Group thought that it would be important to highlight them. Some of these are that funding for Wi-Fi provisioning in the institute has been a matter of concern for the last few years and it is recommended that the institutions may be allowed to use the Plan funds for the same. The second one was to enhance the percentage of project overheads of the research projects. It was suggested that it should be at par with international funding agencies which is much higher than what the Indian Government or other funding agencies are giving us as overhead. All NITs should establish centres for innovation, incubation and entrepreneurship to promote critical thinking and a spirit of innovation among the students and faculty. All NITs should be covered under Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme. As of today, only 17 NITs are covered under TEQIP. Various schemes of the Government may be used in an integrated fashion. All Directors and Chairpersons should be exposed to leadership training programmes at globally renowned institutions and the BoG

186 of all NITs may be allowed to create posts of faculty and non-faculty, as is the case in other IITs. Thank you.

PRESENTATION MADE BY PROF. INDER KRISHEN BHAT DIRECTOR, MALAVIYA NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, JAIPUR

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SHRIMATI OMITA PAUL: Thank you, Dr. Bhat. May I now request the Leader of Group-D to present the summary of recommendations?

DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, ROURKELA (PROF. SUNIL KUMAR SARANGI): Hon’ble President, Sir, Madam HRM, Ladies and Gentlemen, I am going to present the results of our deliberations in Group D. I record our appreciation of the support given by Mr. Venu Rajamony, who was the coordinator of this Group. My focus shall be on the action taken on the recommendations of the Conference of Directors of NITs, which was held in October, 2014. These are the institutes. There are 31 NITs and along with us is also IIEST, Shibpur, and some other institutes like the National Institute of Fashion Technology, the School of Planning and Architecture, Bhopal and the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi.

The first topic that we covered, which we touched upon last time, was the deepening research and technological innovation for meeting national development goals. One of the items which came up that time was adoption of five villages, forming teams of resource persons and establishment of community development cells. Subsequently, this has been one of the main activities of the Unnat Bharat Abhiyan and NITs have done their best. When I say NIT, I say in a generic term, which includes IIESD, SPAs at Bhopal and Delhi, and the Institute of Fashion Technology also.

So, these institutions have adopted villages, and Community Development Programmes are in various stages of implementation. In fact, one of the Institutions has taken up a programme which is giving arsenic and fluoride free water to about two lakh people in India and neighbouring Bangladesh. Another one is the FICCI’s National Award for Social Excellence because of their work in neighbouring villages. So far, NITs have been utilising their own fund which is very little and they are, often, facing difficulties in implementing the ideas that come to the faculty and the students. So, it is suggested that some funds may be provided directly to all Institutions of Higher Education, like NITs, for Community Development. We also propose to add a section on to the NIT Council’s website which would cover the best practices being followed by different Institutions in the area of Community Development so that it can support cross-learning.

Another item that we covered is the creation of Research Professors with sufficient research funds. From RECs, when they became NITs, the meaning of a University teacher has evolved from almost a pure teaching assignment to a comprehensive teaching research activity. So, seen from that angle, all faculty positions are, actually, research positions along with their teaching responsibilities. In addition to that, the NITs have also set up some Research Chairs and urgent faculty positions with external funding. It is,

196 further, seen that additional funding for development of research infrastructure which includes equipment, computer facilities and libraries, is not only a one- time investment but this is a recurring investment in multiple crores of rupees. Also, for Fellowships for PhD students, with typical NITs, having 500 to 1,000 PhD students and the annual scholarship being Rs.20 crores to Rs.40 crores in a year, this will be a serious requirement in all the Institutions for the purpose of growth. So, it is requested that the Government should enhance Plan funds allocated to Institutions of Higher Learning.

Coming to Annual Research Summits and award of Best Innovation, all NITs, in their respective domains, are promoting research among faculty and research students as well as innovation and product development. Most of them are holding programmes, summits and competitions within the Institute or along with neighbouring Institutions to award prizes to recognise good performers and so on. But it is proposed to organise some kind of a Pan NIT Research Summit and Innovation Prizes so that there would be greater competition and also greater co-operation among Institutions to do that. We propose to put up a proposal in the forthcoming meeting of the Standing Committee of the NIT Council to this effect.

Another issue, which is bothering Institutions, is enhancing of the Fellowship at par with that given by the DST, DBT, CSIR, etc. Following an appropriate Circular from the MHRD, all Institutions have already implemented it in toto covering students with M.Sc, B.Tech. and M. Tech. qualifications. Some students of the system, who are holding qualifications of M.A. or MBA or MBBS, have been left out of the system as of today. Subsequent to this Circular from the MHRD, the UGC has brought out its norms for these students as well. We request that this may be taken up by our Ministry on priority.

On technology-enabled learning, almost all Institutes have been using the NKN and NMEICT quite effectively. Distance learning and distance teaching are being implemented. Although speed and connectivity do remain a major constraint for some Institutions, specifically, in the North-East, everybody is doing its best.

Everybody is doing its best. However, it is felt that while the previous thinking was to put NITs as basically consumers of high quality teaching resources, learning resources available on the Internet via NMEICT and NKN, it is being felt that excellent capabilities available in these institutions can be gainfully utilized by the nation for producing e-contents. So, our request is for additional grants so that these institutions, every NIT, or, most NITs, at least, can set up Education Technology Cells within the institution, set up the necessary infrastructure, the studios and so on, so that the superior teaching

197 capabilities available in the Institute can be utilized for creating high quality learning resources for the nation

Setting up of virtual classrooms by using the MOOCs Platform, going for blended MOOCs, most institutes are actively involved in these activities in terms of users of the information, and such classrooms are available in most institutions, and the utilization is slowly increasing. When it comes to international linkages for quality improvement, there are routine activities, like nomination of a faculty member as the International Cooperation Officer in each NIT, that has been done. But the activities which were intended to be taken up for international cooperation really have not picked up. This is a very expensive proposition. Unless nation-to-nation linkages are set up at Government level with good funding, either from internal resources of our country or from international cooperation agreements, not by ourselves with the very limited funding, we are not able to make a sizeable change in this direction.

The next point is, the MHRD is taking action to promote international cooperation and circulates standard MoUs. Actions have been taken by our Ministry. The necessary instructions have been issued to facilitate NITs entering into MoUs with international universities to promote research collaboration. A standard MoU for such purpose is under preparation. And the Council of NITs, in its recent meeting held on 1st October, has set up a Committee to recommend a Research Pathway, which will also look into international collaborations.

On behalf of the Team of Directors, who formed a part of this Group-D, we request our Ministry to be more pro-active in this direction, and see that the NITs get into the international circuit faster than it would otherwise be possible.

Our next point here is about adoption of specific NITs or its departments by reputed foreign universities. This topic was also discussed last time. This is a high level and expensive proposition. What is being requested is that this will be an ideal initiative, but requires substantial resources, and the Government is to take the lead, particularly, for setting up new departments and to boost the best performing departments of the NITs to come up to international standards.

Faculty and Students Exchange Programmes have been undertaken in a limited way, but a quantum jump in this effort is necessary.

And, for further quality improvement in academic and research ties with the neighbouring countries, it is something which is not very expensive, and

198 would be mutually beneficial, particularly if we link up with both SAARC and ASEAN countries. It is reiterated that the Ministry may evolve a simplified method of approving foreign travel by Directors of NITs in the same manner it is given to Directors of IITs. The Government may also wish to consider permitting individual NIT Directors to visit ASEAN and SAARC countries to explore possibilities of cooperation. Most important of all, which evolved in this Meeting, was teams of Directors could also visit these neighbouring countries for the above purpose, and such visits being arranged between Governments, means, MHRD and MEA, in advance.

We would also like to receive foreign delegations, delegations of University Vice-Chancellors coming from the neighbouring countries and visiting a set of NITs, as planned in advance. That would be beneficial to both the nations, and we could cover many, many countries on that. When it comes to initiatives for capacity development of faculty, a few things have been proposed. One is, new positions need to be sanctioned by the Ministry in accordance with the existing rules and current students’ strength. That process can be accelerated. The faculty of new IITs must be approved on the basis of sanctioned strength of students and not the actual strength. Of course, institutes are doing the needful for setting up the appropriate training programmes.

Finally, we need to provide adequate funding and monitoring of outcomes. It is also suggested that TEQIP funds or funding from alternate sources should be provided to new NITs and also those NITs which are not covered under TEQIP-II. Also, TEQIP-III, it is time for it, may be started as a more focussed programme. Last but not least, I would like to mention the following. It may be observed that as compared to REC in 2003, the students’ strength of the NIT system has gone up four to five times and the PG and research strength which was virtually non-existent in the REC is now moderately large. No special measure has been taken to strengthen the infrastructure and other financial needs. I suggest the Government to kindly consider some kind of a special purpose tool like SCFC on making NIT system ready for the next decade with an allocation of typically -- I give a moderate figure – about Rs.500 crores for each institute over a three year period and it is not something astronomical. Spending about Rs.3,000 crores or Rs.4,000 crores per year for the NIT system would, certainly, bring dividends to the nation. For me, it appears the best option before our nation on the grounds of return and investment. With these words, I thank the Hon’ble President and everyone present here to give me a hearing. Thank you.

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PRESENTATION MADE BY PROF. SUNIL KUMAR SARANGI DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, ROURKELA

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SHRIMATI OMITA PAUL: Thank you, Prof. Sarangi. May I now request the leader of the Group E, Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi to make his presentation.

DIRECTOR, INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, MADRAS (PROF. BHASKAR RAMAMURTHI): Hon’ble President of India, Hon’ble Minister for Human Resource Development, respected Secretaries to the Government and respected colleagues from higher learning institutions, I am presenting this report on the action taken with regard to the recommendations of the meeting held last year, convened by the Visitor with the Directors of the IITs. In today’s deliberations, 16 IITs were represented and along with them, there were four invitees, three of them were the NIPERs and one was the School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada. In the titles of the slides, the numbers indicate the numbers in the recommendations. We have tried to summarize what the key recommendation was about. The first and probably the most important recommendation was with regard to filling up of vacant faculty positions. The source of the problem is the acute shortage of PhDs, which is the pool from which we have to recruit, combined with the sudden increase in the UG and PG course strength, that is, the M.Tech and M.Sc. courses’ strength. The solution is, actually, we need to double the recruitment rate. All the IITs have been recruiting over the last many years, but we have doubled the recruitment rate. The actions that have been taken in the last few years, but, particularly, in the last year, is that all the IITs have increased the number of PhDs registered to about five per faculty, so that they graduate one per year as recommended by the Kakodkar Committee. This is in the older IITs. Obviously, the new IITs will take some time to get this number. All of them operate year round open advertisements on the web. Selection Committee meetings are held through video conferencing, if necessary, to tap into increased availability of NRI PhDs.

Search Committee visits have been held abroad and MHRD has finalised and released the norms for the Professor of Practice position by which experts from industry can play a role in teaching advance courses and increasing the liaison with industry. Further actions are definitely needed, and, among these, are some incentives for bright young faculty who join the IITs in the form of creation of research infrastructure that they may need, in the form of lab and equipment, and this is particularly for the new IITs which face challenge that is bigger than the older ones. Along with that, some seed grant at an average level of about Rs.25 lakhs per faculty member; some may need less but some may even need more depending on the type of work they do. We also need pan-IIT efforts to attract talent from abroad to come to India for interviews with multiple IITs. So if some bright talent is available and is willing to visit, then, maybe, they can visit a few IITs at one stroke. We need to nurture and incentivise prospective teaching talent among our own research scholars -- some kind of version of early induction programme. There are

212 many ways in which one can do this. We also need to be able to recruit highly qualified foreign faculty and, for this, the employment visa needs to be made even simpler and more relaxed conditions of grant than it is today.

Next two recommendations were with regard to the rankings, and here is a summary of the rankings over the last three years of the IITs that were ranked and the IISc. There are six parameters that are used for this, out of which two are the academic reputation and the employer reputation, which together carry half the weightage which is really not in our control. This is done by a survey of responses mostly from across the world and the significant fraction of them being from outside the country. The student to faculty ratio and the citations for faculty are fairly important parameters, and these are definitely within our control. We already talked about the faculty recruitment issue. The international faculty ratio and international student ratio is to some extent in our control. It does require some policy changes. In order to improve the rankings, we need to increase the faculty strength. We have already dealt with that. We need to increase the PhD strength because that not only provides for faculty over the next few years but it also increases the output of publications. We also need to increase and incentivise the high quality research. We need to find ways to actually incentivise our PhD students and our faculty to publish higher quality work in better journals. We need to increase research collaborations with foreign universities in the form of joint publications, joint research guidance. Many of the IITs have already started doing a lot of this. But I am just pointing out that this is something that we need to focus on. We need to partner in major international research projects like the Neutrino project, the Sun projects and so on. The alumni centres at Bangalore, which is now coming up, as well as one or two others that already exist need to be engaged in brand-building, and we have to incentivise international faculty, find ways to give something to attract them to spend longer periods in IITs. Many of them do come now but they come for short visits and long visits, that is what makes it count for the rankings. We have to open up for international students definitely in the post-graduate courses but possibly in under-graduate as well. Most importantly, we have to continue to do what we are doing best, including the lot of work that we do for the Government as well as for Indian industry, all of which doesn’t go towards the rankings.

The next recommendations were with regard to mapping the strengths of the IITs. Typically, these are reflected in the Centres of Excellence that have already come up because the Centres of Excellence normally come up where there is significant capability. The older IITs, on an average, would easily have a dozen or more COEs which are already operating. The newer IITs now, after five or six years, have begun to set up one or two each. The Ministries are coming forward to fund COEs, new ones, at the IITs to address

213 sector-specific, industry-specific needs. However, why we are finding this new is because I think there is definitely a desire on the part of the Government, as specified by these Ministries, to do something to improve our industry- academia interaction as well as raise our technological powers. But we need to really set up a proactive single window in MHRD to help us conclude these agreements. A lot of this is new for the Ministries but our experience over the last year or two is that we need to find a way to move quickly to bridge the gap between expectations, objectives and vision and conclude these agreements.

So, this is something that we could take up and make sure the numbers increase dramatically.

The next two recommendations are with regard to alumni participation. Again, all the IITs are very actively involved in this, but the Alumni Centre that is proposed in Bangalore and the one at Chennai too that is coming up -- and I am sure there are others being planned too -- need to be strengthened, because alumni are a very important resource. It was talked about in the panel discussion also a while ago. The alumni were abroad. A sizeable number of them are in India actually, but we need to enable the ones who are abroad, which is also a reasonable number, and the ones who are in academia, to participate in our academics on an adjunct basis. Also, we need to take their help in catalysing faculty recruitment. Alumni donations and endowments are very important. We have a target that, at least, ten per cent of our alumni should be donating regularly even if it is in small amounts, because it increases engagement. We would request that in order to incentivise the alumni to do this, the MHRD must make a matching contribution; this would be an incentive for mobilizing this. Also, I think it is very important to publicise the successes coming out of the IITs.

The eighth recommendation was with regard to adopting, or giving a helping hand, to nearby colleges. All the IITs have reported that they are doing this in several ways. There are suggestions on the QIP programme for the faculty of NITs and other colleges for doing PhDs in the IITs. We are now seeing a dip in this because many of the faculty are doing the PhDs in their own institutions. While that is certainly something that can be continued, we do think that it is important for a good number of faculty from these colleges to do their PhDs in the IITs. Many of the IITs already help in identifying faculty, but I think with the increased output of PhDs from IITs, it is very important for these colleges, with our help, to actively recruit, throughout the year, from the IIT system, the way the IITs are seeking to do it globally. Of course, they can also do it globally, but this is a very large resource which is coming up locally because of the huge increase in PhD intake. There is a pan-IIT alumni driven programme called PALS, which originates in Chennai. It has been doing very well over the past few years, but they now have interest in taking it elsewhere, which connects IIT faculty and students to Engineering College faculty and

214 students on Saturdays and other days through workshops, etc. A very large number of programmes are conducted. It is a soft intervention, but it is turning out to be very, very productive.

The ninth recommendation was with regard to foreign faculty teaching in winter and summer, hopefully. The Gyan programme, which was conceived last year, has now come to fruition. I think the first course is about to begin and a very generous and attractive remuneration has been finalized for the visiting experts. A very thorough process for vetting the courses and the experts has also been set up and 167 courses by foreign faculty have been approved so far. They would take place over the next few months and by the end of December, 2016, we would have held 400 courses all over the country, not just in the IITs, but in several other institutions as well.

The next three recommendations, 10, 11 and 12, are with regard to focus on innovation and research, particularly innovation, and I think all of the IITs have set up 24X7 Tinkerer’s labs, set up by the students for the students with very mild intervention, if I might call it that, from faculty. These usually have vertical clubs. There are clubs on robotics, aero, and so on. There are usually dozens of such clubs. But we have now introduced and we are seeking to expand it horizontally, across the clubs, with multi-disciplinary challenge projects. This was triggered by the insight that was provided at the last meeting by the Prime Minister, where he talked about enabling students to take up some grand challenges and problems and work on them over several years during their stay at the Institute. Maybe they would succeed, maybe they won’t, but definitely the institution as well as they themselves would be much better.

The IITs have formed entrepreneurship clubs, because there is a huge interest in entrepreneurship in students, and we want the students to creatively feed on each other. CSR funding for innovations is definitely something that can be tapped; particularly, innovations that are meant to address social needs are definitely open for CSR support.

Project–oriented curriculum changes have been introduced with undergraduate courses and research credits. So, students are now able to take up research projects and earn credits for it. Recently announced Uchchatar Avishkaar Yojana formulated to fund innovative projects with industry participation. This is also going to play a big role. This is not so much with students as with faculty and research scholars. And, of course, the grand IMPRINT programme, which is launched today, which I will refer to in the next slide. The next recommendation is regarding identifying ten major goal posts and that is what IMPRINT was all about and we saw the launch today morning. So, this will help us in focussing research nation-wide in the IITs and in the entire system on these ten themes. The next fourteenth recommendation is

215 with regard to governance and global best practices. One of the tasks that, I think, we need to take up is to update our statutes. Our statutes are, at least, fifty to sixty years old. IIT Kanpur has developed this Brihaspati to improve governance. We are all looking at it now to see what we can learn from it and we think that it can be further developed. The fifteenth recommendation is with regard to Government-Academia inter-linkages. There is a large amount of work that has been already on-going at all the IITs for the State Governments in the States in which they are located as well as for the Central Government to meet various needs and programmes of theirs. But we are finding that the needs of the State Governments for technical support as well as support for e- governance and so on is increasing dramatically. In fact, requests that are coming in are becoming now quite a bit beyond the capabilities, sometimes, of the faculty at any given time. So, we are proposing that MHRD can coordinate with the Central and State Governments to set up, where it is appropriate, Centres of Excellence, for example, the Centre of Excellence for e-governance, so that there can be dedicated staff which can work with the faculty to scale up the efforts to the levels needed as expressed by the Government. CSR fund is very important. All the IITs have to set up Development Office. Some have already set it up and others are in the process of setting it up for the development of the Institution. In Development Office, you have people who are dedicated to the task of working with corporates with alumni to attract CSR funds. CSR funds also become a very important source of external funding to the institution. CSR law is new and there are differences in interpretation; it is not very clear yet when industry can create Chairs and fund research under the Act. But definitely that goes towards addressing social needs. But these are all things where we will request the Ministry to get it clarified. The seventeenth recommendation is with regard to the convergence of the various networks that have been set up. All IITs are connected with NKN. The proposal is that these could be used to improve the teaching skills across the country, to develop some MOOCs for skill development in areas where it is possible to do it using on-line technologies and use of the National Digital Library for connecting to the knowledge grid. All of this is on-going. The eighteenth recommendation is with regard to promoting innovation in students. We have already talked about it. I think, it is also encapsulated within the general goal of increasing innovation in IITs. But, particularly, with regard to under-graduate students, the IITs have now started Credit Based undergraduate research programme. This is very important to enable students to start working on challenging problems by the undergraduates and do directed research to address certain challenges, say, water, transportation, healthcare and whatever it is. CSR Academy has a programme called ACSIR-800 which is innovating for the 800 million poor people of the country. This is certainly a model that we are looking at to see whether we can learn from how their PhD students are spending part of their time and doing this. That brings me to the end of report and deliberation of this group of 16 IITs and 4 special invitees. Thank you.

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PRESENTATION MADE BY PROF. BHASKAR RAMAMURTHI DIRECTOR, INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, MADRAS

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SHRIMATI OMITA PAUL: Thank you, Prof. Ramamurthi. May I now request the leader of Group-F, Prof. N. Sathyamurthy, to give his presentation?

DIRECTOR, INDIAN INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE EDUCATION & RESEARCH, MOHALI (PROF. N. SATHYAMURTHY): Hon’ble President of India, Hon’ble Minister for Human Resource Development and Shrimati Omita Paul and friends, I would like to particularly thank the Hon’ble President on behalf of the six Institutes, the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and the five IISERs for giving us an opportunity to interact with him about a year and half ago, and for giving us yet another opportunity to present an Action Taken Report. We are grateful to Madam Gayatri Kumar for helping us in preparing this presentation.

In addition to these six Directors, Director of IISC, Bangalore, and the Directors of five IISERs, we had the privilege of having some of the NIPER Directors participating as special invitees. One of the action points was creating ambience of good governance. IISC, Bangalore, has set up an Academic-Administrative Reforms Committee. It is an unusual combination of institutions, IISC being approximately 108 years old and the IISERs being about only 8 years old. The IISERs have begun the administrative processes emphasising e-route, and we have been implementing ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) in place. This includes administration of students, finance, accounts and purchase. We have multi-level programmes to upgrade,

225 modernise and create required infrastructure for research, teaching and administration.

Regarding the faculty-student performance, evaluation, tenure and rewards, the IISC, Bangalore, has adopted the Tenure System and so has the IISER, Pune. The student performance is evaluated continuously and their feedback is taken and the teachers’ performance is also evaluated. The IISER, Thiruvananthapuram, has a teacher training exercise, and the IISER, Mohali, has a Best Teacher Award. These are some of the indicators of the reward system.

One of the points that was emphasised in the last meeting with the Visitor was setting up of research facilities and creating development corpus. Numerous such projects have been taken up with adequate funding. Laboratories have been created at par with the global standards. Thanks to the MHRD, we have been able to set up Centres of Excellence in different Institutes and they are on energy, space science, protein science, sustainable development, computational science, functional materials, life processes and environments.

Well, the IISC has been able to generate resources from its alumni. IISERs are brand new. They are beginning the exercise, but together, we are able to tap resources from outside agencies.

Regarding promoting excellence in scholarship, there is lot of academic debate that takes place. Students are encouraged to undertake this exercise. The students participate in governance. They have a representation in the Senate. There is always an inter-disciplinary dialogue. We have several eminent academic visitors visiting our Institutes to participate and to guide students, promoting inter-disciplinary research, encouraging students to take up topics of special importance and to undertake projects and collaborative research. We are particularly happy to mention that undergraduates have already started publishing in these Institutions. The IISc, Bangalore, has set up a new Division for inter-disciplinary research. The IISERs have been focussing right from inception on inter-disciplinary research.

In the meeting with the Visitor last time, we had mentioned that we would like to have a separate IISER Act. We understand it is under consideration by the MHRD.

It was pointed out in the last meeting that we must go beyond narrow focus and have broad focus true to the commitment of the IISERs and the IISC. We have broadened the scope of teaching and research by including humanities and social sciences.

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The IISER, Bhopal, has gone on to include Engineering Sciences in its curriculum. All of us are committed to promote communication skills, interdisciplinary activities. We have begun to undertake translational research. We are quite committed towards outreach activities. This involves going to other places and giving lectures, inviting buses and buses of school children to our campuses to sensitise them about the research activities. We are committed to social engagements. I am particularly pleased to mention here that we have started implementing the Ishan Vikas Programme. We get students from the North East during summer and winter, and, we interact with them.

Regarding the optimal faculty-student ratio, it is agreed upon with the Ministry and we are moving towards 1:10 faculty-student ratio. We have been steadily increasing the number of research scholars in all the institutes under this Group. The number of PhD students has increased. The number of undergraduates involved in research has increased and we are also committed to increase seats of post-doctoral research. This combination of three things helps us in undertaking cutting-edge research cutting across disciplines.

Hon’ble President, on various occasions, has been emphasizing on the global ranking, and, we have been looking at the roadmap for attaining this. Here, we are pleased to say that we have been particularly pushing for the quality and quantity research. Increased number of publications has come out. Already, Hon’ble President has mentioned about the IISC being ranked 147 in QS global ranking. We would like to bring it to the attention of the Hon’ble President that IISC is ranked number 3 and IISERs together are ranked number 4 in the Nature Index pertaining to India. I am also pleased to mention here that the IISERs rank 27 in Chemical Sciences in Asia Pacific region.

Last time, it was mentioned, and, it was introduced in the deliberations, that the academics should have teaching and research as a way of life. Both at the IISERs and the IISC, Bangalore, teaching and research have a symbiotic relationship, and, that is, indeed, a way of life on a day-to-day basis.

Regarding global rankings, it has been emphasised that there must be an international component. We are committed to internationalize our campuses, and, steps are initiated in this direction. We have several exchange of research between our institutes and other countries in R&D collaborations, in exchange of information and in product innovations. All IISERs have signed an MoU with the Max Planck Society of Germany. Five Directors of IISERs undertook a journey to Japan to interact with seven Imperial Universities and we hope that before too long, an MOU will be in place. We have taken steps to appoint foreign faculty. There are some difficulties which are being faced. We have mentioned some of these difficulties earlier and I would mention this here. We have our doors open for foreign faculty and students. International scientists are invited under various

227 schemes. Foreign post-doctoral fellows also do come. We have JC Bose Chair Professorships for inviting eminent scientists from countries outside India. Thanks to MHRD, we have the Global Initiative for Academic Network (GIAN). We hope to have several eminent scientists visit Indian institutions, particularly, our six institutes.

I am happy to mention here that IISC, Bangalore, has Industry-funded international chairs at IISc where the overall emphasis is to internationalize in a big way, and, we have started programmes. We mentioned last time that we would like to reach out to the neighborhood and we are getting these programmes initiated, and, hopefully, we will get adequate support from MHRD.

Coming to the issue of additional funds to build further physical and scientific infrastructure, it was mentioned in our last meeting with the Hon’ble President, and, we would like to mention that in today’s world, that is indeed needed.

The essential requirement to become a world-class University is sustainable funding for excellence and access. We are approaching various funding agencies and the number of external projects is increasing every year.

Last time in our meeting with the Hon’ble Madam Minister, periodical review was emphasised. We are happy to mention that all the IISERs have undertaken peer review of the departments, and this has helped us in overall assessment and improving the functioning of all departments.

I had already mentioned about internationalisation. We have to bring in faculty and students. That is the only way to go. Right now limited funds are available. Any amount of support would be helpful, particularly to encourage our students and faculty to participate in international conferences to present the work done at IISERs and IISc.

Modern buildings, excellent equipment, state-of-the-art laboratories and libraries are a must if we have to be a part of the global competition. We are making all-out efforts with the support of MHRD and other funding agencies for creating world-class facilities and we are constantly trying to update and improve.

There are certain difficulties in implementation. Of course, any amount of funding is not enough. We have to work with what we have. We would like to have some more. It was mentioned earlier in a meeting with the Hon’ble President that due to a peculiar salary structure we are not able to invite foreign faculty to IISERs. While this was relaxed for IITs, and IISc, IISERs got left out. It is realised that being new institutions, the new kids in the block, IISERs do get left out in certain schemes. Hopefully, as we grow older, this would not happen.

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In the last slide regarding suggestions, I would like to mention on behalf of all the Institutes that right now, we have limitation of approved area of construction and funds for increasing infrastructure. So, we would like to get additional permission for building additional area and also adequate funds for increasing the infrastructure, and we would like to have a little bit more money for our students and faculty to participate in international meetings.

With this, I would like to thank the Hon’ble President for giving us this opportunity.

PRESENTATION MADE BY PROF. N. SATHYAMURTHY DIRECTOR, INDIAN INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE EDUCATION & RESEARCH MOHALI

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SHRIMATI OMITA PAUL: Thank you, Prof. Sathyamurthy. With that, we come to the end of presentations. Mr. President, Sir.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, all the participants, and thank you for your six presentations summarizing the action taken on the recommendations of the previous Conference of Central Universities, NITs and IITs held at Rashtrapati Bhavan. I am happy to know that many of you have made progress in the recommended areas of work. I hope you will continue to implement recommendations of the previous Conference, each were long-term in nature. Similarly, the deliberations of this year’s Conference will provide an action plan for your current year’s work. I am looking forward to see the recommendations flowing from the Group Works; I am awaiting that. Thank you. Good evening.

SHRI SURESH YADAV: We will begin the presentation by international organisations in exactly five minutes’ time.

(The Conference then adjourned for five minutes)

*****

PRESENTATION BY INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS

TIMES HIGHER EDUCATION & QUACQUARELLI SYMONDS

05 November, 2015, 1740 – 1830 hrs (Ceremonial Hall, Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Centre)

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A. GUEST SPEAKERS FROM TIMES HIGHER EDUCATION

1. Mr. Trevor Stanley Barratt, Managing Director, Times Higher Education 2. Mr. Philip Baty, Editor, Times Higher Education, World University Rankings

B. GUEST SPEAKERS FROM QUACQUARELLI SYMONDS

1. Mr. Nunzio Quacquarelli, Founder and CEO, Quacquarelli Symonds 2. Ms. Mandy Mok, CEO, Quacquarelli Symonds Asia

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SHRI SURESH YADAV: Good evening, Ladies and Gentlemen. Welcome to this session which is devoted to the presentation by Times Higher Education and QS. I extend a very warm welcome to the Times Higher Education team and QS team. It is our pleasure to have with us today Mr. Trevor Stanley Barratt, Managing Director, Times Higher Education; Mr. Philip Baty, Editor, THE World University Rankings; Mr. Nunzio Quacquarelli, Founder and CEO, QS and Ms. Mandy Mok, CEO, QS Asia.

As you all know, the ranking process in India in the last three years have taken a very centre stage and the recent QS ranking captures two of the Indian institutions under 200. Keeping in view the emphasis by the Hon’ble President, and also overall emphasis on the ranking process, we have planned this session for all of you. The structure of the presentation is going to be like this that each organisation will make a short, fifteen minutes presentation. Then, we will open the floor for discussion for fifteen minutes. After that, you will go and join a cultural programme followed by dinner hosted by Hon’ble HRM.

With this, I hand over the mike to the team Times Higher Education for the presentation.

MR. TREVOR STANLEY BARRATT: Eminent Directors and Vice- Chancellors, thank you very much for the opportunity to address you all this afternoon. My name is Trevor Barratt. I am the Managing Director of TES Global’s HE Division. TES Global is a business which is focussed on teachers and academics worldwide. We are very well-known for 7 million teacher network across the world, which offers teachers from all parts of the globe resources whether they use in a day-to-day environment, teaching children within our schools, both primary and secondary schools, across the world. Our higher education business goes back forty-four years. It was until very recently a print business, which has now transformed itself into a global data business. It has at its heart now data capture and over the next fifteen minutes or so, we hope to show you what we can offer on your institutions in India.

I think, first of all, there are three main reasons that we produce our rankings. Firstly, we have seen over 12 million students to come to our website every year and they are ostensibly looking to go abroad for education. Not all of them go abroad for education but a large number do -- both undergraduates and post-graduates. What we have seen over the last few years is that there has been a significant increase in the numbers of those students wanting to go abroad. It is something in the region of about four million students who go abroad for education and for the university of choice. Those students are incredibly profitable, something to the tune of about 30,000 US dollars per student.

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The second reason we produce rankings is really to help institutions develop a strategy and improve their performance whether on a low cost scale, in other words, locally, or whether on institutional basis where similar institutions can compare themselves with other institutions across the world. We believe that is a very, very important component of our offer.

Thirdly, to help Governments and policy makers understand higher education landscape. Here I am thinking about third party investment. Rankings, we believe, give large commercial organisations and indeed Governments the opportunity to review and decide on which universities they wish to work with.

We believe we have extremely strong foundations and our ranking is made up of three main components with a number of algorithms which will then choose from 1-800 where each individual university is ranked. All of that data collection, with the exception of the first part, which is the bibliometric data, is collected by our own team which is based in London. So we have an academic reputation. We have an institutional data collection so we are collecting institutional data something in the region of about 1,000 research- led universities across the world and we end up ranking 800 of them. Then we also have the bibliometric data which we capture from Scopus database.

I am now going to hand over to my colleague Philip Baty who will go into our ranking business in a lot more detail.

MR. PHILIP BATY: Thank you, Trevor. I would just like to reiterate my thanks for having us here. It is a huge honour for me to be able to present to such an eminent group of university leaders. The Reputation Survey is the world’s largest single survey that is invitation-only of academics, peer on peer opinion across the world. We use the data of the United Nations to distribute our survey proportionately around the world and we only survey eminent published scholars across the world. We put a lot of effort into ensuring a balanced, fair and representative Reputation Survey. Our data collection portal is, I think, becoming one of the richest and most sophisticated database of university performance in the world. We have 1,200 universities in our database and all of these institutions voluntarily provide us with the detailed information about their size, their structure, their student numbers, their faculty members, their income, their research income and their income from industry. We are going to develop extremely rich and comprehensive picture of global higher education. I would like to utilise this opportunity to invite more of you to take part in this process. Currently, 31 Indian universities have fully submitted data to us and they are able to be analysed for the rankings. But we think there are many universities, especially in this room full of such eminent institutions, who could participate in this process. And we can share data and analysis, and give performance benchmarking to a large range of institutions.

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The final aspect of the ranking is the bibliometric analysis. We examine 50 million research citations to 11 million research publications indexed bioscopes, we have representative samples across the disciplines and we are able to penetrate many more English language journals which give us a very good picture of the emerging economies as well as the established economies. So, these few aspects come together to create what is clearly the most comprehensive and the most sophisticated methodology of all the global rankings. We have 13 separate performance indicators covering the entire range of universities’ activities. We are the only ranking to have a dedicated section with five indicators for the teaching environment. We are looking at reputation research and income research impacts. We are looking at international outlook and we also examine industry incomes in the rankings. We also look at a university’s relationship and its ability to leverage funding from the private sector. So, that comes together under five broad categories. We release the results on the 1st of October. The data is all in the public domain. I won’t dwell on the results for this year, but I would like to reflect on India’s performance. India doesn’t make the top ten of the list of Asia. This is dominated by Eastern Asia with Singapore, China, Japan, Hong Kong and Korea making the top echelons of the rankings from Asia. But, in our ranking of 800 universities, India is putting on a strong performance. We have 17 Indian universities making the world’s top 800 list. That is similar to Brazil, that is a lot more than South Africa and many more than Russia. But, I think, the challenge for India is around funding. China has 37 universities in the top 800. I think we can see the effects in China of a concerted drive at the national level for excellence in higher education which has seen Chinese universities surging ahead. I understand there is a 23 per cent year-to-year increase in Chinese investment in research, which has been in place for the last decade and they are looking to spend 2.5 per cent of their Gross Domestic Product on research to put universities at the heart of the economic growth strategy of China. I think it represents a lesson of what can be achieved in a relatively short space of time with funding and political reforms.

Briefly looking at India’s performance, we have 17 institutions. The highest ranked in the THE Rankings, which puts in place a different methodology to arrive at the rankings, is the Indian Institute of Science in the 251-300 band. But, again, we can use our website to reflect on more detail and data to encourage you to use it. You can filter for India. You can break down the scores. But I will draw a few conclusions about India. This is the top ranked university in the BRICS countries and I think, the Indian Institute of Science is on the bottom left of the screen there. You can see clearly the international outlook is one of the weaknesses of Indian higher education. There are all sorts of reasons in terms of bureaucracy and regulations. But I think that international partnership is one of the secrets to world-class

244 universities building talent. I was talking to Alice Gast, the President of Imperial College of London, recently. She talked about hybrid vigour and the need to bring in different cultures, people with different educational backgrounds from different countries together to create more effective research teams. Of course, universities, which can grow on global talent rather than lose global talent, are in a very strong position. This is an analysis of the average scores, the medium scores across all universities in the rankings from our THE data team. You can see there the challenge for international people and us, and there is a challenge for India also with regard to research reputation, research productivity and research funding.

But, there is some very, very good news. I am absolutely delighted to confirm today exclusively that next week, on the 11th of November, we will be publishing our world engineering and technology ranking and for the first time, in the history of THE Rankings, an Indian University will make the world’s top 100 list for engineering and technology. So, there is a clear sense that Indian universities are able to compete at the highest level globally and if there is political enthusiasm behind data sharing, behind collecting and analysing data, and then embracing rankings, then I think we can see clear paths to progress and clear paths to success.

I just want to very briefly conclude with an analysis of the average top 200 Universities. This demonstrates that world-class Universities are incredibly rich. They have almost 1 million dollar per member of the faculty. So, we need funding to be really successful. But it also shows that a world- class university is very international in its outlook. I would reiterate the power of sharing and the power of coming together to share good practices to work more globally, to collaborate globally, and research is one of the secrets. It is not all about money. It is about the structure and the shape of this sector. And in the spate of networking and in the spate of using ranking to ensure that we share the best practices, we come together, we look at transparent data, we benchmark one another and we understand what other countries are doing. We have the BRICS Summit here in Delhi in just over a month’s time. We want to create face-to-face meetings. We want to bring people together from all across the world to share good practices. So, I hope to see many of you there, and in the spate of continued dialogue, please get in touch with us. We want your feedback. We are very open to constructive criticisms, to develop a new matrix, to using your data in different ways. So, let us continue this dialogue and we will be back in India, very often, over the next few years to help and contribute to these discussions. Thank you very much indeed.

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PRESENTATION MADE BY MR. PHILIP BATY EDITOR, WORLD UNIVERSITY RANKINGS, TIMES HIGHER EDUCATION

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SHRI SURESH YADAV: Thank you, Mr. Philip Baty, for your presentation and also for taking less than fifteen minutes. Now, I hand over the floor to the team QS. Mr. Nunzio Quacquarelli and Ms. Mandy Mok, kindly take the floor and make the presentation.

MR. NUNZIO QUACQUARELLI: I would like to thank the Hon’ble President, Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, for the invitation to speak today.

Vice-Chancellors and Presidents of Universities and Indian Institutes, Ladies and Gentlemen, it is a great honour for us to be here today. I have been asked to speak on the topic of India’s challenges within global higher education and the implications of rankings in Indian Universities. So, I am not going to dwell on QS’s products and services, but I am going to focus on those issues. I do speak to many exalted audiences in China and Japan and I had to address a function in French once. I had also been invited to speak to my alma mater, the alumni of the Cambridge University. But, now, I am addressing this large gathering of University leaders. Congratulations to the President and the Organising Committee for bringing us together. I think it shows the demonstration of the commitment of India to change in the higher education sector which, in itself, is a tremendous statement.

Let me just tell you a little bit about the QS. Myself, am a Cambridge grad and Wharton MBA, and formed the company in 1990. Our mission, from

256 day one, has been the same, to enable motivated people around the world to fill their potential through international mobility, educational achievement and grade development. So, from 1990, we have been a social enterprise. Before, it was fashionable to be a social enterprise. And we take the point of view of these international mobile students. So, everything we do is deemed to serve their best interests, which is why we produce rankings. We understand we have many stakeholders; yourselves, University leaders, Governments, Academics and media. But our core purpose is to serve the internationally mobile students. In fact, we offer scholarships for students as a part of our Education Trust. Over 130 disadvantaged and merit based young people have received scholarships from QS in the last twelve years as a part of our commitment to the community. So, I was asked about challenges facing global higher education. You know far more than I do on this topic. But I was interested to listen to the incredibly passionate speeches from your Nobel Laureate, Shri Kailash Satyarthi, yesterday talking about the need to provide access to disadvantaged Indian children. We do recognise the need to provide access to disadvantaged Indian children. We do recognise the shortage of supply that you have in India. It is compounded with the fact that 50 per cent of your population is in the age group of 18 and 25 and only 18 per cent of that age range have access to higher education today. It is a tremendous challenge. It is being faced by many other developed or developing economies which have imbalance in their age profile. And Dr. Rao also made a point, which is my second challenge, which is that you have a perceived issue in the quality of your institutions and study in India in general. This may or may not be correct but there is a perceived issue in quality. That is one reason why 1,90,000 Indians a year are going to study overseas, and over 1,00,000 going to the U.S.

At the same time, given your current strengths, there has to be a great opportunity for you to retain more of your students who are meeting these pressures to increase supply. Mr. Trevor has already talked about the increase in international student numbers, doubling in the last decade; and, probably, going to double again in the next decade. That is actually an opportunity for Indian institutions. International mobility enables students to learn their languages, develop in skills, and potentially bring them back to their home country. But it also provides an opportunity for India to tract international students to your institutions in significant numbers, if you so choose. Why? Well, you are actually becoming an attractive study destination. QS conducts many global surveys. One of them is a 30,000 strong African Study of people looking to go to under-graduate, post-graduate and MBA studies. And, since 2010, you have been in the top 20 attractive study destinations. Despite the fact that you do not have a significant attraction of in-bound students, I see it as an attractive destination. As regards your position, as you know, you are making steady progress. That also suggests that some of the reforms being

257 undertaken by your Government in recent years are beginning to have an impact in your overall perception overseas.

Also international recognition, qualifications, scholarships and where people would like to work are three of the most important factors in selecting an institution to study overseas. Now, recognition and qualifications is same, if you work on in terms of brand reputation. You already are virtually low-cost compared to western institutions, and your growing economy means that for many international students you offer great employment prospects. That is the huge opportunity for Indian institutions, if you seek to take it.

Finally, on African Research, people look at different criteria for selecting their institution of choice. It is post-graduate, they look at websites, meetings, search engines. But, for undergraduates, rankings are very important. That is why QS, over a decade ago, chose to produce QS World University Rankings. The world of ‘rankings’, well, I would like to quote the Philosopher Umberto Eco, who says the list is the origin of culture, how you are going to attempt to grasp the incomprehensible through lists. Lists help young people to untangle the massive information to make the right choices for them. When we set out to produce the rankings in the early 2000 identified four missions that define world-class universities. Excellence in research, excellence in teaching, producing highly employable graduates and becoming internationalized. Now, not all of you may feel those formations are relevant for you. Internationalisation is probably the most challenging concept. I think, the other three are, probably, undeniable. But, if you want to be world-class, then, it is generally accepted within the global higher education arena, the committed internationalisation is required, as Mr. Trevor had mentioned earlier. That is the decision you have to make at some point.

Our methodology, I don’t want to dwell on methodology, most of you would be familiar with it. But, just I say, we produced an academic reputation survey. Over 70,000 academics around the world took part in our latest exercise. We also have an Employable Reputation Survey. Over 45,000 employers took part in our latest exercise. This is the largest employers’ survey that any organisation does in the world today. Now, we use objective data, diplomatic citations for faculty, and international faculty-student ratios. What were the results? Well, over 100 million people have viewed our rankings on our own empowered websites in the last 12 months. We are the most popular university ranking website in the world today. Over 40 millions have come directly to our own website – topuniversity.com. We review over 3.5 thousand universities each year; 890, currently, are in our global ranking. We do have criteria to allow new institutions to enter the rankings each year. We are actually looking to identify 220 institutions to enter the global rankings each year. About rankings, we do not make any over claims about them, but we do feel that they have become trusted in international arena. They have

258 been used in many NGO reports. The UNESCO has used them frequently. Many Governments use them in their own policy making, including Rome and London.

We engage with many employers who endorse our activities, that is, the McKinsey and Company accepting our BRICS ranking, which, as you know, covers India extensively. Many academic institutions have chosen to use our rankings within their own studies, the Sea Turtle Index is one example. We also believe in transparency. So, we have gone through and audited ourselves to make sure that all our processes, all our data are completely transparent and have been approved by an independent body. So, we subject ourselves to the same transparency requirements as we expect of you. The results, I won’t dwell on this again, many of you would be familiar. It is true that top 20 institutions are led by the US and the UK institutions. But in the recent years, we have seen a number of Swiss and Singaporean institutions really making significant progress which indicates that the institutions which are committed to performance improvement can, actually achieve progress in their rankings in a finite period of time. That is often encouraging. So, what is the relevance and implications for Indian institutions? Can they feature within the elite of university rankings? Well, I am pleased to say that you actually already are. There are, actually, five IITs, IISEs which are within the top 100 QS engineering and technology rankings. That is an incredible achievement. IISE Bangalore is the 80th most cited institution in the world today. That is truly outstanding. As for the rest, well, there is a bit of gap and this is something, which we believe is being addressed. Whether it is due to lack of investment, well-known IITs are appearing within top 400 at present. The University of Delhi is the best performing university. There is a shortage of faculty and teachers. Your faculty student ratio is 20 :1 compared to global average of 8 : 1, which is an issue that needs to be addressed. You do need to produce more PhDs, you need to bring them into your realm, faculty and departments. You have limited internationalisation whether it is student numbers, faculty numbers, student exchange numbers. All of those aspects, which are the aspects of the world-class institutions, you are in an early stage of your journey. And as I mentioned earlier, there is a relatively unproven, undeveloped image for study in India in individual universities. Well, there is a good news as well. So, when we look at top 10 universities by country, over the last five years, India is the second most improving country in the world following China. Eleven places on an average you have improved in QS ranking in the last five years. Again, it is because of some of the progressive reforms that are happening in the Internet by your Government and by your own efforts. That is truly incredible. Again, as my colleague said, China is truly aggressive in its investment, in its activities. So, India is on a good path and that is a positive message to take away. In terms of all over results in world rankings, within our top 300, there are 6 Indian institutions featured. They

259 were in the Shanghai academic ranking and there are 2 , I believe, in Taichi, that may be last year’s. Within over-all ranking in top 800, there are 14 Indian institutions within the top 800 and many are under review to enter. Looking at some of the indicators that influence the results, we talked about reputation. I am very pleased to say that it is a little bit difficult to read, but in terms of employer reputation, your IITs, in particular, are really strong. They are outperforming many, the majority of the top universities that we evaluate, in our rankings. You have a really strong profile. You are slightly weak in terms of academic reputation. And, I would recommend that you to look at and address. In terms of international indicators, you are weak. I don’t need to dwell on that. In terms of BRICS and in ASEAN university rankings, you are featuring very strong in those. IISE Bangalore is in the top 10 in our BRICS ranking and every year, we have seen significant progress amongst Indian universities and lots of encouraging messages. Within our subject rankings, we have already mentioned, in stem subjects like engineering, natural sciences you are doing very, very well. With life sciences, surprisingly, you are not quite as well as I would have expected and with humanity and social sciences again there is a room for improvement. Although some of your universities are, actually, featuring very high upon these lists, which is encouraging and provide a lot of encouragement.

So, in summary, essentially, all models are wrong, but some are useful. QS doesn’t claim that its ranking is definitive. We don’t claim that it is perfect. But we do believe and the feedback we receive around the world is useful in enabling university leaders to plan and to identify how it is going to perform improvements that can lead to real value enhancement for your students, for your employers and your other stakeholders. So, what are the imperatives to improve Indian performance? Your Government has a plan to increase spending. It is good idea. We talked about increasing supply. There are lots of technologies for new curricula that can lower the cost of access that can enable you to provide scale to your student population. There are new private universities that are coming on top. You have to invest in quality though. You have to enforce your world class institutions and their research. I suggest you need to diversify that quality focus beyond stem to include social sciences, life sciences, arts and humanities, etc. You need to build your reputation. Accreditation, ratings, rankings, all play a part and need to drive internationalisation, faculty students, student exchange and research collaboration, as mentioned.

There is a slide that shows our research institution produces consulting in best practices analysis for internationalization of world-class universities. I am not going to go through that now. I don’t have time. But if people are interested, we are happy to provide you more information on those best practice case studies.

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So, finally, I would like to thank you for your attention. If you want to find out more, we have a conference in Melbourne from 25th to 27th of November, the QS Asia-Pacific Professional Leaders in Education Conference. We have the Minister of International Education of Australia providing a preliminary speech there. We also have the Reimagine Education Conference at the University of Pennsylvania in December which focuses on innovation in learning in pedagogy, how you can improve your teaching, how you can look at cost effective teaching solutions. Over 500 universities are engaged with that Conference. We have Google and Apple participating in it. Again, if you are interested, you are welcome to attend it. So, I would like to thank you for your attention. Thank you.

PRESENTATION MADE BY MR. NUNZIO QUACQUARELLI FOUNDER AND CEO, QUACQUARELLI SYMONDS

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SHRI SURESH YADAV: Thank you Mr. Quacquarelli. There are two things to learn from the two presentations that how we can achieve more from less. Both of them have taken less than 15 minutes’ time and they have delivered whatever they wanted to deliver. So, that is the first lesson, probably, we should all take as an Indian to improve whatever we want to do with ranking in higher education or any place. Now, the floor is open for discussion. We have 15 minutes’ time and if any one of you wants to make observation or wants to raise questions to the two teams sitting here, you are most welcome to do so.

DR. MAHAMMED ARIZ AHAMMED: Thank you very much for making us understand the two different ways of rankings. We have seven national institutions of pharmaceutical education research. They are dedicated for pharmaceutical sciences exclusively. They are not comprehensive universities like most of the US universities. What is your methodology and what is your offer to contextualize to Indian context? I request both of them to reply. It is very highly specialized. Most of these courses don’t fit into your regular ranking areas.

MR. NUNZIO QUACQUARELLI: Do you teach under-graduate and post- graduate?

DR. MAHAMMED ARIZ AHAMMED: We offer only post-graduate and PhD research, no under-graduation.

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MR. NUNZIO QUACQUARELLI: QS does produce 36 subject rankings, and those include many of the life sciences, including pharmacy as a subject. But I believe that at the moment, our criteria for entering into those is that you have to teach undergraduate and post-graduate. But that is under review. So, it may be that in the next year, we will allow post-graduate only institutions to feature in subject rankings.

MR. PHILIP BATTY: You talked about the Indian context and I think one of the things that Times Higher Education has done in the last 18 months is put a huge investment in data management, data collection. One of the reasons why we are coming back here in December for a big summit is to consult with the leaders of the universities about what the India’s priorities should be.

So, we have a respected 12-year old model of a methodology for examining comprehensive world-class research universities. We would like to work with you in partnership to develop other indicators and other matrix to create more appropriate analyses, to be more sympathetic to individual university missions, whether that is widening access or social mobility or the teaching environment, and also to be more sophisticated in the analyses of subject areas. So, we have a long journey to go. The matrix, the data, is difficult. We are very, very open to investing a lot of our resources in building India parameters and India-specific rankings and matrix.

SHRI SURESH YADAV: Thank you. Prof. Chauhan, please.

PROF. V. S. CHAUHAN: I have two quick questions. One is: Do you have any qualifying cut-off? If everybody approaches you, let us say tomorrow, from India, 30,000 of us approach you, do you have a cut-off below which you would not rank or above which you would rank? That is the first question. The other is about the emphasis on internationalisation. I just want you to tell us where the emphasis on internationalisation came from. Is it that the traditional, successful Western universities traditionally had international movement? We find ourselves in a corner when it comes to international institutions, for various reasons. For all of us, who live in poor countries, or a poor set-up, this is a dice loaded against us. I just wonder where this emphasis comes from. Would you make some concessions there?

MR. NUNZIO QUACQUARELLI: That is a great question. In terms of the rankings, we do have a number ranking culture. First of all, you have to be a degree granting institution in your own right. You can’t offer degrees on behalf of another institution. Secondly, you have to offer Under Graduate and Post Graduate courses; we can’t be purely Post Graduate, and thirdly, you have to have a minimum number of papers published, and I think there is a small threshold in terms of citations, just to differentiate from the massive universities that are teaching universities and not research universities. Our

276 global rankings are to identify world-class institutions and, therefore, quality of research is the fundamental part and fundamental principle of those ranking systems.

Now, to answer to your second question why internationalisation, we have only 10 per cent rating allocated to the international criteria. We recognize that it is less relevant in a number of countries in terms of the university structure and the objectives of those countries. However, as probably mentioned earlier here, to be a world-class institution, we need to be internationally engaged. Part of what is driving the knowledge economy today is actually the production of collaborative research across institutions. We have data to demonstrate that international collaborative research is producing a far higher level of papers published and citations of quality papers published than domestic, single campus, or single institution-research. So, that is one reason alone, which is a very important reason to embrace internalisation. But then, from a point of view of employability, we do a global employer survey; 67 per cent of the employers we surveyed globally actually prefer students who have some international experience on their resume, whether it be an exchange, whether it be a period of work overseas, whether it be full-time study abroad, they actually prefer it. So, from that point of view, a lot of your bright kids are making the right decision to go and study abroad. The problem is you are not getting reciprocity; you are not getting bright kids from other countries coming to India, because that is what employers want. As your economy is growing at exponential rates, you are going to see that demand coming from employers. I am absolutely certain of it.

SHRI SURESH YADAV: Thank you, Mr. Nunzio. Let me switch over to the other side. Yes, Sir, please go ahead.

QUESTION: Do you have a minimum size of the institution in terms of number of students or number of faculty to be considered for ranking?

MR. NUNZIO QUACQUARELLI: I actually don’t know the answer to that. I believe, the answer is, we don’t have a minimum size, but I have not had a research case and I will check and confirm. But I think the answer is, no. In fact, all our matrix are size-independent. So, we all have numerators and denominators.

QUESTION: You talked about minimum number of papers. Isn’t it?

MR. NUNZIO QUACQUARELLI: Yes. It is a minimum number. So, it is an achievable goal for any university here, I am sure.

MR. PHILIP BATY: In terms of criteria, we don’t have a default-sized criteria based on the number of faculty or students. But we do have a minimum requirement that you publish 200 research papers a year or in a period of five

277 years giving a total of thousand papers. This is to ensure the statistical validity of the data analysis and also because we are examining research-led universities that are world class. We are more open to revising that kind of threshold when it comes to contacts, when it comes to looking at teaching- focussed universities, or universities with a different mission. But there were world ranking hazards, default-sized restriction around the productivity of research faculty. We fundamentally believe that world-class research universities are international entities and we do have a subjectively or actually a multi-cultural diverse campuses something which is extremely healthy, not only for research creativity but for students population as well. The key thing is that we are in reflective mode; we are in consultation mode; we are in responsive mode, so we are very well open to revising criteria, developing more focussed analysis for specific institutional missions.

QUESTION: For citation index, you normally use Web of Science or Scopus. A lot more emphasis is, for what I gather, on Web of Science. Why don’t you use Google Scholar? What we find is that for engineering Google Scholar seems to capture the publication and citations much better than Scopus. Web of Science is the least capturing in our opinion. Any thoughts on that?

MR. PHILIP BATY: We actually switched from Web of Science to Scopus this year and the main reason to switch to Scopus was that it is a much larger database; it has much more non-English language activity; it also has a much better coverage of social sciences -- twenty-three thousand journals of index. But we are not just looking at general publications; we are looking at conference proceedings and other publications. So, I think, Scopus is far better in terms of getting a truer and more comprehensive picture of the world. The concern with Google Scholar, I think, is that it is simply not ready yet. There are issues about accuracy; there are issues about credibility. We think it is a very exciting resource and it is something we are keeping under review. At the moment, we think that Web of Science and Scopus have a much deeper relationship with the sector and much clearer and more rigorous process to use for rankings. But I think the other aspect for us again, as we go regional and as we look at the spoke analysis for different contexts, is that we can draw on additional sources, national sources and bibliometric data and other sources. But I think, at the moment, Google Scholar is not quite matured enough yet to be used with the level of authority that we needed to be used to.

QUESTION: I want to clarify the sentiment that Professor Chauhan has already stated. He has already initiated that. Indian sub-continent is bigger than European sub-continent. A French student studying in Germany is considered as international student. But a Keralite studying in Punjab is not considered as international student in India. So, when we talk about the international ranking, this is something which we need to consider. The same thing is with faculty members. A Keralite faculty member teaching in Jalandhar

278 is definitely at much more foreign situation. The similar thing doesn’t exist in China because China does have a little bit uniformity as far as the culture is concerned.

SHRI SURESH YADAV: I think, Sir, you are making an observation. So, we will take the next question.

QUESTION: This is more to satisfy my curiosity. These two rankings require a lot of work. I am sure, scores of people are involved through the year. Who funds them? Are they internally funded or some agencies fund these rankings?

MR. NUNZIO QUACQUARELLI: The answer is that for all our rankings, there is absolutely no funding from the institutions to participate. In fact, we require that you participate. We fund the rankings through our web portals. So, we have advertising amongst the institutions which recruit international students and we also alternatively provide data services if you wish to benchmark yourselves against the competitors and support your strategic planning and we may make all our product and services transparent and visible on websites and we also work with media who can provide some support for the rankings as well.

QUESTION: If we look into the international ranking system, we find that age has played a role. Along with that, there is the intellectual property, that is, basically the faculty strength. Along with that, there is the issue of funding pattern and the infrastructure creation. Where from the citations index appearing in papers come out? In the Indian context, if you look at the things, we have got age-old institutes, and in these age-old institutes, we have basically the manpower shortage, funding pattern shortage and then also infrastructure shortages. Then, how can we equate these contexts for creating a new sort of standard for quality parameters for the Indian system?

MR. PHILIP BATY: I think, it seems that for the world university rankings, we are looking at a brutal scenario of real politic. We are talking about treating all countries equally. We do apply purchasing price parity to our financial data. We do take into account the contextualities around the strength of the economies, but at the end of the day, this is the ranking of the world-class research universities that are powering the knowledge economy, that are competing on a global stage. So, relative resources, and the matters of funding are something that we don’t take into account because it is about the world’s true picture. I think, it is helpful to the Governments, it is helpful to actually demonstrate what investment is generating, where funded universities actually help in improving competitiveness and where universities truly stand against their peers in the developed world or the developing world. So, that is really an important analysis to make and an analysis in terms of geo-politics to

279 be very clear and honest about the relative standing of universities, despite the relative inequalities of funding. Having said that, I do think we have to look at value for money, look at return on investment, and I think, there is a very interesting analysis that we can do around the outcomes against the incomes. We could really start looking at the efficiency of spending, and, I think, that would be a very different picture. There is lot of talk that the US system has become very inefficient and there would be some surprises. So, we think the world ranking should remain as it is, which is a sort of brutal depiction of reality in a very important age for Governments of the world to understand the relative performance. We are open to new and different analysis, recognising different characteristics of universities and recognising different strengths. And, efficiency is, probably, the next big thing we can really start examining and, perhaps, we shall shake up the global picture and have some harsh realities for some of the richer universities.

MR. NUNZIO QUACQUARELLI: I would disagree with Times Higher Education here. The QS doesn’t use financial matrix in our ranking systems. Two principles are behind our decision. One is purchasing power parity. So, we have now found the PPP system, which we feel is fit for the purpose. The second is exactly the point that you are making, which is inequality. We don’t want to measure which is the richest institution in the world. Otherwise, Harvard would always win. What we do measure is which is the most dynamic institution in the world, which is the most improving institution in the world and we feel that financial matrix should not be a basis for that.

SHRI SURESH YADAV: Before taking up the last question from Prof. Bhattacharya, I would like to ask the second-last question myself to both of you sitting on my left and right. If you see, most of the institutions from India are producing the output which is being used by the multinationals. We have a lot of alumni from IITs and IIMs heading the big multinational corporate, leading to a lot of innovation entrepreneurship.

So, the first question is: how the innovation generated by the products of these institutions is captured in the ranking process in both the Times Higher Education and QS ranking. That is one part where the people are employed in the big multinationals. The second part is that there are a number of outputs from the Indian Universities, the IITs or the NITs, who are generating a lot of business activity through entrepreneurship. They are raising business forms of billion dollars, two billion dollars in 12 to 15 months’ time. So, how are you capturing the success stories of these alumni of the institutions, particularly, let us say, from India or some other developing countries.

MR. NUNZIO QUACQUARELLI: Well, I think, it is a great question and as a graduate major in entrepreneurship and finance, I am very passionate about entrepreneurship in the higher education sector. The answer is that our finding

280 compatible measures of innovation entrepreneurship which allow comparison across borders is actually beyond us at this stage. What I would say is that an employer reputation as a surrogate measure is quite a good surrogate measure. And that is one of the reasons why the IITs are performing particularly well, and, definitely, outperforming in our global employee survey. Employers around the world are recognizing the fact that you are producing great alumni and they are contributing towards their own businesses or other people’s businesses, and, that has been a fact. I think, a surrogate indicator is absolutely far from perfect but it is surrogate indicator. And, it is recognizing the entrepreneur alumni who are going out. We are currently looking out at a model for MBA analysis across the business schools which will look at alumni success. It is not known if we could replicate it at university level as far as the scale of the project and the availability of that information is concerned. Most of the universities in the world still do not have very complete alumni databases. Most universities actually do not know who the successful entrepreneurs are.

MR. PHILIP BATY: Yes, I think, I echo Nunzio in the sense that great quality, consistent and comparable graduate outcome data does not exist yet on a global scale. I think, we are very happy to try and improve good practice and ensure consistency in reporting of this data but at the moment, it is very patchy. We are putting our focus and investment in tracking graduate outcomes and monitoring graduate outcomes, but, at the moment, in terms of introducing it into world rankings, it is a much more challenging idea.

I had a fantastic conversation with you about the idea of tracking graduates, and, I think, that is something that I will immediately raise it further and ask them for a very large investment to see if we can do it better. We certainly want to engage in that process and we are interested in that. It may be that we will do it at national level first and then we will start reporting it in the profiles of universities recognizing universities’ strength in those areas.

In terms of innovation, we have started to pilot some data. We have created some innovation matrix where we will look at university’s contribution with regard to economic impact. So, we are looking at citation analysis of patents, we are looking at licences, we are looking at licensing income, we are looking at the ability of university’s to leverage funding from the private sector. So, this year, we published a series of individualized rankings on single data as part of consultation to capture university’s economic impact much more effectively. So, we are very, very advanced in the stages of developing that.

MR. NUNZIO QUACQUARELLI: Just an addition of a point. In fact, QS also has a rating system. It is called a QS Star Rating system. And, within the context of rating system, we get to know about the university. One point there is knowledge transfer and innovation. So, we have got matrix, and, we have

281 collected data on approximately 400 universities in the field of innovation and knowledge transfer. It requires an audit which the university actually participates in.

It is not that we can independently collect for a ranking, and I don’t think it would ever be feasible as a ranking, but in the context of a collaborated effort with the institutions, it is possible.

SHRI SURESH YADAV: Thank you very much. The last question, Dr. Bhattacharyya, is for you.

DR. SWAPAN BHATTACHARYA: I have two quick ones. One thing is: Do you consider quality of teaching also as a parameter? Number two, funding is an input parameter, publication is an output parameter. Do you consider output standalone or your function of input?

MR. PHILIP BATY: In terms of the quality of teaching issue, I think, there was a big challenge again with the availability of data. Teaching is often measured by inputs like selectivity of a university. The IITs would be an outstanding performer there. But actually we can’t make those global comparisons because we have very open systems with open access to our high school graduates, in the Netherlands, for example. We can’t look at curriculum because there is such a variety of high difference reported in the GPA in the US. There is classification in the UK and there is a lot of autonomy over the awards. The Times Higher Education is unique among the rankings in attempting to examine what we call the teaching environment. We don’t call it teaching quality, we call it teaching environment. We have a faculty-student ratio. We think that is a very crude matrix. So, we give it a low rating. But we do look at income. We think a University that has a 1,00,000 dollars per student will be offering a different kind of environment from the University that has 10,000 dollars per student, for example. It goes to the question of efficiency, how it uses its resources. We could look at that. We take into account the ability of the university and we recognise a research-rich environment, an environment where teaching has taken place alongside new knowledge creation and invention. So, we look at the ratio between PhDs and undergraduates and completion wise looking at the supervision of the PhDs. So, I think, the only ranking that has a large section of this ranking dedicated to the teaching environment is something that we are very proud of but it is something we recognise that requires more hard thinking and a real drive to improve the quality of data that exists globally that we can collect and meaningfully compare.

SHRI SURESH YADAV: Thank you very much. I think we had a very good and interactive session with both the Time Star Education and Q.S. Ranking. My own understanding about the ranking is that if we can compensate about

282 the lack of internationalisation of the campuses with the internationalisation of the alumni which we have in various countries, probably we can offset a little bit and we may emerge slightly bigger. I hope that whatever domestic framework Prof. Chauhan is looking into will take into account the innovation matrix, entrepreneurship matrix and maybe his framework may emerge as a competitor to the Times Higher Education and the Q.S. in the whole ranking process.

I have the pleasure of having Secretary, Higher Education, Mr. Vinay Sheel Oberoi. I will request him for his remarks and the final comments before we go to the next session.

SHRI VINAY SHEEL OBEROI: Thank you, Suresh. One of the hazards of being Secretary of the Department is that you get called upon to sum up discussions, especially discussions like this which are easy to begin and difficult to conclude and even more difficult to sum up. As Indians, we are hugely aspirational. We are extremely competitive and educationally hungry. It is really a fertile field for ranking, and over the past months, my colleagues and the many people have worked on our own national institutional ranking framework. It is really a roll call of honour, I mean, Prof. Surendra Prasad is here, Dr. Anil Sahasrabudhe, Bhaskar is here. So, they have worked hard and it is there. But to me, when I look at this, one of the very important things is that it requires data, and data has been notoriously weak in India. It has been aggregative. There has been very little measurement. There has been very little understanding of the depth and diversity of our educational system and data, in some ways, still doesn’t capture that.

Rankings are the end-product of a long process. The process itself tells you a lot about the education, the educational system, the infrastructure, the teaching outcomes and alumina and so on. So, to me, and, I think, possibly, to my colleagues in the Ministry, there has been a great interest in ranking and not just necessarily because it is competitive and we want to be two ranks above the next college or university. We are Indians. We are also a numerate society and over the last twenty or thirty years, we have become increasingly so. My grandmother, who, probably, did not know hockey stick from a cricket bat, even paired up the TV and said the run rate is 4.3. So, we have moved down that path and, I think, the Hon’ble President said it today, our Minister has said it and the Prime Minister has emphasised it. Rankings are not just a measure but the process is important as well, international rankings, our own rankings, and that is the direction we would like the educational system to move towards partly because it will force all of us to get the data right, to get data on diverse parameters and indicators. The competitiveness is useful. It is not necessarily always on what we should strain towards. So, I look forward to this year, in particular; as our own ranking framework emerges and is tested, is tried out, and on the first Monday in April, you will have ranks across the

283 silos that have been established; most of them are already out. A few, I believe, will still come and yes, across the international frameworks for rankings also. So, it has been an instructive discussion. What has made me even more optimistic is that at least in the past months in the media, in the public domain, in debate and discourse, rankings are being discussed. They are not the only thing about education that should be discussed but I am glad there is one more element of education that is now on the public stage. So, thank you. And thank you, Suresh. I think this discussion was needed. I think, this is one more element of the Visitor’s Conference that all of us will take something away from. Thank you very much.

SHRI SURESH YADAV: Sir, as a Secretary, you have to perform one more responsibility of handing over mementos to our guests. I would request you to kindly hand over mementos to Mr. Trevor, Mr. Philip Baty, Mr. Nunzio and Ms. Mandy Mok.

So, Ladies and Gentlemen, with this, we come to the end of this session. Now, all of you can move to the auditorium where we have a cultural programme. It is just the place where we had an event yesterday evening. After that, all of you can come to this West Hall where Hon’ble HRM will host dinner in the honour of the Vice-Chancellors and Directors. Thank you very much for your kind cooperation and support. Thank you.

(The Conference then adjourned for the day)

******

PANEL DISCUSSION ON – AGENDA ITEMS ALLOTTED TO PANEL 2 06 November, 2015, 0930 – 1100 hrs (Ceremonial Hall, Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Centre) 284

06 NOVEMBER, 2015

PANEL DISCUSSION - 2

Timing : 0930 hrs to 1100 hrs (Ceremonial Hall, Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Centre)

Agenda Items  Capacity development of faculty to provide quality education through:

(v) Teachers’ Education Programmes; (vi) Alumni participation and resource mobilization; (vii) Workforce sustainability; and (viii) Improving technology-enabled training

 Promotion of gender equity and cultural inclusion through higher education



Date & Timings for Observation by Chair/Co-Chair of the Panel

06 November, 2015 1615 hrs to 1625 hrs

285 PANEL - 2

Panelists

1. CEO, NITI Aayog Ms. Sindhushree Khullar (Chair)

2. Chairman, BoG, IIT-Hyderabad and Shri B.V.R. Mohan Reddy Chairman, NASSCOM & Executive (Co-Chair) Chairman, Cyient

3. Chairman, All India Council for Prof. Anil D. Sahasrabudhe Technical Education

4. Director, Advanced Systems Dr. Tessy Thomas Laboratory, DRDO, Hyderabad

5. Chairman and Co-Founder, NIIT Group Shri Rajendra S. Pawar and Founder, NIIT University

6. Managing Director and CEO, ICICI Ms. Chanda Kochhar Bank Limited

7. Chairperson, BoG, NIT-Tiruchirappalli Ms. Kumud Srinivasan and President, Intel India

8. Vice Chancellor / Provost, Ahmedabad Dr. Shailendra Raj Mehta University



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SHRI SURESH YADAV: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and a warm welcome to all of you to Panel Discussion 2 of the Visitor’s Conference 2015. It is my privilege to welcome you all to this Panel Discussion. Also, a very warm welcome to the Chair and the Co-Chair of this Session. I also extend a very warm and special welcome to the distinguished Panelists. As you might have noticed, the Panelists in the Panel Discussion 2 are from the public sector, the private sector and the Government. These are the best Panelists we could have thought on the agenda item which is before us today. With these few words, I now hand over the floor to the Chair and the Co-Chair of this Session to take forward the discussion on the agenda.

CEO, NITI AAYOG (MS. SINDHUSHREE KHULLAR): Thank you very much. First of all, on behalf of the Panelists, I welcome all of you to this discussion. I am Sindhushree Khullar, Chief Executive Officer, NITI Aayog. The Co-Chair, Shri B.V.R. Mohan Reddy, will take over it now. I was asked a few months ago to be part of this Panel. I will candidly confess that I was both taken by surprise to be part of this august gathering as well as completely overwhelmed by the kind of reach that the Conference has.

The Panel today is talking about excellence and equity. As probably by now, the earlier Panelists might have talked about other aspect of the goals before the Twelfth Five Year Plan, it was expansion, equity and excellence. Now that we are in the fourth year of the Plan and moving closely towards formulating a strategy for the next 5-7 years, the concerns that have emerged are largely on account of equity and excellence or to be more precise lack thereof. On both counts, there have been major concerns as well as attempts to address some of the challenges that we face.

In the matter of excellence, the cliché in the Government system is that if only teachers would teach and doctors would treat, there would be no problems in achieving any kind of goals in both the systems. The medical system and the educational system have been handicapped both by shortages in terms of the numbers that are required for teaching as well as lack of quality and consistency which is amply displayed by the poor learning outcomes in the school system from the primary school onwards. That is not to say much has not happened.

In the last decade, access to education at all levels has increased manifold. Access to the primary school system is now close to 93-94 per cent and access to the higher education system is likely to reach the gross enrolment ratio goal that the Plan sets for itself. Having said that, what really are we looking at in terms of excellence and equity? In many ways, perhaps, both go together. The goals of the development agenda are access and quality. The conundrum really lies in whether you can provide access and quality at the same time or one comes at the cost of the other. This is an issue

287 which I will really like to place before you because the Government systems, while providing access to as wide a reach as possible, does somehow not achieve the objective of excellence in many ways and on many benchmarks. That is partly because we may not have set any benchmarks except to produce graduates in the higher education system and the pass-outs in the school system or it may be the lack of a need felt by the teaching institutions themselves to measure up or set any internal benchmarks. That is my first proposition. Can Government provide access with quality? Can only Government do that? Who will set the benchmarks? Who will measure the benchmarks that have been set for accreditation and assessment? Finally, on the equity issue, much has been said and done, and almost in every sphere that we are looking at today, inclusion is the core. The inclusion agenda governs every other goal agenda and objective for the nation. Here, I wouldn’t say that this is for this higher education system or for the Government within the higher education system. The goal of inclusiveness is not only a requirement, but also a condition precedent for building any kind of excellence in any system because if the talents in areas as well as groups of people, whether they are women or they are persons with disabilities or marginalised communities, are not part of the process, how do we ensure that the available potential of the country is being achieved? So, equity, I put to you, is not something as narrow as affirmative action or making reservations and quotas, but ensuring that access is unfettered either by age or by gender or by community or by where you live. This is the heart and soul of the inclusiveness, which, as I said, is the absolute essence, if I may put it that way, of the spirit of our nation and our nationhood. So, with this, I will request Co-Chair, Dr. Reddy, to take over and conduct the discussions further.

SHRI B.V.R. MOHAN REDDY: Thank you, Ms. Khullar. Good morning to all of you, Ladies and Gentlemen. Ms. Khullar put it very aptly that what we have for agenda today is equity and excellence or the other way round, excellence and equity. I guess equally important is the fact that I can’t say them simultaneously. So, I am saying in one sequence. But, I think, without equity, we can’t have excellence and in order to achieve excellence, we need to have equity. But, to get down to a little more detail of what we have as an agenda today, it is that in order to get excellence into educational institutions, we certainly need to have capacity development. We need to build that capacity and make sure that we have the best and the brightest graduating from our schools. If that was to happen, I think, the key question that will come back to us is: Do we have enough of teachers?

Probably, in different words, one could always ask: Are we in a position to attract the right talent, retain the talent and reward the talent? And the second part is to retrain the talent because we also have tremendous amount of need in terms of faculty development. I think the biggest challenge that we

288 have in the environment today is that there is a major disruption that is happening. Given that several of us here, in this audience, focussed on technology, the disruptive elements which are there in technology today makes us outdated every morning that we wake up. If the right type of technologies is to be fed back into the student population, there is an imperative need that we have to do and that is faculty development. Therefore, you have the first one which is in terms of capacity of teachers, how to attract them and retain them, and the second one is, how you make sure that you also retrain them in order to ensure that we have enough of capacity within the Universities. That leads into the third part of it. Given that some of us are, completely, in agreement with each other that there is a major shortfall in terms of the teaching population, there is a need in terms of augmenting capacity of teachers by new technologies. Again technology helps us in terms of making sure that we have the ability to use technology as a delivery mechanism. MOOCs could be one potential platform, and there are a number of initiatives that people are talking about. So, again, the issue is, if we want to get excellence in terms of quantity, good technology could be the enabler. And, finally, on the excellence part, there is an alumni which has also done very well from most of our Institutions. They have done brilliantly well and the alumni participation, certainly, is something which requires attention. I think there is a need for engaging them much more intensely. The question that will always come to our mind is: How is it happening in the Western world and why doesn’t it happen in our part of the world? We need to deliberate on how do we get the alumni participation (a) in terms of excellence and, more interestingly, (b) if this excellence has to come by, a continuum of the same thing is, how do we mobilise resources to ensure that we would have the ability to attract the talent much more easily? You see, there is talent shortfall, and, therefore, if alumni participation is there, we could, definitely, get into a mode and a model where we can have the alumni participate to create more of resource mobilisation for our Universities, and then, there is a good chance that we will be in a position to get more amount of high quality resources into our Universities. Therefore, the first part that we will talk about today is how do we build excellence into Universities in creating large capacities to these four sub-pieces. One could talk about attracting the right type of faculty, making sure that we do Faculty Development Programmes, engaging the alumni and using the technology to deliver this. The second part, which is a continuity of the same excellence, is building equity. Mrs. Khullar talked about how we bring about equity through inclusiveness. It is only through inclusiveness that we will be in a position to bring excellence into the organisations. Equally important, -- I would just like to add one of the points -- is, we also need to bring in more amount of cultural diversity in addition to gender diversity. Both of them are equally important. Therefore, we have a fairly long agenda for us.

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What do we do now is, I would now request my fellow Panelists, -- we have six of them for you today, and we would start with Prof. Anil D. Sahasrabudhe, the Chairman of the AICTE -- to make their comments on what we have for the discussion this morning.

PROF. ANIL D. SAHASRABUDHE: Chair and Co-panelists, Directors and Vice-Chancellors, Good Morning to all of you. In fact, the Chairman talked about equity, access and quality and whether access and quality go together. There are, certainly, challenges to address this issue but it is always possible. As far as the faculty positions are concerned, there are a large number of vacancies. The numbers range between 35 and 40 per cent vacancies. If vacancies exist in Institutes of Higher Learning, like, IITs, NITs and Central Universities, then, the case is much more difficult when it comes to the AICTE with 3,800 engineering colleges.

There has been a big challenge. As far as quality faculty is concerned, it is very, very difficult to get one. Therefore, capacity development of the faculty is a very important aspect of empowering and also bringing in excellence in educational institutions. So, what is important is, in case of primary schools or high schools, in order to become a teacher, you have to go through Teacher Training Programme of a duration of one year or two years, which is called B.Ed., M.Ed., etc. Even for sports education, you have B.P.Ed. and M.P.Ed. But when it comes to university education or engineering education or management education, once we have a higher degree, we are straightway getting into the profession of teaching. And that is why one of the most important things is, the Faculty Induction Training Programme, which used to be existing some time ago, somehow has been diluted, and I think there is a great need of this at this particular hour. Yesterday, in some of the Group Discussions from NITs and IITs, this topic did come for discussion, and I think a well-managed, at least, of two months’ Faculty Induction Programme is the necessity of today. It is all the more important in today’s times than ever, because today, students’ attention span is also said to be decreasing. Unlike in our times, when we used to sit through in our class very easily; today, that attention is drawn to Whatsapp and Facebook, if students are not made interesting in the class. That is why, whether it is Flip Classrooms, MOOCs or blended mode of learning, I think, training of teachers is very important, and that is why Induction Training of Teachers in terms of all these aspects is very, very essential.

The second aspect is, teachers, once they are recruited, are there for about three to four decades in an institution. And that is why the recruitment process is also taken care of very, very slowly, and not suddenly we want to recruit faculty members. It is because we want to see that those who get employed in an institution stay for three to four decades. We don’t want bad

290 elements to get into the system. Therefore, when we get someone, they should be well-trained. So, this is a very important aspect.

The other aspect is, when they are in the profession, their continuous development is also equally important. Therefore, Faculty Development Programmes play a very significant and important role. This particular aspect certainly is taken care of, where the pedagogical training, as and when changes take place, does not happen. Today, we talk about the outcome- based education. Accreditation is also based on outcomes, therefore, whether it is ABET or a local NBA, which is done in India, I think, there are various elements which are not taken care of by even the best of the institutions. For example, designed thinking does not exist amongst our students, whether team work is being done properly, whether there is collaborative learning, value-based education, these are issues which even ABET as well as the NBA looks at. But training in this aspect is not available for our teachers, and, therefore, we need to inculcate this in terms of the faculty.

One very important thing is, the entire higher education is meant for scholarships. How do we engage students, make them attracted towards development of scholarship is a very important issue. For this also, there is a training required. And, more importantly, when the faculty goes through a couple of experiences, there is training required for leadership development. Leadership is an important issue. Therefore, there are no programmes which are developed for faculty to be leaders of tomorrow.

As far as the changes in the technologies are concerned, and how do we keep track of that, one has to be involved in active research. Then, one can take care of that; attend international conferences and workshops, where there is a lot of dialogue. And this facilitation capacity development of faculty is very, very significant. There are a lot of restrictions on allowing faculty for attending international conferences, and they need to be liberalized so that they catch up with what is happening in the world. I think, with this, I conclude, and will come back later on this topic.

SHRI B.V.R. MOHAN REDDY: Thank you, Prof. Sahasrabudhe. I think some of those issues that you raised will certainly start getting addressed as we get into more intense interactive discussion. So, we will complete the first round of observations by our Panelists before we open the floor. Therefore, I now go to the second Panelist that we have is, Dr. Tessy Thomas, who is the Director of the Advanced Systems Laboratory, DRDO, Hyderabad. Yes, Dr. Tessy Thomas.

DIRECTOR, ADVANCED SYSTEMS LABORATORY, DRDO, HYDERABAD (DR. TESSY THOMAS): Very good morning to all of you. I would touch upon the topic of gender equity and cultural inclusion through higher education.

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Today is the world of science and technology revolutions that are happening around us. With all the knowledge bank around us, we need to have, as Chairperson said, a total inclusive attitude towards gender as well as the cultural diversity what is prevailing in our country today. I just want to quote a word from the Type III Upanishad, ‘माि ृ देवो भव:’। It mentions about how we should respect our mother. Mother is the one who brings up or nurtures the children. For a mother, the gender, whether a boy child or a girl child, is totally equal. Starting from the home, the change has to happen and it is our educational institutions which have to give total impetus to the difference what is today prevailing. According to the World Economic Forum Report of last year, I quote: “When it comes to women’s economic participation, India’s position seems to be fixed at the bottom. When we compare it with the entire world, it ranks about 124 out of 136 nations. Point number one, we need to increase the rate of participation of women in workforce or increase the job opportunities for women thereby enhancing their economic position. Once this happens, woman gets empowered.” So, today’s scenario is that woman is surrounded by many constraints like the family commitments, traditional mindsets, safety, continuing influence of the gender bias, lack of mentors and role models, lack of support from the family and the society, lack of decision- making capability and the environmental and cultural background within the society wherefrom they come. The only way to this change is by transforming the world, that is, by initiating propagating and promoting higher education to the women. Then only the social and the behavioural changes can take place. And, gender equality and cultural inclusion are going to play a major role in educating the whole nation. How can we achieve this? The whole mindset needs to change. We need to change from our fixed mindset to a grown mindset which accepts the thought process that the intelligence can be developed. Encouraging the woman and supporting and leading her desire to learn, strengthen her to withstand the challenges, perseverance and persist despite obstacles, putting efforts to a path to mastery, to learn from the criticism and to get inspired by others’ success -- these are the factors which a woman or the gender equality can bring in. All these changes have to start from the individual itself. One needs to become a change agent and cultivate the qualities of progressiveness, situational awareness, dealing with the situation, decision-making capabilities, following your own intuitions and to be self-reliant, which is possible only by higher education and educated minds. So, when we look at women, the trend is, she is responsible, dedicated, honest, committed, creative, having high level of perseverance and has a passion towards the work, but lacks the total emotional intelligence to counter the existing disparity. To strengthen one’s emotional intelligence, individual needs to be self-motivated, self-empathy, self-esteemed, committed, decision making and should possess inter-personal awareness.

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All this can be achieved by our education, higher education. Through the higher education, he not only gets the technology knowhow and the exposure to the technology awareness but it also strengthens the individual’s inner quality of leadership and execution, and thereby self-empowerment and transformation happens within the individual. So, women empowerment comes as the major point, and given the opportunity, direction and guidance, women are capable of overcoming these limitations. So, performance is a function of motivation, the ability and the environment. We need to create that environment, the motivating factors and imbibing the ability to the women folk. If today we identify the skills, enhance the knowledge through higher education and give experience and mark the personality attributes to a strong leadership potential and develop the person through extensive coaching, expert guidance and feedback on handling work conditions, then, for sure, with one’s own determined mind to take higher level roles, we can have an empowered woman. The basic factors like knowledge enhancement, build up techno-managerial capabilities, the man-management, the career-to-home front balance, balance of work and life, and, above all, the stress management from all the time pressures, uncertainties, competitions to the physical strength, mental strength and emotional strength and the experience are in place, then higher education with the support of gender equity and inclusiveness from all the cultural backgrounds -- one can see this Government initiative for this -- will lead us to a better future for this country.

To conclude, there is a need of coordination among academic institutions such as college universities and research institutions to offer training and counselling to the aspiring woman students. Definitely, the higher education and higher representation of women will make the difference. So, more and more participation of women in higher education should be encouraged to have a healthy, wealthy India.

SHRI B.V.R. MOHAN REDDY: Thank you, Dr. Thomas. Certainly, I don’t think anybody would disagree with you on women empowerment to have a healthy, happy India, for sure. We will come back to a few questions as we move forward. Then, I move on to my third speaker for us today, Mr. Rajendra S. Pawar, Chairman and co-Founder of NIIT Group and Founder of NIIT University. Mr. Rajendra, please.

CHAIRMAN AND CO-FOUNDER, NIIT GROUP AND FOUNDER, NIIT UNIVERSITY (SHRI RAJENDRA S. PAWAR): Thank you, Mohan. First of all, I do want to reiterate what has been said that it is an enormous opportunity to have all of you listen to us for a few minutes. So, it is a very rare opportunity. So, I won’t miss the opportunity to get a little poll very quickly. How many of you truly believe that technology can make a big difference to education? If you could please raise your hands, I can get a poll. And, how many of you are quite disappointed with what technology has done with education? So,

293 normally, I would get all hands up for the first and all hands up for the second. So, I am going to talk about technology in education, great possibilities and great disappointments.

All of us would have read that famous story that if we went back through a 400-years’ with a time-machine and brought in a doctor, an engineer and a teacher into today’s work place, the doctor would be nonplussed; he wouldn’t know what is happening. The engineer wouldn’t be able to deal with the things in front of him. Only the teacher will go, walk up to the board, pick up the chalk and start teaching.

That story is a telling story. It talks about the fact that while in education we are teaching our young to embrace change all the time, while we are teaching our young to embrace technology all the time, this paradox continues. We have great expectations from technology, but we have very great disappointments as well. In fact, I would go on to say that a great paradox is, the more reputed the institution the less it is embracing technology. It is a dangerous statement to make, but, at least, in my personal experience I have observed this. Now, why is that so? When you look at the teaching-learning process the teacher remains at the centre. There have been a lot of wrong notions that technology replaces teachers, and every one of you in this room would agree that this is absolutely a wrong assumption. But technology can leverage a teacher enormously. A case in point: In 2006, at IIM, Ahmedabad, which is known for its case method -- and we would probably have many people who are familiar with that -- they were attempting to use a technology where the teacher would be in the campus and they would do executive education across the country through a satellite-based distributed classroom. It took a year to convince the Director at that time, Dr. Dholakia. He told the story himself and so, I know. He said they were hesitant because everybody has tried to use technology in case method and even Harvard has given up. But, a year later, he said that some of his very committed faculty demonstrated that with the motivation that they personally had they could deal with 60 students, which is the class size, across about ten locations. Within two years, they had reached 300 students across 30 locations and those faculty members have gone on to say that they did not lose the quality of the learning. Now, if the best of our teachers were given the opportunity, not just opportunity, but, in fact, when they have the drive, they have been able to demonstrate that you can leverage limited resources like great teachers by a factor of three, four or five. Second, every teacher has to do many other things, which they themselves would want to give to a teaching assistant, like testing and evaluation, for example. Now, everyone in this room knows that testing and evaluation is something where nobody likes to be tested by someone else. But everybody loves to test themselves. Look at people playing computer games. No one else should watch and I am willing to

294 see it! Testing and evaluation has now reached levels where we can get fairly much deeper insights and understanding than we can do through any manual method.

Talking about collaboration, all of us, as school kids, remember we went to friends’ house and studied with them; in college we studied with them. So, collaboration was restricted to three or four people. Today, with social media or many other platforms, at two o’clock in the night, 50 students in a class, boys and girls in different parts of a big city, who wouldn’t like to travel and commute and whose parents wouldn’t like them to go to their friends’ house at two in the night, can have a very effective collaboration session. And, if the faculty is willing, the faculty comes on as well, not to mention the fact that you can have recorded sessions. We have a ton of material in the country today which, if woven properly with pedagogy, can be used by a learner who couldn’t catch it in class because it was too fast for him. He can go back and do this thing again and again. So, every aspect of the teaching-learning process has a potential for usage and, at least, many people here would know, that technology has the potential to increase the productivity, effectiveness and efficiency enormously. Therefore, inclusiveness can happen because of that. We can have an Eklavya without him having to give up his thumb! The question is: why is it not happening?

I want to touch on a few things, leave it here and then have questions. There is technology for the teaching-learning process. Today, with machine- learning, today, with unlimited access, today, with connectivity, I think most of the tools we need are there. The next question is technology leadership, problem number one. Problem number two is technology planning and problem number three is implementation and management. I hate to say this, but these are missing.

Which institution today is saying that I am going to increase forty per cent students by using technology? That is a leadership challenge. Which institution is saying that I will increase the efficacy of testing by a factor of 5 using technology? Which institution is saying that we will reach out to 100 other institutions that use limited faculty to upgrade the faculty? The leadership is the first thing that we have to do. We have to put very tough goal because tough goals are possible. Then we need an implementation plan of a five-year period or a three-year period or a ten-year period backed by funds and backed by people. Good news is that many, many, little, little things have been done in this country. They have to be brought together. So, the technology plan would include picking up much of what we have already done and we have done a very good work in patches and architecting it. And then it is a question of implementation and management. We heard the comment that we are not educating our academics when they are young to be good at administration. Those who have the natural skill, and there are many in this

295 room and that is why we are here, came up. But we don’t have a mechanism to systematically build administrative, management, planning skills in faculty. That is my observation being on the Boards of many institutions. So, the view is very simple – the technology exists and it is moving very fast. We just have to emplace it and management is a team thing but leadership is a personal agenda. So, my only comment is that whatever we need to do, the decision- makers are in this room.

SHRI B.V.R. MOHAN REDDY: He explained how we can empower our leadership and engage with them to make sure that they will, probably, implement more of this. Now, we move on to our next speaker this morning. This panelist is completely from a different perspective. She comes from the corporate world; she runs the largest private bank in India, that is, ICICI. So, I would like to invite Ms. Chanda Kochhar to make comments.

MANAGING DIRECTOR AND CEO, ICICI BANK LIMITED (MS. CHANDA KOCHHAR): Ms. Khullar, Dr. Reddy, fellow panelists and ladies and gentlemen, at the outset, I would like to thank the Hon’ble President, Secretariat and the organisers of this Conference for giving me this opportunity to be amongst all of you. I think the topic today is pretty fast and hugely encompassing. The Chairperson spoke about equity and excellence. And yesterday, the President spoke that we also need to have both reach and excellence, quality and affordability. And, I think, if we put all this together, what we need to do is humongous. Instead of trying to touch upon many things, I thought coming from a corporate background, I will just touch upon how do we use industry-academia partnership to take some of these goals forward and what role can technology play in it. So, if we talk of training the teacher specifically and building their capability, I think, just looking at the possibility of industry-academia partnership, there is a lot that can be done. We know that institutions globally run various programmes on training the teachers. Just pick up the example of ICICI, we have collaborations with various training institutions from where we recruit our people. But what we do is, we invest a lot in training the faculty in those institutes. For example, we have one technical institute which actually trains the people from where we pick up managerial cadre of people. But the entire faculty of 57 people has entirely been trained by us. And what we run is what we call a Faculty Immersion Programme where we tell the institute to actually give us almost a year with that faculty, and the faculty spends a lot of time within the bank itself trying to understand banking, trying to understand how banking is done, trying to understand how to teach banking and then when they go back to the institute, they are actually trained in how to teach banking. I would here, therefore, like to urge each one of you that if each one of you in your institute would identify, at least, one of that industry expertise that you would want your institute to be known for and work with the industry and really work on this

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‘train the teacher programme’, I think, that would go a long way in actually increasing the capability of the teachers and they becoming more and more relevant to the students as the students look for their careers. Of course, in all this, I also think that use of technology is very eminent.

Today, when we look at India, when the entire India looks around and lives around digitisation, mobility and social media, I think, there is no option for all of us in any of our respective business models but to rely on technology to increase access, to increase affordability and to increase penetration. So, again, I would want to urge each one of us to think in our respective fields and, therefore, for all of you in your fields, as to why we cannot believe that every smart phone that exists in the country today is a classroom on demand.

In my view, again, everything that can be taught in the physical world, a lot of it can be taught through the use of technology.

Again, what we do internally for our people, as we look at development programmes for our people internally, we have converted our entire training into what we call the learning matrix. Almost about 800 hours of training material has been converted into video-based and digitised-based training programmes. That is really available to people on the go, whether they want to look at it on their iPads, or on their phones while they are sitting in the car or while they are travelling. We have, of course, mixed it with a lot of quizzes. We definitely pay a lot of emphasis on testing them after this because these are not just games that they should use but they should train themselves. So, there is a whole focus on testing them after this. But, there is use of technology which enables them then to get their training at their time in the way that they want. And, then we back it up with some simulation as well. We run an entire branch banking simulator, where people come, use their banking knowledge, use their customer service skill knowledge and go through a huge amount of reiterations of what would happen in a banking environment if they were to work the way they are working. So, I think, use of technology is very imminent for us, both as we enhance the scope of teaching and as we enhance the penetration of teaching. As we have seen MOOCs, etc., develop the world over, my understanding and what I am told is that almost eight per cent of the registrations of these various online training programmes the world over are done by Indians. So, that is the receptivity of Indians towards technology and we need to use this in order to increase both, excellence and equity.

Coming then to a topic that I was also given to speak on, which is involvement of alumni and alumnus in the teaching institutes and the resource mobilisation through them, I would say that today, the universities really, first of all, lack a structure to touch and access the alumni. I think, there is really not a formal structure in which they are constantly in touch with the alumnus.

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Again, with the availability of technology and social media, I think, that is something that all the institutions should take up because we have seen globally as examples, it is not just about some people contributing large amounts to a certain institution; it is also about thousands of alumnus who can contribute a little bit to the institution. For instance, we had this classic example of Stanford University, which, in 2013-14, raised 26 million dollars in a year, but the important part was that it was contributed by 33,000 people, who just gave about 100 dollars each. So, it is about first increasing the access and touching base with the alumnus.

Second point -- I am speaking from the perspective of alumnus -- is that recognition and involvement of alumnus is also important. It is not about telling them to come and start running your institutions, but it is about making them feel good of being involved, being recognised. Again, we have seen examples of places like NCAD, where they have a full website portal, where testimonials are given out, where recognition is given out. I think, it is just that feel-good factor that brings alumnus back to the institutes.

The third important factor here is that it is not just about money from the alumni. It is also about how would you involve them even in mentoring. Again, I think, the best example here I am told is the Imperial College, London, where they have a very focussed involvement to say that they are mentoring the alumnus in chosen fields of study where the alumni then mentor the students in that specific field. I think, it gives the students some amount of industry exposure. It makes them ready for the next job and it keeps the alumni involved. I think that itself is a huge contribution even if it is not in the form of money.

Then I would say that even for attracting alumni interaction and resources from alumni, what is very important is transparency in terms of how funds are going to be utilised because that is again what the alumni want to see. In Harvard, they have a data of the entire contribution that is made and they post clearly the linkage between the cost, where the money was used and how the final project was delivered. So, I think, a clear transparency is also important.

Finally, I would say that many of the institutions like that you should get together and get into a competition of seeing how you would attract more alumni to get involved. You always have off and on this Harvard yearly meeting that happens globally where they just enter into a competition to see how many they will attract in terms of their alumni, and the award winner is not the institute that attracts more money; the award winner is the institute that gets more number of alumni involved. So, I think, accessing the alumni, making them feel a part of it, giving them transparency in terms of how the

298 money is going to be used and then finally keeping them involved with the progress on the projects is very important. Thank you.

SHRI SURESH YADAV: Thank you very much for the great suggestions. We will probably talk about them as we move forward a little more. Let me now move on to the next speaker for us today, Kumud Srinivasan, who is the Chairperson, Board of Governors of NIT-Tiruchirappalli and she is also the President of Intel India.

CHAIRPERSON, BOG, NIT-TIRUCHIRAPPALLI AND PRESIDENT, INTEL INDIA (MS. KUMUD SRINIVASAN): Thank you for this opportunity. I am new to the world of higher end. I have been the Chairperson of NIT-Tiruchi just for about a year. In fact, I am relatively new to India. I have come here as President of Intel India, and I have been in this position now for about three years. In this short time that I have been here, I am actually impressed by the advancement of technology in the field of education. Even in NIT-Tiruchi, we have begun to work with virtual classrooms, flipped classes, use of video and reaching out to other institutes like BITS, Pilani, to understand how they are using technology and learning from them. Recently, I was on a jury panel that was sponsored by FICCI where we were evaluating other institutes and again in many, many instances I saw the use of technology coming into the space of education. So, I don’t think it is any more a question of ‘if’ we should technology. I think the question really is, ‘how’. Technology is simply a means to an end. And these checks and balances that we have put in place all these years to ensure quality, our checks and balances that we will need to have to continue to work with, perhaps modify as we incorporate and embrace technology. The real opportunity that I see is increasing collaboration between industry, academia and the Government. I was at the Indo-German Business Summit that was held recently in Bangalore and I was struck by the fact that behind their industry, Ford Auto, they claim is the very strong collaboration they have in place between government, academia and industry in Germany. In fact, if we go on to learn about the apprenticeship programme, they claim that that is the reason they have one of the lowest unemployment rates in Europe. In India, we have no dearth of urgent issues to work on whether it is illiteracy or malnutrition or pollution or congested cities or low-yielding crops.

I think, if you were to come together and take these big challenges up, we would not have to worry about something that I have been asked to talk about which is how do we attract more people to come into our PhD Programmes and how do we challenge faculty to continue to learn and grow. In Intel, we have recently started working on three such challenges - IIT for Railways, compute for skilling, and what we mean by compute is using technology like virtual reality and augmented reality, and water pollution. There, we are working with the Government to see how we can contribute to the marquee programme of clean the Ganga. Yesterday, I visited IIIT-Delhi

299 and met with a group of PhD students and faculty over there and shared this with them. I saw that there was a huge amount of excitement among the PhD students and, in fact, we then went on, brainstormed other such opportunities like the use of drones in agriculture and, of course, IIT for Health. So, I think, in India, we need to figure out how we can do this in a much more structured and systematised manner than we have so far. We do it in bits and pieces but we do not have a process in place like apparently some other countries, like Germany does. So, that is really where I would like us to talk about. Personally, I think, coming in from the industry and looking at the world of higher education, education academia in India knows the change is inevitable. I think, Government wants to drive a change agenda, in fact, this Panel Discussion itself is a demonstration of that. I think, industry knows that it can and should do more. Thank you.

SHRI B.V.R. MOHAN REDDY: Thank you, Ms. Kumud. We want to hear our last Panel speaker today Dr. Shailendra Raj Mehta, who is Vice-Chancellor in Provost, Ahmedabad University.

VICE CHANCELLOR / PROVOST, AHMEDABAD UNIVERSITY (DR. SHAILENDRA RAJ MEHTA): The history of higher education can be broken up into three parts spanning 2,600 years. The first part from 6th Century BC to 12th Century AD, 1,800 years was when India dominated higher education. We tend to forget that for 1,800 years, we had the best and the most glorious universities, at least, 7 of them.

The second part from 1200 to 1900 dominated for 700 years by Europe and the third part, roughly, the last 100 years or so, dominated by the United States. I will tell you two stories and draw two lessons from the first and the last of these.

Let us start with the first story. A year ago, I had the good fortune of having one of the most interesting experiences of my life in December of last year when I spent a full day in Taxila. I do a programme every year for CEOs in Pakistan and, finally, I prevailed on my hosts there to let me visit the place. It was an eye-opener. Let us not forget that Taxila is where it all began, that we had in Taxila one of the most global universities that ever existed. One, where education was expensive but also equitous. If you look at the references to Taxila in 547 Jataka stories about the life of the Buddha, Taxila figures in 105 of them; 97 in an educational context. Now, education there cost 1,000 gold coins, it is mentioned in all these 97 stories. But here is the interesting thing. It was not just the princes and rich people who went there. There is the story of the Prince of Benares as well as his tailor’s son going together to study at Taxila.

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So all varnas studied there. There was no overarching institutional structure. That came later with Nalanda, Vikramshila, Vallabhi and others. And if one could not pay for it, what the Guru did was this. The Guru found a way to give the student a work-study programme. He indeed asked the student to pay for it after graduation and getting a good job. So, there was global skill, equity and efficiency. And, by the way, let us not forget it was not just religious education that was imparted there and functional areas such as military science and others, but it had one of the finest medical schools of the world.

One of the most interesting moments that I have had in Taxila was to see the range of medical instruments that were there 2,000 years ago which compared in many cases to what Britain had in 1800s.

The baton from Taxila was then passed on to Vallabhi, Vikramshila, Nalanda, Udantpuri, Jaggadala and Sompura after the White Huns destroyed it in 454 A.D. Mihircula was the person who was responsible for it. What is interesting is that then the State stepped in, recognising that higher education was expensive. It was the State which basically funded higher education. And it was not just the Guptas and the Palas who funded it. But even the emperor of Srivijaya from the Shailendra dynasty sent money from Java. Srivijaya is Java today in Indonesia. Higher education required lots of money and it was equitous. Women’s education by the way was there. We found a way to basically harmonise all of this. And the key was, as I said, provision of resources and good governance. The universities were in the hands of individuals who were beyond reproach.

Now comes the second story. Here I move towards the United States. April 29, 1865 is a landmark day in the history of higher education. It is not very well understood. I have written a paper about this. On that day, a sarkari university, which most people don’t recognise as such, the Harvard University, which was founded by the State of Massachusetts and controlled by the State of Massachusetts for 200-plus years, was turned over to the alumni and that is when it began its path to greatness. And what is interesting is that within a couple of years the Yale University followed suit. The Yale University also by the way is a sarkari university founded by the State of Connecticut in the United States. That too, two years later was turned over to the alumni. And pretty much every major university in the United States thereafter whether it is public or private, religious or non-religious essentially is run by the alumni. If you look at the top five universities in the United States, almost all of their trustees are alumni. Why is that important? The reason why it is important is again resources and good governance. So let me say a little bit more about that and draw some lessons.

Why is good governance important? Dr. Thomas talked about Taittiriya Upanishad and Maatru Devo Bhava. If your mother is ill, whom would she be

301 entrusted to? She would obviously be entrusted to her children. One of us, who are her children, would then take care of her. If a university is in distress or if it needs to get to a different height, who would be better to take care of it than its children who count it as their alma mater, the loving mother as the term indicates? This is the model that the United States perfected. This basically within one-and-a-half generations leapfrogged Europe and gave to the United States the finest universities in the world. How did that happen? The reason why that happened is that when you induct alumni on the board, you transfer the control of the university to those who know the university the best and those who care about it the most. Within that, if you choose those individuals who are the most eminent globally, who have no relationship to local politics, who will not think small, who will think big for the university, who will provide the resources, and most importantly provide accountability and support to the head of the university to put in difficult changes and work with the stakeholders to drive the difficult change, I think that is the mantra for success. In a paper that I have written where I looked at the governance structure of the top one hundred universities, I laid that out in great detail.

So, what does it mean for India? Here, I may take names of two individuals on our distinguished panel. Mr. Pawar is an alumni of IIT-Delhi. Who better to provide direction to IIT-Delhi and to provide a thousand of crores of resources to IIT-Delhi itself than a distinguished alumni like him, who should be on the Board and basically driving IIT-Delhi, and indeed the other IITs and the other Central Universities, all of whom have a very distinguished global alumni base? Every one of you has a distinguished global alumni base. Who better to drive it than somebody like Mr. Pawar? If you look on my left, Ms. Chanda Kochhar is an alumni of Bajaj Institute. Who can take Bajaj to the front ranks of management education in the world than an alumni like her? It is because nobody cares about Bajaj more than an alumni like her and nobody can give the care, love and resources, or help raise those resources, the way she can. So, all in all, excellence in Universities ultimately comes down to good governance and great resources.

The other thing which I will mention in conclusion is, if you look at the history of 2,600 years of higher education, there has never been a for-profit university that has ever amounted to anything. It is because higher education needs huge, huge subsidies, to the extent of seven-eighths of the operating expenditure even in the United States. So, where this can come from? This can only come from two resources – either from the State, which has exhausted its resources, or from alumni. So, this is basically the pitch that I am making here today.

To conclude, Kabir famously said, “एकै साधे सब सधे, सब साधे पक जाए।” If you want to fix a hundred problems, not a single one will get solved, but if you

302 fix one big problem, that is, governance, and then, with it, take care of resources, almost everything else will fall into place.

SHRI B.V.R. MOHAN REDDY: Thank you, Dr. Mehta. We will now open the floor for comments, suggestions and questions. We have overstepped in terms of time, but, all the same, as we were listening to very interesting suggestions, we allowed them to go on. So, kindly be brief in terms of the question or observation that you have. It will also give an opportunity to many people to speak. Kindly identify yourself and then, you could make your comment or suggestion or question.

DIRECTOR, INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, PATNA (PROF. PUSHPAK BHATTACHARYYA): I would like to dwell for a few minutes on both excellence and equity. There are two axioms on which I would like to base my observations. The first point is that education necessarily is a two- way process, be it classroom teaching or student-adviser interaction in research. This interaction has two pillars on which it rests. One is information and the other is inspiration. So, while information is easily obtainable in today’s world of internet, social network and so on, the inspiration element is very difficult to track and maintain. So, what I come to is that maintaining student motivation, faculty motivation and keeping them at a high level is something we really have to work on. That would mean, giving a lot of emphasis to faculty development programme, capacity building and so on.

The other part of the story is equity and I still remember that my lady professors used to bring in a completely different atmosphere and dimension to classroom teaching. They taught me that for success and excellence, drive, determination and energy are important. But it is also important to be poised, to rest, to slow down and to reflect on things.

And this strangely came mostly from my lady Professors. I also saw that when Professors came from different regions of the world and different parts of the country. even if they taught something, like, the Newton’s Law of Motion or the Java Programming, this cultural diversity and gender diversity brought a completely new dimension to classroom teaching. So, I would like to summarise by saying that in pursuit of excellence, we have to give tremendous importance to human elements of this two-way interaction, and in terms of equity, we have to see how to be inclusive on gender and cultural diversity. Thank you.

DIRECTOR, MOTILAL NEHRU NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, ALLAHABAD (PROF. PARTHASARATHI CHAKRABARTI): I am the Director of NIT, Allahabad. At the very outset, I would like to appreciate that all the Panelists have put forward their views. I have a specific question for Dr. Sahasrabudhe. I am, completely, baffled by the fact that on the one hand, we

303 are talking about excellence in education and academics, and on the other hand, we are opening Institutions of Higher Educations. For example, the AICTE is approving institutions in thousands, where we admit students. Many of these students are not even fit for going to Polytechnics, and we are trying to give them degrees. Many of these institutions are not having their minimum infrastructural facilities, and in most of the places, teachers are even incompetent to teach them. Under such a situation, how are we looking ahead for excellence in academics or educational institutions? So, we need to look into that and how, as the AICTE’s Chairman, you would like to address this issue.

DR. ANIL D. SAHASRABUDHE: It is, certainly, a big challenge. On the one side, we want to expand because of giving more access and equity to our population, but quality has been an issue. That is why wherever it is not sustainable, those colleges, which want to close their programmes or their colleges, are being encouraged and supported on the one hand. On the other hand, wherever there is a requirement of input in terms of giving quality, we have been holding various types of handholding, mentorship programmes, etc., whereby other well-performing Institutes can help these Institutes to grow up in the ladder. I think, both ways, we will have to keep working. Otherwise, it is not going to be possible.

SHRI B.V.R. MOHAN REDDY: I have, actually, a comment to make, Dr. Sahasrabudhe. There are two things. One is that we are, certainly, all the time saying that there should be the Faculty Development Programme, that it is important for the leadership to run these Development Programmes. But could there be some way in which the faculty is motivated to say that they have to get some more skills to ensure that they go up the ladder or that they get recognised or that they can publish more? So, is there any way by which we can put some motivational factors into it to ensure that they go in for it? The other one is, comments were made about poor quality University or Colleges that we find all around, especially, in the Engineering Education today. Can we think about a tiered approach of intervention? I am sure the IITs or the IIScs or the NITs don’t require so much of intervention compared to the tier 2 and tier 3 colleges in this country. Can we, specifically, spell out saying that these are the types of interventions we will do to ensure that this quality would come back?

DR. ANIL D. SAHASRABUDHE: I think one of the most important things is, as rightly pointed out by the Director or IIT, Patna, Prof. Bhattacharyya, that teacher is supposed to be not only a good teacher but he should also be an inspirator. Actually, inspiration is very, very significant and important. Unless good quality people come into the system, I think, that is not going to change. Therefore, it is the duty of every educational institution that if someone finds a

304 young, bright graduate who is completing his degree, we should encourage him and see how we can bring him into the teaching profession.

Maybe, we give him advanced appointment to faculty position. Ask him to go and do M.Tech. and PhD in some good institution and come back. Probably, that is one of the ways of doing it. SHRI B.V.R. MOHAN REDDY: I think that was the recommendation from the Kakodkar Committee Report too.

PROF. ANIL D. SAHASRABUDHE: That needs to be done, actually. As far as the continuous development is concerned, there are always career advancement schemes in these institutions, whereby unless you do a certain number of courses, you do not get promotion. That is what is done in many cases. But, unfortunately, in many of these cases, they go only for attendance sake for getting the promotions. So, what needs to be done there, again, motivation is required to be built in. I think it is a big challenge, and all of us have to address that, and when they go for such Faculty Development Programmes in IITs, those faculties should challenge them and motivate them. I think it is a very big chain of action that is required.

PROF. V.S. CHAUHAN: I am Dr. V.S. Chauhan, currently, the Chairman of EC of NAC. I will just take two minutes. It is not really a question; I want to make a comment. Shailendra talked about history in three parts of education all over the world. But let me very quickly remind all of us the brief history of Indian education. At the time of Independence, we had just 20 universities and a few hundred colleges, most of them private. We are in an amazingly expansive mode. Any comment that I might make on the expansion would look like a criticism of whatever we are doing. It is good to criticize, but we must not forget that for 350 million people, we just had 20 universities at that time. For 1.2 billion people, we have 40 times expansion of that system. No matter how you expand a system like this, you would have entropy going up. So, many times, we worry, and the best beat about the quality education not being good, but just look at the expansion. And this is directly connected to the business of equity, access, and -- I stop with a semi-colon -- excellence. Running with these three in a rather horizontal size of pyramid is a tough task. So, while we need to expand, and we have not stopped expanding, if our GER has to go up from – I have argued it earlier – 18 to 30 per cent, you would need expansion of 40 per cent of what you presently have; and that can’t be stopped. So, the way India has run through an experiment in a very recent history of higher education of an amazing quality. Most of my own PhD students have been first-time learners. They have first-time ever came out of their houses and obtained the PhD. That experiment, even if we want, we can’t stop, and we should not stop. Should we talk about excellence in the same breath? My answer would be ‘yes’. We are now trying to get into unchartered territories. Yesterday, we spent time how to get into the

305 international rankings. So, ranking and excellence is now being almost equated. I have no quarrel and no problem with this personally. But if you go that way, then, we can’t say that we are locationally disadvantaged, etc. Once you go to compete in Olympics, you are competing with everybody; these are not national championships. So, the point I am trying to make is, the excellence is on the table, it should be discussed. But I get a sense of déjà vu every time I come to a meeting like this. We have the problems; we all articulate the problems. But what is the way forward of this? We have always said that there should be incentives for good work; there should be penalty for bad work; but what are the concrete way forwards? The time has come, the description of a problem is dime a dozen, gender equality, access, etc. These have been discussed, written about, there are books; they are articled. Where is the roadmap for it? I will just take half-a-minute more. If ranking is going to be a concrete business, which I dare say has gone beyond any debate, that we will have ranking in India, both the national way of doing it as well as international, has the time come where we recognize that excellence, when you grave, will create an elite class? And I don’t think that anybody should have any quarrel, if you talk about excellence.

So, when all the expanded mode universities and institutions must be funded, as they are being funded, could there be a way of, because you would have ranking, skimming off at a certain place and then having a pot of, I would say, funds? And then, let them compete for those funds. This famously happens in England, this happens in the USA. Harvard gets all the NIH money; about 40 per cent of NIH money goes to Harvard. So, you have to compete. So, I guess, moving forward, you can’t have business as usual if you talk about rankings. For your desire to get into international rankings, your desire to be excellence, I think methods have to be found out. One method would be exactly what I said. You float a tier system, expand the base, so that you could look at access and equity. Make the pyramid a little bit sharper, so that you don’t have a horizontal pyramid and, then, start funding. Funding is hugely important. I think it is often not realised how difficult it is to continue to run the infrastructure that you have set up. And if you don’t support the infrastructure, you kill whatever you have done before. Thank you.

DR. MAHAMMED ARIZ AHAMMED: It is rightly said about the inclusion, cultural and gender diversity. There is a lot of challenge for the educational institutions to implement both in letter and spirit. Just to illustrate, we have seven National Institutes of Pharmaceutical Education and Research. When I observe geographical diversity, I feel, North-East is totally left out. Of course, in terms of gender, we are making a very slow progress.

As for the issue of cultural and marginal communities’ representation, again, we feel, they are totally marginal. So, it is a big challenge for all of us how best we can address this particular issue. I would like to share one

306 experience of the Ministry of HRD before this Department. The Ministry of Human Resource Development, in school education, have some parameters. What are the educationally marginalised sections of the society they monitor? So, it is one way of affirmative action to monitor.

QUESTIONER: Good morning to all of you. I wish to attract the attention of this august gathering to some very simple and basic issues. Here, we are talking about the use of technology in education, industry-academia collaboration, international exposure and academic excellence. Also, we are talking about access to higher education, system, structure and about the equity. Here, my question is: If we are talking about the equity, then, what measures are we planning for our children who are living in rural India, who constitute a major part of our population? I think more than 50 per cent of our children live in rural India and they are deprived of the basic education. They are deprived not only of higher education but primary education also. My question is: Can we make our education system more inclusive? In what way? Can we devise some policy so that our students, who are in final year of their courses and in any discipline, should compulsorily go to our rural areas and teach children as a part of their courses, just like the students of MBA, IT or engineering? They have compulsory internship in their curriculum. How can we make our system more inclusive to make it more accessible and equitable in terms of giving access to the children who constitute a major part of our total population, who live in rural India and who are deprived of the basic education? How can they become a part of our higher education? Thank you.

DR. SHAILENDRA RAJ MEHTA: One good way to include people from rural areas in the ambit of higher education would be to effectively use technology. However, there are some challenges with regard to technology. So, one has to come up with a blended model. So, perhaps, an anecdote may be useful. I once went to a school in Jodhpur and asked the Principal basically that how you are using technology. Are you by any chance using on-line modules or anything like that? And she laughed. She burst out laughing. By the way this is a good school run by a Trust, good values, not a racket in any way, shape or form. But she said, ‘My biggest problem is making sure that my teachers teach.” Now, remember this is a school which is run by a Trust where there is a good, close monitoring. She said, if I take my eye away from the ball, they will essentially just not do any teaching. And, therefore, the biggest challenge that she had in the use of technology was the fact that if you then reverse the fillip to classroom and say, look, you watch these lectures and then we will discuss it in class, which is the model which is being proposed for books, it will make that problem even more severe because then you don’t even know whether even the basic minimum teaching is even happening or engagement is happening. So, there is a challenge. It is very clear. As many people have indicated that technology is clearly a part of the solution but, so far, I think, we

307 have not figured out how to make it part of the solution because there are so many challenges basically.

MS. CHANDA KOCHHAR: If I may add, on the rural side, I think, what we have been doing is that we are actually working with the State Governments and the State Government-owned schools to just improve the quality of education in those schools so that we attract more students. We make sure that the students are actually talked there, and we monitor the results. So, what we thought is that instead of trying to set up many more schools -- and there are a couple of States that we work with where we then train the teachers -- we actually work on the syllabus itself because the syllabus has to be relevant. We look at the upkeep, etc., of the schools. You have to even go to the extent of making sure that there are enough toilets in the schools and that the toilets are clean and they work so that even girls would come to the schools and not shy away from coming to the schools. So, there is a whole lot of effectiveness interventions that you have to do even after making sure that the school is up and running. We have seen that if you do that effective intervention of making the teachers capable, improving the syllabus, making the environment conducive and then monitoring what is happening, it brings about the participation and the quality of education gets a huge increase.

Also, just to add on inclusions, since we have been talking about it and specifically talking about the women gender, I think, when we talk of rural and the less-privileged areas, we also have to make sure that our education system or training is relevant to what they need. So, again, what we do is, we do a huge amount of skill development programme all over India, which is aimed at youth who are either school dropouts or have just completed school and cannot even afford to do a college education but want to get employed. So, we do three-month courses across various skills. But, what we have done is, in those skills, we have included things like sales administration, Web designing, office administration and so on, and these centres are run mainly in rural areas. We are so happy to see that 35 per cent of those people who registered there are young girls who come from these far-flung rural areas and all of them get employed. So, they want to pursue an employment after they do it. And these are very simple skills. They can even become self-employed and so on. But the heartening part is that out of 25,000 people that we train all over the country, more than 35 per cent are actually girls, girls from rural areas, who may have even dropped out of school.

SHRI B.V.R. MOHAN REDDY: Thank you, Ms. Kochhar, for that intervention. We have very similar experience in driving some of these schools in participation of girls. These schools are actually Government schools, and honestly, they are not really in rural India, they could be in the city of Hyderabad itself, a stone’s throw away from the best of areas. You have a facility in a high-tech city. It is not too far away from there. We have seen that

308 when you get to these Government schools, the girl population is less than ten per cent in most of the schools and, from that, with interventions, we have also seen that they are going a shade-over 50 per cent.

Therefore, I think the good suggestion that we have, and I am sure, the experience that we have, is that an intervention from the corporate into the schools could definitely help us in terms of bringing girl population into the primary education system. Thereafter, they could graduate, step by step, towards higher education. I could take one more question from further down my right, I believe. Just pardon me for one minute; there is time to accommodate three more questions.

VICE CHANCELLOR, THE ENGLISH AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES UNIVERSITY (DR. SUNAINA SINGH): Sir, I have a question. Can I come in? Unfortunately, we are not visible, I think. I have a question here.

This is a question addressed to Dr. Shailendra. It is very intriguing. We have been discussing about the role of the alumni since yesterday. My question is: If the alumni are to be involved in developing the quality matrix, what would be their role in the fellowships and free-ships, which is a national mandate for the country? We need to balance the two. We need to be very clear on the ground as to how India needs to move forward, because if the alumni are to be involved, they are involved at the institutional level, whereas fellowships are a national mandate. And we are very different from Yale!

SHRI B.V.R. MOHAN REDDY: Can we have a brief intervention from you, Dr. Mehta?

DR. SHAILENDRA RAJ MEHTA: The role of alumni, of course, has to be institution-specific. I don’t think we will be able to solve a national problem. It is just like the analogy with the mother -- I can take care of my mother, but taking care of the mothers of other people is a broader issue. I can help with that, but not necessarily take a leading role. By the way, the alumni should not be involved in academic matters. I am very clear on that, as an academic, as a Professor myself. Academic freedom must prevail fully, hundred per cent. Let us be clear on that. So, the alumni are only involved in oversight and governance, making sure that the objectives of the university are best met. All the stakeholders are addressed. As for the ways in which they do that, one good model -- and that is my last point – is that of sub-committees. That is the way, for example, all the US universities do it. In Harvard, for example, there are alumni on the board. They have sub-committees. Every six months to a year, these sub-committees go and review every department and essentially say what they could do to help. Now, what that does is that it holds the department to increasingly higher standards, very subtly. I mean, you don’t necessarily say, do this or else, but you say, what else can we do to help you

309 take to the next level. So, there is that oversight, plus, then they roll up their sleeves and help with resources. That is how these big donations come through, because they are shepherded by the alumni.

SHRI B.V.R. MOHAN REDDY: There is one more question from Ms. Gaitri Kumar.

JOINT SECRETARY–CUM–SOCIAL SECRETARY TO THE PRESIDENT (SHRIMATI GAITRI ISSAR KUMAR): Thank you, Mr. Reddy. I was quite delighted to hear Ms. Chanda Kochhar and yourself address the question that I wanted to ask. We, in Government, have gender budgeting. I didn’t hear much over the last two-three sessions on gender budgeting in the institutions or in the industry. I am sure, you must be having specific programmes, but can we just focus a little more on if there is budgeting, how the implementation is and what have been the outcomes. There isn’t enough time in this Conference, but I just thought it was a great opportunity with everybody in the same room. We have had Conferences of the different institutions, the IITs, the NITs, the universities, but here we are all in the same room. I just wanted to know if we are giving enough time to thinking about this, how we are implementing that and how the outcomes have been. Has this been satisfactory and can we do more?

SHRI B.V.R. MOHAN REDDY: I am sure we can talk to some of the people, Ms. Kumar, at the tea-break. I would take two last questions. Mr. Uday Desai. Your hand went up a number of times!

DIRECTOR, INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, HYDERABAD (PROF. UDAY B. DESAI): My question is again related to alumni engagement. I think many have alluded to that. Let us look at IIT. A large number of alumni are in the US. Their equation with, say, CMU from where they graduated is very, very different from the equation they have with the IIT from where they graduated. Now, if I want to create a similar equation did they have with CMU, what structural changes do you recommend in our engagement with alumni?

PROF. INDRANIL MANNA: I would like to be brief, but I feel compelled to make a few comments on some of these agenda items. First one is, improving technology and elaborate learning. While this is absolutely needed today to reach out, there can be no substitute for personal interaction. The foundation requires teacher and student interaction in the classroom. This can only be a supplementary tool. Number two is, teacher education programme. It is absolutely needed. I can refer to a particular technological university of a big State in India where they have land; they have a lot of applications; they have money. They are sitting on Rs.800 crores as a corpus. The poorest link is the quality of teacher. So, I propose that they should create a Faculty Development Academy where experienced teachers, both from academia and

310 industry, can actually after their superannuation go and teach for a while. And there is a particular model that I proposed. It was discussed; it was regularly accepted, but never implemented.

SHRI B.V.R. MOHAN REDDY: Thank you Mr. Manna. That is a great suggestion establishing Faculty Development Institute.

ACTING VICE CHANCELLOR, PONDICHERRY UNIVERSITY, PUDUCHERRY [PROF. (SMT.) ANISA BASHEER KHAN]: This is related to gender equity and empowerment. This is a small suggestion. I am from Pondicherry University, active Vice-Chancellor. It is not a question of giving opportunity to girl students; it is a question of retaining them in the higher education. In a very small survey we found that out of 700 samples, 13 per cent were depressed. So, we initiated the University Counselling Centre where we happened to see the girl students are approaching more than the boys. But, nevertheless, it is a question of helping the students whoever it is, and we are happy that girl students are approaching with their personal problems, academic problems, skill development problems and we are able to help them. It is a small suggestion. Maybe, we can have it in all the universities or institutions of higher learning and we simply named it as Manospandan. Thank you.

SHRI B.V.R. MOHAN REDDY: Is there any quick remark from any of the panelists? We are running tight of time.

MS. KUMUD SRINIVASAN: I want to just comment again on the gender inclusion. And I want to share an observation that basically I have developed since I have come over here, and that is that in India today we still continue to value Science and Maths. Our girl students still sign up for Science and Maths in large numbers. That is not what you see in the West. In the West, girls are not signing up for Science and Maths. So, there is some cultural value that we have retained in this area that we should feel very proud about.

SHRI RAJENDRA S. PAWAR: I will just reiterate what I have said. I think, as leaders, all of you should demand very specific outcomes from technology. If you don’t demand, you won’t get them. Many of the problems we talked about here, if they are articulated as problems to which you want technological solutions, some solutions will emerge.

DR. ANIL D. SAHASRABUDHE: I don’t want to stress anymore, teachers’ role as a mentor, facilitator and counsellor is very important. Therefore, faculty training programme is very essential.

DR. TESSY THOMAS: There was a query on women budgeting. As per the status, what we see, in the biological or medical field, it supposed to be 50 per

311 cent, as far as women professionals are concerned. In environment and geo- science, we see an enhancement up to 30 per cent. Computer and information is again close to 30-35 per cent. Chemical engineering is down at 12 per cent. In electrical and electronics field, we see below 10 per cent, that is, 5-8 per cent. And, in mechanical engineering, we find the professionals less than 2 per cent, as far as woman budgeting is concerned. Today, the need of the hour is quality education and in terms of both, quality teaching as well as the quality students coming up, the challenges to have the teachers should be submerged into the e-world so that they emerge as knowledge bank at the institute level itself. For this, the alumni participation is going to help us in a big way. Probably, if you look at the alumni, they bring the rich experience and the practical knowledge that they are having. Most of them may be industrialists, and the industry-academia participation and a co-ordinated effort will definitely enhance our education policies wherein the students as well as the Professors can interact with the industry and get speedy, and high level of knowledge and technological know-how can be interchanged.

MS. CHANDA KOCHHAR: I have just two quick points. One is on the structural changes required for engaging with alumni. I think, in a way, what I said that it has to be a structured process. You cannot engage with alumni on one-time basis and then expect a donation. But a focus in the Institute to say that one group will just focus on that, be in touch with the alumni all the time, make them know more what the Institute is doing, make them welcome to say that you can come and contribute, then respond to them with transparency about how their funds are used, I think, is the whole process that needs to be set up.

On gender budgeting, our experience in ICICI is that we actually do not set any budgets. We, in fact, believe that women are equally capable. Therefore, we see that when we intake students at our initial recruitment, we get more than 35 to 40 per cent women. I think the important thing is how you retain them through the career. For that, we have seen only two important things that need to be done. One is that during their maternity and the family time, I think, it is important to give them some amount of flexibility in terms of hours of work, where to work, and so on and so forth. That becomes a very critical time where women actually tend to drop out. So, that is a special attention that is needed.

The other very important thing, I think, is to create a culture in the organisation where women feel that they will get rewarded on the basis of their capabilities and that there will be no bias against them just because they are women. So, I think, instead of budgeting, what we believe is that if there is an environment where women feel that the environment is not biased against them, I think, women flourish.

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DR. SHAILENDRA RAJ MEHTA: I would address the point you raised. If you have a distinguished alumnus, who is both an alumnus of IITs and of one of the major US universities, you find the privilege in the US universities over our universities. The reason is very simple. It is not just proximity; it is that American universities have done a much better job of giving them homework, of involving them. We hesitate to give them homework. You have to give them very significant tasks which could have an impact.

QUESTIONER: Could we describe it as a trust deficit?

DR. SHAILENDRA RAJ MEHTA: It is not so much of a trust deficit; it is an engagement deficit.

Number two, remember, they move in herds, that is, the batches are very important, let us say, 1975 Batch of IIT, Delhi or whatever you name it. So, basically if you give, through key individuals, tasks to different batches, appropriate to the composition of those batches, where they are, what they are likely to do, I think, you will see results. You don’t even have to ask them for money. Once they get engaged and see opportunities to contribute, all that will follow, and, then, make them in charge of fund-raising, and, more importantly, involve them in your governance. That is something which the Government has to do. We are working on that. That is going to be the critical thing that they are in control so that they know that all the good stuff that they do, all the resources that they contribute will be used properly. This is the number one thing about the US universities. If I give even a dollar to my alma mater in the US, I know that in perpetuity, it will be used properly because the governance is excellent and in alumni hands. That is the key. Thank you.

SHRI B.V.R. MOHAN REDDY: Before we conclude, I request our Chairperson Ms. Khullar to make concluding remarks.

MS. SINDUSHREE KHULLAR: Thank you very much, Dr. Reddy, -- I also thank you for managing the floor so ably and effectively -- my Panelists, and, of course, the entire room, for participating in this discussion. Clearly the theme of the panel has touched many chords. I will not comment on each and every strand that has emerged. I will touch upon only two or three common threads which are running through this entire discussion.

Firstly, from our side of the panelists, what has been said is whether it is technology, whether it is teacher-training or whether it is equity and diversity, the key issue seems to be shortages. We are short on all counts. This means much is being done but it is not enough. Wherever we come from, we need to do more.

Secondly, we are no longer questioning that it needs to be done. Whether it is technology leveraging, whether it is industry-academia, or,

313 whether it is teacher training or alumni engagement, no one seems to question the thought – should it be done, should it not be done? So, time has come, as one of my fellow panelists has said, to move on and look at structured systematic engagement on each one of these things. Now, on the question how best to do it, I think, there is enough brain power in this room to engage with each one of the interventions and each one of the areas that we talked about.

I would only say that we begin with a shortage, first of all, in the number of students who are entering the higher education system. Among the numbers that are entering, we have shortages of students with science and maths backgrounds. Among the science and maths background, despite the lack of bias towards girls, fewer girls are entering the science and maths streams. And, this, if I may say so, is affecting the skill-set all the way down the line because the frontline workers at the rural level are the ASHAs, the Anganwadis and teachers, and, mostly all of them happen to be women, by self-selection, if nothing else. So, I leave this thought with you as to how do we create more robust supply chains of students who will enter or will, at least, try and enter the higher education strings, and, secondly, when they enter, they have, at least, a reasonable mass of young people who have science and maths as their background.

Dr. Sahasrabudhe talked about the shortage of 30 to 40 per cent vacancies at the induction level. But, at the same time, if most of you will agree, we have to ensure some degree of quality and excellence. There are gates at the induction level, which stop many potential entrants from entering into the field of teaching. Now, how best that needs to be tackled is a question that I leave to all of you. We are struggling with it, as I said, right from the pre- nursery and nursery levels to the PhD levels. Once they enter, how do you retain their quality is another issue which was touched upon. How do you leverage technology? Leveraging technology has had its problems but again the imagination and the imaginativeness of the interventions has also increased.

Its potential has vastly improved. So, whether it is the smart phone or, as the popular ad goes, ‘what an idea sirji’, or, as most of the students now say, ‘let’s go and ask Google instead of the teacher because Google is with you, the teacher is not always with you’. But does that diminish the teacher? Yes, it does because the teacher then has to continuously prove his or her relevance and usefulness for prompt information to education, to communication or as currently the Government is talking about soochna se samvaad tak, that seems to be engaging in conversation is something only teachers can do, and teachers can do well. Industry and academia, frameworks are weak. It is not only in education, it is true everywhere. It is true across Government; it is true across Government and education, education

314 and industry. It has been done far better and far more effectively, if I may say so, in the skill sector, very quickly so, perhaps because the industry-academia connect is seen far more directly in the skill ecosystem rather than in the higher education ecosystem.

In terms of alumni engagement, I think, everywhere the issue has been touched. Again, the issue is one of systematic engagement. How do I structure systems to get in alumni to first contribute the most scarce resource of all – their time? I think many of us, many of you rather, are volunteering time more than anything else to the higher education institutions to their benefit. The elephant in the room, as Dr. Mehta correctly said, is our resources. Resources are short in financial terms, in terms of engaging or contributing intellectual resources and the most scarce of all, as I repeatedly say, volunteering time. There, I would like to point to the invisible walls that our systems have created for ourselves. These walls are invisible and they are barriers without actually saying so. You will not allow retired persons to come and teach in your schools; you will not allow older generation students to engage with younger generation students; you will not allow entry to older students; you will not allow entry from the non-formal to the formal, from the skill to the formal. These are the walls which are stopping the free flow of talent from across a large number of sectors, and if you introspect, you will realise that these exist, whether the regulators agree about it or do not agree about it. I will comment anecdotally only on our very, very accomplished and decorated sports persons who despair that they end up as ticket clerks in the Railways because in their formative years, when they would have liked to be doctors or computer scientists, they were busy getting medals. So, when they are older, they are no longer eligible to re-enter at whatever level they are competent to do.

So, I come back to technology and distance learning. MOOCs is a very popular intervention but, again, does not allow for the interaction, which is the essence of the Samvaad that we are all leading towards.

Finally, I would only touch upon the telling comment that Tessy Thomas made about self empowerment, and anecdotally also, this was much talked- about in the late 80s when there was huge debate raising around the Sati law when a young lady who was class X pass immolated herself on the funeral pyre of her husband in Rajasthan. The comment that got the least attention was, ‘what is the education system doing that it is not allowing that girl the self-esteem after ten years of being in school that she feels so worthless’! So, whenever there is a student suicide due to exam stress, the first thought that comes to my mind is perhaps our biggest effort needs to be together on creating the self-empowerment, self-esteem and the passion, commitment and dedication, which most students bring with them when they enter the system, but somewhere along the way they lose their way.

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Final comment will be that, perhaps, we are all talking about a cadre of teacher trainers at every level and institutions to create that set of teacher trainers whether it is at the highest PhD level or at the lowest level of providing teachers at the elementary school level or the middle school and senior secondary school level. We need that cadre, we need that focus to make sure that we have enough people who are willing to come into the teaching profession in the first instance. Only then can we, probably, provide larger numbers of students for the industry, for other areas where they need to go and equip themselves or acquaint themselves.

With this, I think, we have enough now for our Groups and Panels to make further recommendations and on the manner of interventions, on the kinds of interventions that need to be done, the frameworks, the systems and the methods that we need to develop in each one of our systems whether it is Government, Government Universities, regulators or the private sector, as the case may be. Thank you, very much.

SHRI B.V.R. MOHAN REDDY: Thank you, Ms. Khullar. And I would like to thank the Panel, I would like to thank the President’s Secretariat, especially, Shri Suresh Yadav, for creating this Panel. Also, you would recognise the gender diversity on the Panel itself. Eight of us are here and four of them are women, which is outstanding. I felt very delighted when they solved it itself. Thank you, Sureshji, and pardon me for the poor running.

SHRI SURESH YADAV: First of all, Ladies and Gentlemen, let us give a big round of applause to our Chair and Co-Chair and Panelists. By the way, Sir, the gender balancing was by design, not by default. Thank you, very much for your observation and comments.

On behalf of the Secretariat, I would like to present each of the Panelists a memento as a token of our love and appreciation.

So, now we will have fifteen minutes tea-break. You can move on the left side atrium; there is a tea arrangement. After that, you can move to your respective locations for the group work on Agenda items. Thank you.

(The Conference then adjourned for tea.)

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GROUP WORK BY SIX GROUPS FOR MAKING RECOMMENDATIONS ON AGENDA ITEM ASSIGNED TO EACH GROUP

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Date & Timing of Group Work 06 February, 2015 1115 hrs to 1315 hrs

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Venue & Timings for Presentation of Group Work Ceremonial Hall, Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Centre 1505 hrs to 1605 hrs (maximum 10 minutes to each group) 316

Group 1

Venue – South Hall – B, RBCC

Agenda Items

Improving the quality of higher education in Institutions to bring them at par with the top institutions of the world by: iv. Creating Inter-linkages of Industry-Academia; v. Interfacing with ranking agencies; and vi. Providing impetus to research and innovation in educational eco- system.

Moderator – Dr. Thomas Mathew, Additional Secretary to the President

Group Representative – Prof. Devang V. Khakhar, Director, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay

Participants 1. Aligarh Muslim University, Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Zameer Uddin Aligarh Shah, PVSM, SM, VSM. 2. Assam University, Silchar Prof. Somnath Dasgupta 3. Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Prof. R.C. Sobti University, Lucknow 4. Banaras Hindu University, Prof. Girish Chandra Tripathi Varanasi 5. Central Agricultural University, Dr. Moirangthem Premjit Singh Imphal 6. Central University of Gujarat, Prof. S.A. Bari Ahmedabad 7. Central University of Haryana, Prof. (Dr.) Ramesh Chander Kuhad Mahendergarh, Pali 8. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar National Prof. Inder Krishen Bhat Institute of Technology, Jalandhar 9. Malaviya National Institute of Prof. Inder Krishen Bhat Technology, Jaipur (Additional Charge) 10. Maulana Azad National Institute Dr. Appu Kuttan K.K. of Technology, Bhopal (Absent) 11. Motilal Nehru National Institute Prof. Parthasarathi Chakrabarti of Technology, Allahabad 12. National Institute of Technology Dr. Gopal Mugeraya – Agartala 13. Indian Institute of Technology, Prof. Rajeev Sangal

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BHU 14. Indian Institute of Technology, Prof. Ratnam V. Rajakumar Bhubaneswar 15. Indian Institute of Technology, Prof. Devang V. Khakhar Bombay 16. Indian Institute of Science Prof. Vinod Kumar Singh Education & Research, Bhopal 17. National Institute of Dr.(Mrs.) Kiran Kalia Pharmaceutical Education & Research, Ahmedabad 18. Atal Bihari Vajpayee Indian Dr. S.G. Deshmukh Institute of Information Technology & Management, Gwalior 19. Pandit Dwarka Prasad Mishra Dr. S.G. Deshmukh Indian Institute of Information (Additional Charge) Technology, Design & Manufacturing, Jabalpur

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Group 2

Venue – West Hall, RBCC

Agenda Items

Improving the quality of higher education in Institutions to bring them at par with the top institutions of the world by: i. Establishing international networks; and ii. Enhanced involvement in alumni

Moderators – Shri Venu Rajamony, Press Secretary to the President and Dr. Mahammed Ariz Ahammed, Joint Secretary, Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers

Group Representative – Prof. Gautam Biswas, Director, Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati

Participants 1. Central University of Himachal Prof. Kuldip Chand Agnihotri Pradesh, Dharamshala 2. Central University of Jammu, Prof. Ashok Aima Jammu 3. Central University of Jharkhand, Prof. Nand Kumar Yadav ‘Indu’ Brambe, Ranchi 4. Central University of Karnataka, Prof. H.M. Maheshwaraiah Gulbarga 5. Central University of Kashmir, Prof. Mehraj-ud-din Mir Ganderbal 6. Central University of Kerala, Prof. (Dr.) G. Gopa Kumar Kasaragod 7. Central University of Punjab, Prof. (Dr.) R.K. Kohli Bathinda 8. National Institute of Technology Prof. Chandan Tilak Bhunia – Arunachal Pradesh 9. National Institute of Technology Dr. Shivaji Chakravarti – Calicut 10. National Institute of Technology Dr. Ajay K. Sharma – Delhi 11. National Institute of Technology Dr. Tarkeshwar Kumar – Durgapur 12. National Institute of Technology Prof. G.R.C. Reddy – Goa

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13. Indian Institute of Technology, Prof. Kshitij Gupta Delhi (Acting Director) 14. Indian Institute of Technology, Prof. Gautam Biswas Guwahati 15. Indian Institute of Technology, Prof. Pradipta Banerji Roorkee 16. Indian Institute of Science Prof. R.N. Mukherjee Education & Research, Kolkata 17. Indian Institute of Information Prof. Somenath Biswas Technology, Allahabad 18. School of Planning and Prof. Chetan Vaidya Architecture, Bhopal (Additional Charge) 19. School of Planning and Prof. Chetan Vaidya Architecture, New Delhi

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Group 3

Venue – President’s Drawing Room, RBCC

Agenda Items

Capacity development of faculty to provide quality education through – iii. Teachers’ Education Programmes; and iv. Alumni participation and resource mobilization.

Moderators – Prof. H. Devaraj, Vice Chairman, University Grants Commission and Shri Niranjan Kumar Sudhansu, Director, President’s Secretariat

Group Representative – Prof. Jawahar Lal Kaul, Vice-Chancellor, Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University, Srinagar (Uttarakhand)

Participants 1. Central University of Orissa, Prof. Sachidananda Mohanty Koraput 2. Central University of Rajasthan, Prof. Arun Kumar Pujari Ajmer 3. Central University of South Prof. Harish Chandra Singh Rathore Bihar, Gaya 4. Central University of Tamil Prof. A.P. Dash Nadu, Thiruvarur 5. Dr. Hari Singh Gour Prof. Raghvendra P. Tiwari Vishwavidyalaya, Sagar 6. Guru Ghasidas Prof. Anjila Gupta Vishwavidyalaya, Bilaspur 7. Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Prof. Jawahar Lal Kaul Garhwal University, Srinagar (Uttarakhand) 8. National Institute of Technology Prof. Rajnish Shrivastava – Hamirpur 9. National Institute of Technology Prof. Rambabu Kodali – Jamshedpur 10. National Institute of Technology Dr. Swapan Bhattacharya Karnataka – Surathkal 11. National Institute of Technology Prof. Anand Mohan – Kurukshetra 12. National Institute of Technology - Dr. Sarungbam Birendra Singh Manipur

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13. Indian Institute of Technology, Prof. Uday B. Desai Hyderabad 14. Indian Institute of Technology, Prof. Pradeep Mathur Indore 15. Indian Institute of Technology, Prof. C.V.R. Murty Jodhpur 16. Indian Institute of Science Prof. N. Sathyamurthy Education & Research, Mohali 17. Indian Institute of Information Prof. R. Gnanamoorthy Technology, Design & Manufacturing, Kancheepuram, Chennai 18. National Institute of Dr. K.C. Saikia Pharmaceutical Education & Director-in-Charge Research, Guwahati 19. School of Planning and Prof. Uday B. Desai Architecture, Vijayawada (Additional Charge)

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Group 4

Venue – VIPs’ Drawing Room, RBCC

Agenda Items

Capacity development of faculty to provide quality education through – iii. Workforce sustainability; and iv. Improving technology-enabled training

Moderators – Shri Shashi Prakash Goyal, Joint Secretary (TEL), M/o. Human Resource Development and Smt. Shamima Siddiqui, Deputy Press Secretary, President’s Secretariat

Group Representative – Prof. Partha Pratim Chakrabarti, Director, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur

Participants 1. Indian Maritime University, Shri K. Ashok Vardhan Shetty Chennai 2. Indira Gandhi National Open Prof. Nageshwar Rao, Acting VC University, New Delhi 3. Indira Gandhi National Tribal Prof. T.V. Kattimani University, Amarkantak 4. Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi Prof. Talat Ahmad 5. Jawaharlal Nehru University, Prof. Sudhir Kumar Sopory New Delhi 6. Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Prof. Girishwar Misra Hindi Vishwavidyalaya, Wardha 7. Manipur University, Canchipur, Prof. Hidangmayum Nandakumar Imphal Sarma 8. National Institute of Technology Prof. Dilip Kumar Saikia – Meghalaya 9. National Institute of Technology Prof. U.C. Ray – Mizoram 10. National Institute of Technology Dr. V. Ramachandran – Nagaland 11. National Institute of Technology Prof. Asok De – Patna 12. National Institute of Technology Dr. (Mrs.) Shashi Krishna Pandey – Puducherry 13. Indian Institute of Technology, Prof. Indranil Manna Kanpur

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14. Indian Institute of Technology, Prof. Partha Pratim Chakrabarti Kharagpur 15. Indian Institute of Technology, Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi Madras 16. Indian Institute of Science Prof. Krishna N. Ganesh Education & Research, Pune 17. Indian Institute of Engineering Prof. Ajoy Kumar Ray Science & Technology, Shibpur, West Bengal 18. National Institute of Dr. Pradeep Das Pharmaceutical Education & Research, Hajipur 19. National Institute of Dr. Ahmed Kamal Pharmaceutical Education & Project Director Research, Hyderabad

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Group 5

Venue – North Hall, RBCC

Agenda Items

Engagement of institutes of higher learning with community and society for sustainable and inclusive development

Moderator – Shri Siddharth Sharma, Internal Financial Adviser, President’s Secretariat

Group Representative – Dr. Gopa Sabharwal, Vice Chancellor, Nalanda University, Rajgir

Participants 1. Maulana Azad National Urdu Prof. Mohammed Aslam Parvaiz University, Hyderabad 2. Mizoram University, Aizawl Prof. R. Lalthantluanga

3. Nagaland University, Lumami Prof. Bolin Kumar Konwar

4. Nalanda University, Rajgir Dr. Gopa Sabharwal 5. North Eastern Hill University, Prof. S.K. Srivastava Shillong 6. Pondicherry University, Prof. (Smt.) Anisa Basheer Khan, Puducherry Acting VC 7. Rajiv Gandhi University, Rono Prof. Tamo Mibang Hills, Doimukh, Arunachal Pradesh 8. Sikkim University, Tadong, Prof. Tanka Bahadur Subba Gangtok 9. National Institute of Technology Dr. Sudarshan Tiwari – Raipur 10. National Institute of Technology Prof. Sunil Kumar Sarangi – Rourkela 11. National Institute of Technology Dr. Arun Baran Samaddar – Sikkim 12. National Institute of Technology Dr. N.V. Deshpande – Silchar 13. National Institute of Technology Prof. Rajat Gupta – Srinagar 14. Indian Institute of Technology, Prof. Timothy A. Gonsalves Mandi

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15. Indian Institute of Technology, Prof. Puspak Bhattacharyya Patna 16. Indian Institute of Science Prof. V. Ramakrishnan Education & Research, Thiruvananthapuram 17. National Institute of Dr. V. Ravichandiran Pharmaceutical Education & Research, Kolkata 18. Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Dr. J.P. Gupta Petroleum Technology, Rae Bareli 19. National Institute of Fashion Dr. Sudhir Tripathi Technology

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Group 6

Venue – South Hall – A, RBCC

Agenda Item

Promotion of gender equity and cultural inclusion through higher education

Moderators – Smt. Gaitri Issar Kumar, Joint Secretary-cum-Social Secretary to the President and Prof. Dr. Jaspal Singh Sandhu, Secretary, UGC

Group Representative – Dr. Sunaina Singh, Vice Chancellor, The English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad

Participants 1. Tezpur University, Tezpur Prof. Mihir K. Chaudhuri 2. The English and Foreign Dr. Sunaina Singh Languages University, Hyderabad 3. The Rani Lakshmi Bai Central Dr. Arvind Kumar Agricultural University, Jhansi 4. Tripura University, Prof. Anjan Kumar Ghosh Suryamaninagar, Agartala 5. University of Allahabad, Prof. R.K. Singh, Prof.-in-Charge, Allahabad Academic Programmes

6. University of Delhi, Delhi Prof. Sudhish Pachauri, Acting VC 7. University of Hyderabad, Prof. Dr. Appa Rao Podile Hyderabad 8. Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan Prof. Swapan Kumar Datta, Acting VC

9. National Institute of Technology Prof. Srinivasan Sundarrajan – Tiruchirappalli 10. National Institute of Technology Dr. H.T. Thorat – Uttarakhand 11. National Institute of Technology Prof. T. Srinivasa Rao – Warangal 12. Sardar Vallabhbhai National Prof. Sudhir K. Jain Institute of Technology – Surat (Additional Charge) 13. Visvesvaraya National Institute Prof. Narendra S. Chaudhari of Technology – Nagpur 14. Indian Institute of Technology, Prof. Sudhir K. Jain

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Gandhinagar 15. Indian Institute of Technology, Prof. Sarit Kumar Das Ropar 16. Indian Institute of Science, Prof. Anurag Kumar Bangalore 17. National Institute of Dr. K.K. Bhutani Pharmaceutical Education & (Officiating Director) Research, S.A.S. Nagar, Mohali 18. National Institute of Dr. P.K. Shukla Pharmaceutical Education & Project Director Research, Rae Bareli 19. Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Dr. Latha Pillai Youth Development, Sriperumbudur

CONCLUDING SESSION OF VISITOR’S CONFERENCE 06 November, 2015, 1500 – 1700 hrs (Ceremonial Hall, Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Centre)

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SHRIMATI OMITA PAUL: Hon’ble President, Shri Nitin Jairam Gadkari, Minister of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways, Shrimati Smriti Zubin Irani, Minister of Human Resource Development, Shri Hansraj Gangaram Ahir, Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers, Dr. Arvind Panagariya, Chair of Panel 1, Shri B.V.R. Mohan Reddy, Co-Chair of Panel 2, Secretaries to the Government of India, Vice-Chancellors and Directors of Central Institutions, ladies and gentlemen, as part of the activities during the three-day Visitor’s Conference, yesterday Group Work and discussions on the Action Taken Report of the previous Conferences were held. This morning, the Vice- Chancellors and the Directors participated in the Group Work relating to agenda items of the Conference. We have also invited a Panel of Experts from the industry and the academia for Panel Discussions on the agenda items.

The first Panel Discussion was held yesterday and the second one this morning. In this session, the leaders of the six groups will make presentations on the summary of their recommendations. After these presentations, the Chair or co-Chair of the two panel discussions will make a presentation on the outcome of their deliberations. Each speaker will get ten minutes’ time for the presentation.

I first invite leader of Group I, Professor Devang V. Khakhar, Director, IIT, Bombay, to make the presentation.

PROF. DEVANG V. KHAKHAR: Hon’ble President, Hon’ble Minister for Shipping, Transport and Highways, Hon’ble Minister for Human Resource Development, Hon’ble Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers, Vice- Chairman, NITI Aayog, ladies and gentlemen, I feel honoured to start this session and present what we have talked about in Group I. The broad agenda of this Conference is on improving the quality of higher education in institutions to bring them at par with the top institutions of the world, and, we have looked at a subset of this. Three sub-topics are industry-academia linkages, interface with ranking agencies and providing impetus to research and innovation. This Group was moderated very ably by Dr. Thomas and the members of the Group are listed here, and, span a wide range of institutions, Central universities, NITs, IITs, IISERs as well as NIPER and IIIT.

If we look at this broad thrust of the Conference, then, the two major characteristics of world-class institutions are excellence in research and excellence in education, and, the minimal pre-requisites are a very high quality faculty and adequate infrastructure and financial support.

The group that met to discuss the various issues had considerable variation. The institutions are of varying ages; some are very new and some

329 are much older, and, obviously, more developed, and, are at different stages of their evolution. The institutions are also very different in the subject matter that they are focussed on.

As a result, of course, not every recommendation will be applicable to each institution but these are the broad recommendations, and, I will go through those that we came to consensus on, and, of course, each might be applicable only to a subset of all the institutions that are present here.

One of the very important areas that we all look forward to building is how we can interact more closely with industry, and, here are some of the recommendations. In the short term, it is proposed that institutions set up an office of a Dean of Research and Development to manage and promote industry linkages. I think, it is very important and it requires support from the highest levels in the universities and institutions. Next step is to identify areas in which the institutions and universities have already built up considerable strength.

And then try and identify whether these areas are fruitful for interaction with industry. The third short-term measure that we would like to propose is that all institutions start developing programmes for continuing education of industry personnel and I think this would also lead to a very good interaction between industry and academia. In the medium term, some programmes that could be established might be internships for undergraduate students in industry, perhaps working jointly with faculty on problems, collaborative research projects with industry on problems of their choice, systems and incentives, which encourage faculty sabbaticals in industry, perhaps in the summer vacations and also system to allow industry personnel to come and teach as adjunct faculty in the institutions. Finally, in the long-term, institutions should work towards creating multidisciplinary centres of excellence and these centres should have deliverables of interest to industry. The centres may be funded partly by Government and also partly by industry. And finally one could also think of a programme of recruitment of faculty with a strong industry background to essentially act as a bridge between these two different institutions.

The second area was interface with ranking agencies. Here, we have only proposed some short-term measures that should be taken up in the next six months. It is proposed that every institution should nominate a senior nodal person, perhaps at the level of Dean, to first study the ranking parameters of the different ranking agencies and also be responsible for supplying validated data to these agencies. We also feel that this same person or group of persons should be proactive in establishing linkages with the ranking agencies because often it takes some time to understand the nuances of what data is

330 required by the agencies to really get that sort of data. Of course, the overall plan, the strategic plan, should be to foster excellence in the institutions and hence, improve in all the parameters which are related to ranking.

The third area that we discussed was coming up with some ideas to provide impetus to research and innovation in the educational eco-system. Here, we have some short-term recommendations. One is creation of an intellectual property rights cell as well as developing mechanisms for technology transfer so that technologies and ideas that are developed within the institution can first be protected through patterns and copyrights, and then transferred and licensed to industry, if possible. The second is to provide seed grant for developing new research programmes for fresh faculty, who join the institution. This would enable them to get into research at an early stage in their career. The third short-term measure is to come up with schemes to provide experiential learning for undergraduate students in particular to come up with tinkerers labs which have facilities in which students can work with their hands and build things.

In the medium-term, it is proposed that institutions develop formal courses which students can take in the area of entrepreneurship so that they can, essentially, get an overview of what is required to start new businesses, and we prepare them to do so when they graduate. Now many of the institutions already have incubators, and we felt that it was important to have industry mentors associated with these incubators for supporting these start- ups. Another idea was to come up with schemes to provide inter-institutional mobility of faculty members, particularly, to promote collaborative research. Today the mobility between institutions is rather low and the level of collaboration between institutions is also quite low. Finally, in the longer term, we feel that one of the very important areas to provide impetus to research and innovation is, actually, to be able to have correct kind of research infrastructure. So, we proposed that in institutions, there should be sufficient support for building up experimental facilities so that faculty members can do inter-disciplinary research at the cutting-edge.

So, those are the recommendations of our Committee and I thank you for your attention.

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PRESENTATION MADE BY PROF. DEVANG V. KHAKHAR DIRECTOR, INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, BOMBAY

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SHRIMATI OMITA PAUL: Thank you, Prof. Khakhar. I now invite Prof. Gautam Biswas, Director, IIT, Guwahati, leader of Group 2, for his presentation.

DIRECTOR, INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, GUWAHATI (PROF. GAUTAM BISWAS) : Hon’ble President of India, Hon’ble Minister of Human Resources Development, Hon’ble Minister of Shipping and Transport, Hon’ble Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers, Hon’ble Vice-Chairman of NITI Aayog, respected Vice-Chancellors and Directors of Higher Education Institutes, respected officers of various Ministries, Ladies and Gentlemen, Our Group, Group No.2, brainstormed with the theme ‘Improving the quality of Higher Education in institutions to bring them at par with top institutions of the world’. Under this category, we have two sub-areas. One is establishing international networks and another is enhanced involvement of the alumni. The Group members were Vice-Chancellors of various Central Universities. We also had Directors of five NITs, three IITs, the Director of Indian Institute of Science, Education and Research, the Director of Indian Institute of Information Technology, Allahabad and the Director of School of Planning and Architecture. We discussed the issues and we have come up with some recommendations.

Firstly, I will present the recommendation pertaining to item (a), that is, establishing international networks. The Group would like to begin by thanking the Hon’ble President for his strong and consistent support for the promotion of international co-operation between Indian Higher Education Institutes and their counterparts. Leaders of various HEIs have been included as a part of his Delegation while visiting all foreign countries.

As a result of the President’s encouragement, over 80 MoUs have been concluded between India and foreign higher educational institutes. This gesture has greatly contributed to expanding the global outreach of Indian higher educational institutes. This Group expresses its gratitude, and requests that the above practice be kindly continued in the future.

The Group calls upon all institutions which have entered into MoUs with foreign counterparts during the visits abroad of the President to submit annual reports to MHRD, concerned Ministries and the President’s Secretariat on the progress in implementation of these MoUs. Such reports should include an assessment of the impact of such foreign collaborations, and how they help expand the exposure as well as opportunities available to faculty and students of Indian higher educational institutes.

All Indian higher educational institutes must actively pursue collaboration with foreign institutions for exchange of faculty and students as well as for conducting research. Many institutions face difficulties in obtaining visas for foreign nationals. There are also constraints on account of other regulations

339 and shortage of resources. It is proposed that MHRD and other concerned Ministries initiate discussions with MHA and MEA on these matters and consider forming a Standing Committee of Nodal Officers for the purpose.

The next point is, the MHRD may wish to consider in consultation with other concerned Ministries how India can be projected as a destination for higher education.

Higher educational institutes should fully utilise GIAN and tap the talent pool of scholars and entrepreneurs available internationally.

A Global Research Interactive Network, GRIN, is being proposed. GRIN may be launched as a follow up to GIAN for funding research collaborations and foreign visits. Under this, the following may be covered:

(i) Encourage partnership in major international research projects like the CERN. (ii) Incentivise international faculty to spend longer periods collaborating in research in India.

The higher educational institutes, where appropriate, are requested to restructure their curriculum, augment infrastructure and become a hub of research activities in order to enable them become part of international networks.

Participation and presence of international students should be increased in all Indian higher educational institutes, and necessary facilities created for them, where required. The Indian Council for Cultural Relations, ICCR, and other funding agencies should consider enhancing scholarships to foreign students, at least, on par with MHRD scholarships.

Efforts should be made to increase visits of reputed international faculty to all higher educational institutes. The higher educational institutes should also take initiative to motivate the best international experts in the world to work on problems relevant for India.

Now, we will go to the second part of our discussion, that is, enhanced involvement of alumni. We have quite a few recommendations here. All Higher Education Institutes should form an alumni association. They must prepare a comprehensive alumni database with information on alumni, both as individuals and as batch-wise groups. The data base of alumni must be established by Higher Education Institutes which do not have the same, within the next six months.

Alumni should be invited frequently to all Higher Education Institutes to share their experience and act as a source of inspiration for the students. Higher Education Institutes should invite alumni for lectures, presentations,

340 research consultancy etc., and seek internship or placements in the enterprises owned by alumni.

All Higher Education Institutes must involve alumni in policy making as well as review of curriculum, enhancing content relevant to industry, etc. Higher Education Institutes must recommend amendment of statutes, where required, to enable induction of alumni in governing bodies, to the Ministry of HRD, DoP and other relevant Ministries within the next six months.

Alumni working in different industries and organizations should be encouraged to create Endowments and Chairs as well as to provide other forms of support. They should be motivated to expand the engagement of their industry with their alma mater. Alumni who are entrepreneurs should be also encouraged to engage in entrepreneurship training and incubation development in their alma mater.

Eminent alumni should be recognised through distinguished alumnus and other relevant awards.

The Government should consider providing matching grants for the contributions made by alumni to the corpus funds of Higher Education Institutes.

Each institution should publish an Annual Report of the successes of Alumni. These are the recommendations of Group-2. Thank you.

PRESENTATION MADE BY PROF. GAUTAM BISWAS DIRECTOR, INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, GUWAHATI

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SHRIMATI OMITA PAUL: Thank you, Prof. Biswas. I would like to now invite leader of the Group-3, Prof. Jawahar Lal Kaul, Vice-Chancellor, HNB Garhwal University to make the presentation.

PROF. JAWAHAR LAL KAUL: Thank you, Madam.

Hon’ble President, Hon’ble Minister for Human Resource Development, other Hon’ble Ministers, distinguished colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, I rise to present the report on behalf of Group-3. The item for discussion which was provided to Group-3 was ‘capacity development of faculty to provide quality education through teachers’ education programmes, alumni participation and resource mobilization.’ The moderators of this Group were Prof. H. Devaraj and Shri Niranjan Sudanshu from Rashtrapati Bhavan.

I put on record the way, the nicest way I should say, in which these two distinguished gentlemen moderated the discussion.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the members of this Group comprised Vice- Chancellors of Central Universities, Directors of IITs and NIITs. They were all in all 19 in total. The Group recognised that despite diversities in these institutions, we recognized certain commonalities throughout all of them, and the recommendations which are coming forth now are based on these commonalities. The Group recognized that the induction of quality faculty is, indeed, a prerequisite for quality education. Thus, flexibility is needed in the rules for recruitment of quality faculty to achieve that quality. Secondly, the Group recognized that effort should be made to monitor progress between the pre-induction and post-induction programmes of teachers. The Group also recognized that some of the institutions are doing remarkably well. In order that other institutions could learn from these experiences, the Group suggests that exposure to Best Practices is necessary for newly-inducted faculty for achieving academic excellence. The Group also recognizes that Introduction of Tenure Based Appointments may be considered in order to emphasize quality and capacity-building of the faculty. Similarly, it is recognized that flexibility in Cadre System indeed needs to be strengthened.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the ‘Movement of Faculty across Institutional Barriers needs to be reinforced’ was recommended by the Group. It was also recommended that the establishment of seed money for all new faculty should be thought about seriously, and while we talk about the seed money for doing research and for capacity-building, equal weightage in Humanities and Social Sciences needs to be given. It was also recognized that Teacher Education Departments in existing Central Universities need to be strengthened and also upgraded into composite schools of education indeed to enhance capacity- building programmes. The Group stressed that equal importance should be

350 given for research and teaching system for career upgradations. The Group also recognized that mentoring of new entrants into the teaching system to be strengthened for purposes of capacity building, particularly, of the new entrants. The Group also recognized that increase in the number of fellowships like inspired teacher programme, etc., across the board need to be increased. The Group was of the opinion that institutes must have a faculty development center which should look in all aspects of capacity-building of the faculty. We believe, indeed the group believed, that capacity-building is important for the purpose of achieving excellence. We also stressed that effectiveness of teaching of the faculty must be outcome-based.

Coming to the alumni participation and resource mobilization, apart from the serious discussion which took place in the morning and apart from the consensus which emerged out of the morning discussion, the Group stressed, in fact, emphasized, about the following three mechanisms. First of all, it was said or it was accepted across the board that setting-up of Alumni Relationship Systems in the Institution is absolutely necessary. Secondly, it was emphasised that engaging alumni in the institutional development and growth of every institution is indeed necessary. Thirdly, we believe and we strongly believe, that team of alumni be utilized in all operational mechanisms in the resource mobilization of every institution.

While we achieve this, or while we arrived at these recommendations, they were all unanimous recommendations that we agreed upon.

Finally, I would like to put on record my gratefulness to all the members of the Group who took active part in arriving at these recommendations. With that, I come to the end and thank you so very much for your kind attention. Thank you.

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PRESENTATION MADE BY PROF. JAWAHAR LAL KAUL VICE-CHANCELLOR, HEMVATI NANDAN BAHUGUNA GARHWAL UNIVERSITY, SRINAGAR (UTTARAKHAND)

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SHRIMATI OMITA PAUL: Thank you, Prof. Kaul. Now, I invite Group leader for Group 4, Prof. Partha Pratim Chakrabarti, Director, IIT – Kharagpur, to make the presentation.

PROF. PARTHA PRATIM CHAKRABARTI: Hon’ble President of India, Hon’ble Minister for HRD, Hon’ble Minister for Shipping, Transport and Highways, Hon’ble Minister of State for Chemical and Fertilizers, Vice- Chairman, NITI Aayog, Chairman, Co-Chairman, Panelists, Secretaries of the Government of India, my faculty colleagues and last, but not the least, Rashtrapati Bhavan members, good afternoon. Thank you for this opportunity, Sir.

This session was moderated by Shri Shashi Prakash Goyal and Shrimati Shamima Siddiqui, who made our work extremely easy. We were also supported by Shri Sanjeev Kumar Sharma of MHRD. We had, as usual, 19 members, and this Group was a proper mix of Central Universities, IITs, NITs, IISERs and NIPERs.

The task at hand was the second most important component of an academic institution, the faculty, with the students being the most important component. Two items were given on the platter -- one, workforce sustainability and two, improving technology-enabled training, both aimed at capacity development of faculty.

First, I would bring for your consideration the topic of workforce sustainability for capacity building of faculty. The analysis of the members, the goal, was how to make teaching a most preferred profession. We identified the issues that we have at hand. The role of the teacher in the current age has been significantly redefined beyond teaching. Now, teaching is augmented with research, curriculum development, innovation and entrepreneurship. Also, today, higher education teachers are meant to participate in national missions and take part in several national development activities as well as become international ambassadors for the nation.

The second issue that we came across was women coming into this profession. We must provide more and more opportunities to women to come into this profession, because they come into this profession with a lot of difficulties associated in terms of their families, transport, etc. However, this is becoming more preferred for women as a profession.

The third issue that we wanted to address was the difficulties that are faced in the current system. We saw that the answers to many of the difficulties, because of the mix that we have, were available in the sister institutions. So, we thought that we could address this by adopting the best practices of other institutions.

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The topics which we discussed included flexibility in cadre, recruitment, promotion and recognition, mobility and access to the best in class infrastructure and research groups and industry-society interaction with academia. It is not just industry interaction which we thought of; more importantly, society interaction with the academia is becoming very, very important.

We also thought that we must have some special means for faculty who are in the North-East, tribal and other disadvantaged areas. And then, there is always this huge tussle between autonomy and flexibility and we came to the conclusion that autonomy and flexibility are going to get guaranteed with accountability and transparency.

I think these were the issues which we discussed. We came up with two major and two minor proposals in this first agenda.

The first we thought was we must make it open to the new people coming in of what is the Faculty Life Cycle. It is just not teaching. Everybody comes in with a different view. But the life of a faculty and the life cycle of a faculty are very interesting and today they come with several themes. Therefore, the whole career opportunities and the Faculty Life Cycle Promotion Policy is something that we must propagate to encourage and attract the best people into this profession. So, this is the first recommendation which we thought. Let all of us must work with the Government to come out with this policy. Secondly, everybody thinks teaching is just a profession and says you just get in, and you will automatically become a teacher. But teaching is now a rigorous profession and, therefore, there are many skills and other things that you need to teach, that you need to learn and you need to learn all along your life. Therefore, initiation of Faculty Development Academies in various institutions, as well as some centralised academies linking to each other having scope for the Faculty Induction Programme, which is there in many institutes, the faculty Recharge Programme which was there were reinvigorated and some of the things that came out of the panel in terms of the industry and International Immersion Schemes. And we request that this is another proposal from our side which, we think, must be considered for development. Two small proposals, which we thought will automatically be taken care of by the other groups and that has naturally happened even though we didn’t discuss with them, were to enable Industry-Academia activities as well as Academia-Academia mobility, which my previous colleagues have already mentioned. The second was how do we share the best practices and revise the Government’s framework which combines autonomy and flexibility with accountability and transparency. The second agenda on our platter was how do we do capacity development of faculty by improving technology-enabled training. Will you back and see that a very, very good base has been developed; several things are in the offing and new

358 opportunities are there. The NKN is a backbone for us. The NPTEL talk to 10,000 teachers, Teacher Training Modules, Virtual laboratories and a few MOOCs are already in place. Under development now is the major Indian platform, that is, SWAYAM, which is going to be a platform for us to not only contribute to but use it also to develop our Faculty Development Schemes. The National Digital Library is coming up where all our teaching, learning and research material will be housed. And the GIAN, as has already been mentioned, is also coming up to bring in the international experience into our system. And GIAN is going to be recorded; GIAN is going to be webcast and GIAN is going to become part of the Technology-Enabled Learning Programme. New opportunities are coming up. We just saw the launch of IMPRINT and we are talking about enhancing GIAN including this National and International Collaboration. The most important thing we thought was to have national collaboration. We want to talk to somebody in another country even when there is an equally good expert in our country whom we either don’t know or don’t like to talk of. So, I think, that culture has to be changed. In order to bring in this change, we are requesting for a few proposals. One is to rebuild on the base. The NKN connectivity must improve to, at least, 10 GB to all institutions. Wi-fi connectivity is being provided to all institutions as smart classrooms are being prepared. But, I think, there must be a very, very strong benchmark about doing it in time. We are developing a huge national repositories in terms of MOOCs, SWAYAM and all that. But we all thought that National Data Centres for technology-enabled learning must be developed and planned now. Otherwise, all our efforts will start dying out for the lack of infrastructure. So, this was on infrastructure. The second, we are requesting two major digital platforms to be developed. We saw that India now has an opportunity to change and transfer not only education in India but in the world too. So, we thought that if all the things that we already have and all the things that have been built up, we could now integrate them into developing a national teaching and learning social network.

Universities should use this social network, or a suitable scheme, to enable all the faculty members to share their teaching experiences, best experiences and contribute. With this, we thought that we would be able to break out of the course era and everything into a new-age platform for India. So, we request that this platform may be considered for development.

The second thought was that we must participate in a proper way using technology-enabled learning using the MOOCs platform for two stages. One is the skill development programme and we must include this agenda to ensure that we use technology-enabled learning using artificial intelligence technologies, TEL-AI methodologies, to have these gaining frameworks for skill development and for school-level learning of basic sciences, language and mathematics. And, if we are able to do this, I think, if we get such

359 platforms, all of us in our group are very excited and we think that all the higher education institutions, including the ICT institutions, will be able to participate and bring in the thoughts of a billion minds to solve something for India. Thank you very much.

PRESENTATION MADE BY PROF. PARTHA PRATIM CHAKRABARTI DIRECTOR, INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY – KHARAGPUR

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SHRIMATI OMITA PAUL: Thank you, Prof. Chakrabarti. May I now request Dr. Gopa Sabharwal, Vice-Chancellor, Nalanda University, Rajgir, to make presentation on Group-5?

VICE-CHANCELLOR, NALANDA UNIVERSITY, RAJGIR (DR. GOPA SABHARWAL): Good afternoon, Hon’ble President of India, Hon’ble Ministers, Ladies and Gentlemen: I am here to present the report for the deliberations of Group-5. We were charged with discussing the engagement of institutions of higher learning with community and society for sustainable and inclusive development. The Moderator for our Group was Shri Siddarth Sharma, Financial Adviser, Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Like all other Groups, our Group also comprised 19 institutions, which spanned the length and breadth of the country and also in terms of range of institutions, Central universities, IITs and other universities. There is complete agreement, I think, in the room, not just our Group, that the community- university engagement is important. It is crucial. Universities must be rooted and learn from their context, and this should form their academic activities. Communities, in turn, benefit in terms of technologies, opportunities, access to ideas and also in the process of this interaction, I think, the university gets demystified in some ways taking its activities to the wider community. It is a

367 two-way traffic and a good community and educational institution interaction. It builds mutual trust and respect.

Community-university engagement should also, in order to be successful, benefit all three stakeholders that are involved in the process. The community gets to see an experience, a better life, employment and exposure to ideas. Students not only benefit for their future careers but also occasionally get credits for the work that they do. For the faculty, this engagement could lead to a very beneficial research projects, research output and advancement.

In our Group of 19, already when we sat down to discuss community and university engagement, there was a whole range of engagements that are already being undertaken by universities. We have put down a list of some of the projects that are being undertaken. This is, by no means, an exhaustive list. It is an illustrative list, but it is a list nevertheless that shows can show us the range and scope of the kind of activities that could be engaged in. We heard examples of one university developing a mobile app to be able to inform everybody in the region about the rural road conditions. Another was testing milk quality in the villages. Another was helping with pig-farming and honey production, use of fish waste for manure, training for solar power maintenance, community radios, helping develop green campuses for village schools, and career development guidance, especially for women.

Some other interventions are, computer training and certification, which enables the people to get so trained to go out and find jobs; medical camps; improving silk production techniques; developing a modified bicycle for transporting bananas to the market; documenting folk art; study of traditional irrigation in mountain farms; and, enabling craftspeople to make products that have greater marketability. This is, as I said, just an illustrative list of the kind of projects that the universities are already engaging in.

Looking ahead, we thought that the higher education institutions and their involvement in community development is a win-win for both, and, as we just said, there are many success stories. In order to move forward -- our group had only a few recommendations to make -- I think, it is necessary to institutionalize this engagement. We need to create a public repository of successful interventions. It would serve as an inventory of all the projects that are ongoing. It will serve two purposes. It will create awareness about what can be done, and, this will also serve the purpose of also benchmarking these projects. Other institutions, other student groups could get ideas from each other by looking at this repository and can get ideas about newer research projects.

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Secondly, we feel, and, it has happened in some of the cases that we discussed, for the benefit of the community to be sustained, it is important in certain instances to involve industry for commercialisation of new inventions, new techniques, and, these will have far-reaching consequences.

Thirdly, it would be better if we could formally integrate the student- community engagement into the academic framework. This will serve as an incentive to students to participate in the process. They may do so by teaching in nearby schools; by undertaking community-based projects, and, by studying and identifying the problems faced by villagers.

The higher educational institutions may also partner in the ‘Unnat Bharat Abhiyan’ (UBA) where every institution adopts five villages in their vicinity; identifies technological gaps in their livelihoods; and, works on providing innovative solutions that can transform the rural economy. So far, all of the projects that we described or talked about have been managed by the internal resources of all the institutions that were part of the group. It was, however, felt that in future as programmes go, there may be a need for some budgetary support for these activities, especially, to scale up the level of engagement. With that, I come to an end of the recommendations of this group. Thank you.

PRESENTATION MADE BY DR. GOPA SABHARWAL VICE-CHANCELLOR, NALANDA UNIVERSITY, RAJGIR

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SHRIMATI OMITA PAUL: Thank you, Prof. Sabharwal. Now, I invite leader of Group VI, Professor Sunaina Singh, Vice-Chancellor, English and Foreign Languages University, to make the presentation.

PROF. SUNAINA SINGH: Hon’ble Rashtrapati ji, Hon’ble HRD Minister, Madam Smriti Irani ji, Hon’ble Ministers, distinguished guests, panelists, colleagues and friends, good afternoon and namaskar to all of you.

Henry Ford had said, “Coming together is the beginning, keeping together is progress, and, working together is success”. I must thank Hon’ble Rashtrapati ji for providing us this opportunity to come together on this common platform of building a roadmap for higher education. These three days, we have had extensive discussion, a lot of take-aways for all of us to introspect upon and also perhaps to translate some of the ideas into action.

My Group, that is Group 6, focussed on promotion of gender equity and cultural inclusion through higher education. But before I begin our recommendations, I must thank Shrimati Gaitri I. Kumar, Joint Secretary, President Secretariat and Dr. Jaspal Singh Sandhu, Secretary, UGC, for ably moderating the discussion of this particular Group. I must also thank my colleagues. There were 19 of us together looking at this particular area which probably needs attention. We have divided our recommendations into short- term, mid-term and long-term recommendations.

These are the short-term goals or recommendations that we have set for ourselves. The recognition of the Group is that not enough attention has been paid to gender budgeting in our institutions and, therefore, focus must shift on gender budgeting and targeting the timeline to generate gender-related data for input monitoring. We also felt that adequate representation of women in statutory governing bodies has to be increased in institutions. The only way forward is to have targets and timelines. The other thing that we felt is that it is absolutely essential to have periodic orientation programmes for gender sensitisation, across the board. Therefore, we thought that let there be tablet courses or, as they call in the US, short, slim courses on gender equity and ethics should be offered not just to students but also to faculty. We also recommended that the Child Care Leave should be extended to both the parents, and not just to the mother, with the option to work from home. It was also decided that relaxation in the duration of PhD scholarship to be provided to women scholars. What the higher education institutions must do is to have day care crèches in all the institutions. The other short-term goal that we have is that scholarships are to be provided to encourage women, girls to take up different courses. The institutions must also provide secure environment in the institutions. Now, capacity building for entrepreneurship and leadership for women is an absolute must because in institutions we do not have courses of

374 this nature. We also felt that there is a need to have counselling centres, that is, counselling centres in all higher education institutions should be established which specifically look at gender problems.

Medium-term goals – there are four recommendations. Relevant curriculum -- the curriculum to be periodically re-invented keeping with the global changes, keeping with the changes at national level too. I think it is important to be relevant in today’s time and also keep in mind perhaps a decade or two in advance and prepare courses. It is also important to have access to online courses. This needs to be made easier for girl students, women students at any stage or at any level. There should be incentives for online courses, particularly for women students, and additional credits perhaps can be given to women students.

We also felt there has to be clustering of institutions for collaborations on gender work. Gender research, gender courses, let it be a clustering where institutions are concerned.

The long-term goal: we thought that there has to be an effective database prepared or a research directory on existing or on-going research on women. This is something that we do not have. I think, I have recommended this in my institution as well as to have a directory on research, the kind of research that we take up. We also thought that education for women at any age, any stage. What we mean is that age relaxation to encourage women to complete academic programmes, to take up academic programmes at any age, any stage, perhaps.

Other area that we have looked at is the cultural inclusion. India being a diverse nation, there is a need to define and to understand cultural inclusion. The way forward is to dig in by questioning how to accelerate sensitisation of our institutions to regional and linguistic diversities and to guide them in taking concrete measures which are time-bound, target-oriented and measurable. This is possible only when we strengthen the cultural and the national identity by having courses on cultural inclusion. Immediate steps, perhaps, for the institutions to take in this direction, would be to have foundation programmes in every institution on cultural integration. The entire group felt very strongly about this and recommended that there should be courses on cultural integration.

The other good idea that came about is called ‘Explorer’s fellowship’. This is a cash incentive to students for visiting six States in six weeks. This is a voluntary programme. There is no regulation here but this is to understand the cultural moorings of the country. Six diverse States in different directions; to build tolerance, to build mutual understanding, to enrich ourselves of the

375 cultural heritage of the country, I think, that should be the aim, the direction that needs to be given to the students.

The medium-term goal that we have for cultural inclusion is to start additional modules on Indian languages and culture. It is very, very important. When a language dies, as we know, an entire culture dies. So, we thought that it is important that we have additional modules. Also, to enhance fellowship for studies on cultural inclusion, to promote cultural inclusion, I think, there has to be a seed money that needs to be given to the students. Also, to give fellowship to students studying outside their home States, we thought this is very important to move from one State to another to understand the cultural moorings of the country. The long-term goal here is how technology, as an enabler, could help in understanding diversity in Indian languages and also to provide access in different regions through technology to a language. As I said, when a language dies, an entire culture dies and, therefore, the traditional wisdom of that particular language of the region needs to be kept alive. Therefore, we thought that technology has to be optimally used here.

To create more Indian language cells in universities, this is another thing which we felt very strongly about that there should be Indian language cells which currently we do not have. There is no attention to humanities, to culture, to language in our curricula; so, perhaps, it is important to build language cells which focus on humanities. This is the soft culture of India and, therefore, needs to be promoted and cells also for performing arts, for traditions of diverse Indian culture. I think, it is very important to have a cell for arts, performing arts or different forms of arts, different forms of cultural wisdom. If we leave it open to the imagination of the cell, I think, one could develop this.

This would help in building a strong nation where cultural inclusion is part of our mandate. Thank you very much.

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PRESENTATION MADE BY PROF. SUNAINA SINGH VICE-CHANCELLOR, THE ENGLISH AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES UNIVERSITY

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SHRIMATI OMITA PAUL: Thank you, Prof. Sunaina Singh. With this, we come to the end of the presentations of the Working Group. I now request Dr. Arvind Panagariya, Vice-Chairperson, NITI Aayog, and Chair of Panel Discussion 1, to make observations on the agenda items assigned to this Panel.

DR. ARVIND PANAGARIYA: Thank you, Madam.

Hon’ble President, Hon’ble Minister of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways, Hon’ble Minister of HRD, Hon’ble State Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers and distinguished guests, our Panel largely focused on improving the quality of higher education in institutions to bring them on a par with the top institutions of the world. It was organised around various subjects that I will name in just one minute. My Co-Chair was Dr. R.A. Mashelkar, Chairperson, National Innovation Foundation. Our Panelists included Prof. Ashish Nanda, Dr. Baldev Raj, Shri Ajay Piramal, Prof. V.S. Chauhan, Shri Senapathy ‘Kris’ Gopalakrishnan and Ms. Naina Lal Kidwai. The discussion focussed on five themes. They are: Creating interlinkages between industry and academia; interfacing with ranking agencies; providing impetus to research and innovation in educational ecosystem; enhancing involvement of alumni; and a set of governance issues. In the list, we also have the establishment of international networks but generally the Panelists did not touch the theme. Nor

383 was there much discussion on the engagement of institutes of higher learning with community and society for sustainable and inclusive development. I shall report on the recommendations that came through. Many of these echo what has been described in the discussions of the Groups.

Let me first talk about creating linkages between industry and academia. A suggestion was made that this has to be done by bringing the industry to the academia and by taking the academia to the industry. It was suggested that courses on industry case studies could be taught. Field trips to the industry could be arranged for the students and the faculty. Executive education would bring the industry to the academia. CSR monies could be used more effectively for research. Teaching by industry leaders as Adjunct Professors could bring further links. Universities could also help solve the applied problems to the benefit of the industry via industry research branch and industry could also contribute by opening institutions of higher learning and higher education. These were the issues related to the industry and the academia on which the Panelists focussed.

Now I come to interfacing with ranking agencies. It was noted here that in the international rankings, traditionally Indian institutes have not fared very well. Until this year Indian institutions did not rank in the top 200 QS rankings. For the first time in 2015, we have two Indian institutions which made it to the top 200 list of QS rankings. One is the Indian Institute of Science and the second one is the IIT Delhi. IIT Bombay came very close to it. Its position was 202. One of our Panelists is Director, IIM Ahmedabad. He told us that the IIM Ahmedabad has ranked in the top 15 of the Financial Times Rankings of Management Schools. It has been suggested that there are two reasons that led to lower ranking of Indian institutions which are beyond the control of the institutions.

One is that these rankings often include an element of international students and how much participation of international students is there. And, by nature, if you have Switzerland located in Europe, then, any student who comes to Switzerland from any other country from within Europe would actually contribute to raising the rankings. On the other hand, India has a very large number of States and a lot of students do come from different States, but they are not counted as international students. So, there is a natural disadvantage in these rankings. It was also noted that some of the rankings also incorporate the salaries paid to the students who graduate from the institutions. Given the fact that comparison is done by converting the local currency salaries into the dollars, using the usual exchange rates, it tends to understate the Indian salaries, given the low levels of per capita income in general. Some of the participants noted that they are in dialogue with the ranking agencies to correct this state of affairs. One of the panelists also

384 noted that we would soon be ranking the institutions internally. This was from Mr. Chauhan, who says that the National Assessment and Accreditation Council would do that. He noted that we have got 35,000 institutions and it is possible to rank these domestically. He has been working on this. So, it is likely that rankings are given domestically.

On impetus to research and innovation, there was a fair bit of discussion. The focus largely was on innovation and related issue of entrepreneurship. IIM-Ahmedabad noted that they do have incubation centres. Some of the IITs also have incubation centres, but largely, a view was expressed that the Indian institutions, broadly speaking, do not have such incubation centres. A sentiment was expressed that generally, the cost of creating these incubation centres is relatively low and the return on establishing these incubation centres could be actually quite high. This basically is very helpful in taking the fear out of the students. So, that was one recommendation.

It was also noted that the culture of entrepreneurship is lacking in India. Student entrepreneurs are so common in the United States. Examples of Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, etc. were given. That kind of student entrepreneurship still is missing from India and perhaps something could be introduced in the curriculum, which would encourage student entrepreneurship. We could also leverage technology to create depositories of knowledge. It was noted that IIT-Madras has created research park and again, this is with limited investments. One problem that was noted was that very few students look for research careers and that, of course, undermines the research activity itself.

Let me also get into the enhanced involvement of the alumni. It was noted that the culture of cultivating the alumni has not been very entrenched in the Indian system. Often times, this was the view expressed by some of the participants who were from the industry that when institutions approach the industrialists, who are the alumni, very quickly the issue of financing or contributions to the institution gets broached. It was compared then to the general US practice where once the first contact is made, often, there are several other contacts before the issue of any financial contributions is broached. So, this was a recommendation of how we could try to change that culture so that financial contributions from the alumni and the linkages in general would be stronger. Alumni could also play an important role in the promotion of research through financial contributions, but they could also serve the universities and colleges by taking in students for internships.

It was also recommended that institutions need to have Development Officers. This is again very similar to the U.S. practice where most Universities

385 and even schools within the Universities often have their own Development Officers. They very closely work with the alumni.

Then there was not much discussion on the International Network, but a fair bit of discussions happened on some of the governance issues about which I will report and will conclude my presentation. It was emphasised that autonomy is the central point and it is only through autonomy to colleges and universities that we would open the door to rapid development of new courses, courses that are directly relevant to local conditions and also courses that are contemporary. It was also suggested that we ought to have boundary- less learning meaning that we have to allow a lot more cross registrations. That again is the kind of practice very common in the United States and European Universities where once you enrol for a programme, you can go and take courses across various disciplines. Autonomy will also allow rapid introduction of contemporary issues, as I mentioned, like, sanitation, renewable energy and water resources are the big issues today, and it often takes time for courses on these to begin to appear in our Curriculum. It was also suggested that we may want to think in terms of introducing a Regulator to facilitate easier entry of new universities. One of the Panelists, actually, noted that today opening of a new University in India is very, very difficult. He cited the example of IIT, Indore, where he said that permission to the IIT, Indore, was, actually, granted in 2008 and it took almost five years for the land to be provided. So, it was only in 2013 that land became available. So, these were some of the issues related to governance that were made. Thank you.

SHRIMATI OMITA PAUL: Thank you, Dr. Panagriya. I would now request the Chair of the second Panel, Shri B.V.R. Mohan Reddy for observations on the Agenda items assigned to them.

SHRI B.V.R. MOHAN REDDY: Hon’ble President of India, Hon’ble Ministers of the Union Cabinet, other Dignitaries, Ladies and Gentlemen, it is an honour and privilege for me to report to you on the discussions and deliberations that happened as a part of the Panel 2 earlier this morning. This Panel was chaired by Ms. Khullar, the CEO of NITI Aayog. It had a good mix of people, four from the corporate world. They had Mr. Rajendra Singh Pawar, Ms. Chanda Kochhar, Ms. Kumud Srinivasan and me from the industry. We had two academicians, Dr. Sahasrabudhe and Dr. Raj Mehta and an eminent DRDO scientist and Dr. Tessy Thomas.

The agenda that has been given to us is somewhat similar to what has been talked about by the six Working Groups as also the Panel chaired by Dr. Arvind Panagriya. So, pardon us if there are repetitions in terms of recommendations. But you will be delighted to note that the recommendations have tremendous amount of consistency which means that all of us have the

386 same belief in what requires to be done in short, medium and long-term. We went ahead and discussed the major two topics. One is the capacity development for faculty to provide quality education and the second one was to promote equity through higher education.

In the first one, that is, on the capacity development for faculty, the overall impression that we have is that, certainly, excellence and equity is the key pillars to ensure that we have quality and capacity that could combine our educational institutions. Without these two pillars, that is, excellence and equity, we would really have serious challenges. Equally so, we felt that equity will lead to excellence and not necessarily affirmative actions.

The third point I would like to bring to your attention is that the faculty training, equity and diversity are all certainly major shortages in the nation today. But, certainly, quickly, I need to add that there has been a lot done in this area, but not necessarily enough. We certainly require a more structured and systematic engagement in order to ensure we improve them. We do not put them into categories of short, medium and long-term, but these are interventions which are required as soon as we can in order to ensure that we will certainly address the challenges that we have in the higher education system.

On the first one, on the capacity development, the first sub-theme that we had is how do you do workforce sustainability. As we call in corporate world, how do you recruit people, retain people and reward people? The recruitment process could only happen if you can attract the brightest minds and enrol them into PhD programmes for potentially making them faculty members. We also need to retain them in these teaching roles and make them contribute towards research. We need to have certainly an innovative compensation structure to attract the best of talent. I think this is one of the challenges that we have seen all around the country in various educational institutions. And, equally important, as much as the compensation structure is, also the environment in order to make sure that they would contribute tremendously, an environment which should help them in terms of research, in terms of publication, in terms of innovation, creating intellectual property, and so on and so forth.

The second part of recommendations we have is, unlike the typical teachers who go through a process of B.Ed Programme, Bachelor in Education, or, Master in Education, when it comes to technical education, as soon as people complete their PhD Programmes, they are into training or teaching. So, certainly, the faculty requires an immersion programme, and training programmes before they are inducted into the teaching roles. We need to certainly ensure that the standards are set in terms of faculty

387 performance, and once we set these standards, as we do in the corporate world, we need to have the robust assessment systems and also an implementation plan as to how we roll out these particular systems that we are putting in place.

The last recommendation in terms of workforce sustainability is that certainly, there is a fairly large amount of PhDs in the industry, and if we were to make sure that the industry-academia connect becomes strengthened, we could definitely bring practitioners, especially the subject-matter experts into academic institutions. The subject-matter experts could become the faculty members for various different part periods of time.

The second sub-theme that we discussed was on the faculty development thereafter. Sir, given the current situation we have in terms of disruptions in technology and also the fast-changing industry trends, the learning processes for faculty are becoming more and more rigid than it was in the past. Certainly, we need to ensure that there is sufficient amount of inputs provided to the current faculty members and especially so because the attention span of the students also is coming down because of distractions like WhatsApp, the social media, etc. We need different faculty learning interventions, especially for the tier-II, tier-III and also lower level engineering colleges. There may not be one approach which fits all. We might have to have different approaches to see that the engineering education in this country is addressed with regard to the faculty development. We need also to create a Faculty Training Academy and an Indian Society of Faculty Development for up- skilling the faculty. One of the things that was also brought to the attention by the Panel was that values in education is also important.

We also need leadership development because the faculty members or the people who have taken leadership roles in becoming Deans, Directors, Vice-Chancellors, and, certainly, they require certain amount of interventions.

And, certainly, they require certain amount of interventions. We can also have immersion programmes for new faculty. There should be investment in faculty training by industry experts. As I said earlier, we need to set standards for performance.

Sir, the third sub-theme we talked about is how do we involve technology for enablement of capacity development. Certainly, we see great possibilities. There are great disappointments given that we are lagging far behind, but we have great expectations also. Sir, the recommendation of the panel was that technology for learning can happen through leadership, planning and execution. I think there is technology abundantly available. It is

388 the question of putting the right leadership, putting a plan together and executing it. There are great lessons from the Western world we could learn. There are challenges that the Western world has faced in terms of course completion rates, accreditation, students’ artification and revenue models. Those should be addressed when we roll out MOOCs like platforms. Other aspects of technology-enabled learning like flip teaching and peer to peer learning, were also recommended by the panel. Given the digitally connected world, we should also exploit devices like the smart phones as a virtual training device. We can adopt video-based learning, testing and using simulation technology. Faculty can also leverage technology for self-testing and evaluation and also collaborate using social media. There are tools which are already in existence in this area.

Sir, finally, on the capacity development, we also talked about the alumni participation and, as rightly pointed out earlier by Group-2, we think the alumni engagement has to improve considerably and that has also to be done through a structured approach. Large contributions are not necessary. There was one example of Stanford University – 33,000 students contributing to $ 24 million. So, it is not the large sums of money. But if we can probably improve on the engagement, we could have a substantially large amount of money. Alumni not necessarily is required to provide only funding, but they can also give quality inputs like mentoring, being members of the Board, teaching at the IITs and so on. People of eminence should be brought on board. They can put difficult changes to benefit the institution. We need to bring in more transparency in governance. We need to put in place third party audits for funding which is coming from alumni to build more amount of confidence. We should have a competition between education institutions on alumni involvement. This is one strong recommendation. One possible parameter could be the number of alumni who were involved with institutions. Sir, briefly, on the second point, on the promotion of gender equity and culture inclusion, for paucity of time, we did not discuss about the culture inclusion part. But on the gender equity, we believe that we need interventions right from the primary school to increase the girl child population. Further interventions are required so that they do not drop off as they start moving up the ladder in terms of higher education. We need to create self-employment and self- esteem for women participation in higher education. Woman leaders are required to be recognised and their achievements celebrated to inspire future generations. Women leaders have to spend time in coaching and mentoring. To promote participation of women in faculty, one of the recommendations was that we need to provide more flexibility on maternity leave, virtual classroom sessions, on-line teaching from home and so on. So, these are briefly the recommendations of Panel 2. Thank you.

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PRESENTATON MADE BY SHRI B.V.R. MOHAN REDDY CHAIRMAN, BOG, IIT-HYDERABAD; CHAIRMAN-NASSCOM; EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN, CYIENT

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SHRIMATI OMITA PAUL: Thank you, Mr. Reddy. I now hand over the floor to the Hon’ble President.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. I am indeed happy to have the recommendations of the Groups and also to note the observations from two Panel discussions from their representatives.

Now, I will request the Hon’ble Ministers present here, who have listened to the Group presentations and observations of the representatives of the two Panel discussions to make their observations. I will request first Shri Hansraj Gangaram Ahir, Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers, to make his observations, Mr. Ahir.

रसायन और उ셍वरक मंत्रालय मᴂ रा煍य मंत्री (श्री हंसराज गंगाराम अहीर) : थतℂ य, सर, परम आदरणीय राष्ट्रपति महोदय जी, माननीय सड़क एवं पररवहन मंिी जी, माननीय मानव संसाधन ववकास मंिी जी, माननीय नीति आयोग के उपाध्यक्ष जी, माननीय राष्ट्रपति महोदय की सधचव िथा हमारे देि के उ楍च मिक्षण संथथानⴂ के प्रमखु , माननीय राष्ट्रपति महोदय जी के मागिदििन मᴂ आयोस्जि इस कु लाध्यक्ष स्मेलन मᴂ उपस्थथि होने का मझु े अवसर ममला है, स्जसके मलए म ℂ अपने आपको गौरवास्न्वि महसस कर रहा ह ं।

भारि को जेनररक दवाओं मᴂ औषध क्षेि का वैस्श्वक निे त्मृ व प्राप्ि है। औषध ववभाग दवाओं के क्षेि मᴂ भारि की आत्ममतनभिरिा के मलए साविजतनक एवं तनजी, दोनⴂ क्षेिⴂ मᴂ योगदान के मलए उनकी उपलस्ब्धयⴂ का स्मान करिा है। पररमाण के मलहाज़ से भारि वैस्श्वक थिर पर िीसरा सबसे बड़ा और म쥍 य के पररपेक्ष्य से 10वᴂ थथान पर है। ववश्व थिर पर उपभोग की जाने वाली हर िीसरी टेबलेट भारि मᴂ तनममिि है। हमारे देि मᴂ 200 से अधधक देिⴂ को औषधधयां तनयािि की जा रही हℂ, स्जनमᴂ से बड़ा भाग ववतनयममि बाजारⴂ मᴂ तनयािि ककया जािा है। इसका 煍यादािर श्रेय पेटᴂट अधधतनयम, 1970 के 셂प मᴂ नीतिगि पहलⴂ को जािा है, स्जसके अंिगिि प्रकिया पेटᴂट को अनमु ति दी गई थी, स्जससे भारि आयािक देि से तनयाििक देि मᴂ िब्दील होने मᴂ समथि हो पाया है।

िामाि क्षेि एक ज्ञान आधाररि ववज्ञान और प्रौ饍योधगकी आधाररि उ饍योग है। भारिीय घरेल बाजार के ववश्लेषण से पिा चलिा है कक पेटᴂट दवाओं का र्हथसा 1% से भी कम है, जो वहनीयिा के कारण बढ़ रहे कℂ सर जैसे गैर संचारी रोगⴂ के सामने आधतु नकिम दवाइयⴂ िक कम पहुंच िथा कम उपलस्ब्ध पररलक्षक्षि करिा है। यह मु ा ववश्व व्यापार संगठन, र्रप्स के बाद भारि मᴂ औषध खोज एवं नवाचार मᴂ इसके नेित्मृ व को बढ़ाने के मलए इसकी रणनीति मᴂ पररवििन की िात्मकामलकिा को दिाििा है। इसके मलए एक मजबि मिक्षा उ饍योग संबंध की

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आवश्यकिा है। औषध खोज मᴂ भारि के निे त्मृ व से न केवल दवाएं ककिायिी हो जाएंगी, अवपिु भारि का एक समृ राष्ट्र बनने का मागि प्रिथि होगा, स्जससे गरीबी उन्मल न भी होगा।

यही वे पररस्थथतियां हℂ, स्जसके अंिगिि भारि सरकार ने भारि को दवाओं की खोज मᴂ ववश्व मᴂ अग्रणीय बनाने के मलए उ楍च गणु वत्मिायतु ि जनिस्ति उपलब्ध कराने के मलए नाईपर संथथान की थथापना की है। वििमान मᴂ साि नाईपर संथथान औषधध ववभाग के अंिगिि कायि कर रहे हℂ। इन संथथानⴂ का मल उेश्य औषधध मिक्षा और अनसु ंधान के क्षेि मᴂ गुणवत्मिा और श्रेष्ट्ठिा को बढ़ाना है।

आर्भ मᴂ मोहाली मᴂ नाईपर संथथान की थथापना 1991 मᴂ की गई थी। बाद मᴂ 6 नये नाईपर, अमहदाबाद, हाजीपरु , हैदराबाद, रायबरेली, गुवाहाटी और कोलकािा मᴂ थथावपि ककए गए। वषि 2012 मᴂ सरकार ने मदरु ै मᴂ एक नाईपर संथथान को मजं री दी। यह मामला ईएिसी चरण मᴂ है। वषि 2015-16 के दौरान सरकार 饍वारा महाराष्ट्र, राजथथान और छत्मिीसगढ़ मᴂ नाईपर संथथान थथावपि करने की घोषणा की गई थी। रा煍य सरकारᴂ इन संथथानⴂ के मलए भम म तनधािररि करने की प्रकिया मᴂ हℂ। मोहाली स्थथि नाईपर संथथान को छोड़कर अन्य सभी नाईपर संथथान थवयं के पररसर/भवन, संकाय आर्द के अभाव मᴂ अपने मᴂटर संथथान से काम कर रहे हℂ।

साि नाईपर संथथानⴂ मᴂ केवल दो नाईपर संथथानⴂ के अपने थवयं के तनदेिक हℂ। तनदेिकⴂ की तनयस्ु ति के मलए एक चयन सममति गर्ठि की गई है।

हमारा यह संक쥍प है कक नाईपर संथथान को अपने उेश्यⴂ को पर ा करने मᴂ आने वाले सभी अवरोधⴂ को दर ककया जाए और िामाि उ饍योग को कु िल कामगार उपलब्ध कराने मᴂ पर ा सहयोग र्दया जाए।

इससे िामाि सेतटर मᴂ नयी खोजᴂ करने की प्रकिया मᴂ सधु ार होगा। हमारे औषध ववभाग 饍वारा नाईपर संथथान और िामाि उ饍योग, स्जनमᴂ साविजतनक उपिम भी िाममल हℂ, के मध्य 17 समझौिⴂ पर हथिाक्षर कराये गये हℂ।

औषध ववभाग के अथक प्रयासⴂ से ही यह संभव हुआ है कक नाईपसि संथथानⴂ िथा िामाि उ饍योग िथा साविजतनक उपिमⴂ के मध्य 17 समझौिⴂ पर हथिाक्षर ककये गये हℂ। इस उेश्य को पर ा करने हेिु ककये गये प्रयासⴂ के मलए म ℂ औषध ववभाग के अधधकाररयⴂ िथा

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िामाि उ饍योग को धन्यवाद देना चाहिा ह ाँ। मेरा यह मानना है कक केवल समझौिⴂ पर हथिाक्षर करना ही अपने आप मᴂ पयािप्ि नहीं है, अवपिु ववभाग िथा िामाि उ饍योग के बीच तनरंिर ववचार-ववमिि होना िथा इस संबंध मᴂ तनधािररि उेश्य को प्राप्ि करना हमारा लक्ष्य रहेगा। म ℂ भी समय-समय पर इन समझौिⴂ का उेश्य पण ि करने की प्रगति की समीक्षा करिा रह ाँगा। धन्यवाद।

सड़क परर셍हन और राजमागव मंत्री; और पोत परर셍हन मंत्री (श्री नननतन जयराम गडकरी): अब म ℂ माननीय मंिी श्रीमिी थमतृ ि जत्रु बन इरानी जी से प्राथिना करिा ह ाँ कक वे अपनी बाि कहᴂ।

मान셍 संसाधन व셍कास मंत्री (श्रीमती मनृ त जबु िन ईरानी): धन्यवाद तनतिन जी। My senior Cabinet colleague, आदरणीय तनतिन गडकरी जी, my colleague in the Cabinet, Shri Hansraj Ahir, Secretary to the Hon’ble President, Shrimati Omita Paul, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen and, specially, institutional leaders, who have gathered here to take this effort forward to go beyond our dreams, recognize the realities that face us and give us an institutional framework with regard to how we approach solutions.

At the outset, I would like to begin with my expression and reflection on the Group recommendations that were made today. I shall go in the reverse order. Group 6 spoke about gender equity and cultural inclusion. I, as the HRD Minister, have had the privilege, for the first time in the history of the country, of nominating two women to the IIT Council. Of the 11 Chairpersons that were nominated for the NIT family, six were women. But I am also recognizing, on this floor, the challenges that many a women face in educational institutions. I had the pleasure of visiting one of the NIT facilities, where I went to the lab, which was not designated for a ministerial visit and hence, not spruced up. And when I passed by, I saw a defunct toilet. When I asked whom that toilet was meant to service, they said, the female students who came to the lab. My request is: can we look at these small measures which would help make the life of our female students and teachers better? With the blessings and the leadership of the Prime Minister, we were given the mammoth task of building one toilet for girl students in the Government school sector, and the time-limit given to us was just one year. Many thought and many said that it was an impossible situation for the Government to deliver, in a nation as vast as ours, separate toilets for girls in every school. But we managed to overcome that challenge and gave a solution within the dedicated timeline, because we truly believe that when you give these foundational facilities to women, they respond and they grow. We have a growth in the number of girls who have enrolled themselves in the schools, and I am

397 hopeful that we would see more and more women coming out in leadership positions, more and more women benefiting from facilities such as labs and libraries, if we could give them adequate facility and access.

I am extremely enthused by the ‘any time-any age-any stage’ proposal that has been given by Group 6. I am hopeful that you can give me a detailed proposal which can be looked into, and if there is any help needed from the MHRD, I would like to assure here publicly that all the help needed would be given.

I am extremely enthused to note that an Explorers’ Fellowship has been proposed. Under the National Book Trust, we announced last year a project called Shodh Yatri under which the Government of India would fund a student from the higher education sector, students from the school education sector, a historian, a photographer and take them overseas, so that they can trace back Indian legacies. I would encourage the same in terms of domestic interventions and explorations and I would request all universities, IITs, NITs, IIScs and IIITs, which come within the ambit of the MHRD, to get us such proposals.

But get us those proposals within a definite procedure and a definite structure so that a structured response can be given.

I support the Group-6 recommendation of having a Centre for Indian Languages in every Central University and I assure you that the support will not be reduced to mere rhetoric. We will engage with all Central Universities to ensure that all support needed for such Centres in Indian languages is provided. There has been a recommendation made with regard to promotion of Indian languages and leveraging technology for the same. In the coming four months, MHRD is in the process of dedicating to the nation a platform called Bharatvani under which all the material we have of research and curriculum and higher education will be dedicated to the nation in 22 languages in the first year. In the coming three years, it will be enhanced to 100 languages. If any institution wants to give any kind of educative academic contribution to Bharatvani, I would welcome the same.

Group-5 spoke about sustainable and inclusive development and I was extremely happy to note that we did find support for Unnat Bharat Abhiyan which has institutionalised engagement between universities, academic institutions and communities and students at large. I hereby declare that a special help desk will be generated at the MHRD to facilitate every educational institution that wants to be a part of the Unnat Bharat Abhiyan. This will also help educational institutions engaged with other Ministries across Government of India. I implore that they do come and take part in the Unnat Bharat Abhiyan and all the support that you need from MHRD for

398 engagement not only with other Ministries in Government of India but also industry leaders shall be given.

Group-4 spoke about teachers and teaching. I support Dr. Chakrabarti’s proposal of RISE, a matrix of domestic and international collaborators on the research front. I am happy to inform this august gathering that, in my capacity as HRD Minister, on the Commonwealth platform we have reached a conclusion that the Commonwealth is where we will begin and all the Commonwealth institutions will come together to form that matrix. I would request Group-4 members to communicate with HRD and become a part of that initiative, thereby giving the first opportunity for RISE to truly rise. I do recognise your idea of the forthcoming platform called SWAYAM. You have reflected on the need to include school learning and skill development in it. I would like to reiterate it here, as I did yesterday in my opening remarks, that SWAYAM will include skill development programmes and school modules from Class IX to XII along with certification from our School Board, the CBSE. We would also encourage States’ Board of School Educations to give us material so that they can also be invited on the SWAYAM. With regards to making teaching a preferred position, I recall a programme done in IIT Kanpur called ‘New Faculty, New Hope’. I will speak about it as I go on with my recommendations and observations.

But I would like to declare here that since Group-4 and Group-3 have predominantly looked at teaching challenges, under the Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya National Mission on Teachers and Training we are looking forward in the next six to eight months having a national platform so that we can engage with every teacher in the school system and provide the platform similarly to institutes of higher education. We will discuss the plan with all the IITs and all the Central Universities so that you can partake in that particular effort of the Government of India.

With regard to the observations made by Group-2, I must put my appreciation out here with regard to taking a decision to measure the outcomes of not only the MoUs that you sign but also the international visits because that is a question that often plagues many who are in the administrative services as to what is the outcome truly of all the taxpayers’ money that is spent on MoUs and foreign visits by dignitaries. I not only welcome that but also the suggestion for GRIN which, I believe, is similar to the recommendation made by Dr. Partha Chakrabarti about RISE. So, I think that an amalgamation of forces between Group-5 and Group-2 with regard to an international matrix for research collaboration is something that we, in MHRD, will support and I am hopeful that if Group-2 and Group-5 can sit together and give us some projects for the Commonwealth platform, that is something that can fructify early.

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Ladies and Gentlemen, I go back to the last Group, in fact, the first one that presented their observations on industry-academia linkage. With the permission of the Hon’ble President, let me do share that I am a bit perturbed by certain observations made in Group-1. For too long, I have heard the Hon’ble President implore every institution, let us compete internationally to improve our rankings. For too long, I have heard the Secretary to the Hon’ble President say why don’t we engage with every institution and see how we can facilitate the rise in rankings. My request is that Group-1 takes six months to nominate a nodal person to study parameters. I am sure that all the institution leaders here today are already aware of the international parameters. Let us expedite this process. Instead of giving us 16 months to form bridges to study parameters of finding industry linkages, I think, if a national programme like IMPRINT, which began last October, can be fructified in a year and be dedicated to the nation, that is reflective of the resolve that once this group of institution leaders resolve to do something, they can do it within a limited time span. So, my request is that if there is any industry linkage that you would like us to support on, we are more than happy to provide that support. But you have not only international rankings to compete on but also domestic rankings under the National Institutional Ranking Framework. My request is that the NIRF is not a very difficult parameter to study. The website has been opened since the 2nd of November. I would request every institution present here today to please come on board. If there are any parameters that are a challenge for you to understand, the AICTE Chairman, Dr. Sahasrabudhe, is personally available to help every institution seated here today, so that we, at least, the institutions, that are funded by the Government of India, can show to the people of India that we want our students to make informed choices, that we want to be absolutely transparent and we compete not only internationally but also domestically for those who are not blessed enough to go overseas and see possibly the institutions that are ranked better internationally as compared to Indian institutions.

I do recognise that there are many who are on the threshold of breaking into the 200 club. Some have done well - IISC, Bangalore, and IIT, Delhi. As the Human Resource Development Minister, I am hereby committing for the next one year Rs.100 crores for ten top institutions who want to compete for international rankings, so that any infrastructural challenges that you face, can be met.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I recognise ‘New Faculty New Hope’ programme for IIT, Kanpur, and I believe that if we have a nomenclature like this, where we invited students or teachers, especially from tribal areas, from the North- East, teachers who have great research ideas but do not have financial support, if we can get 100 such teachers in the country and under such a programme, I am more than happy as the HRD Minister to support them

400 financially and give a face to them, then many in the youth can get inspired by their capacities and the support the institutions. I am sure that they will lead the charge for more to join the teaching vocation.

There has been a great announcement by the blessings of the Hon’ble President and the Prime Minister with regard to IMPRINT. I have seen my Cabinet colleagues here amongst us today, and in my conversations with them, they have been extremely supportive and hereby I declare that the HRD will commit, in the first one year, Rs.500 crores for projects of research under IMPRINT. I am hopeful that such an ambitious plan, which has even got the eye of the US Ambassador so much so that he was eagerly tweeting about it last night and tagging me and the Hon’ble Prime Minister, is something which becomes a platform for us to showcase that we have the talent and we are cost effective enough, but we can match any research in the world once we resolve to do so.

The Hon’ble President has often enough, and, the Hon’ble Prime Minister yesterday spoke about the need to engage with industry, and, make our technology through the science universal, local.

My request is that we declare the Uchchatar Avishkar Yojana, under which I am personally willing to commit Rs. 250 crores for a research programmes which can be given to us on a competitive basis between the IITs and NITs. The only essential factor for Rs. 250 crores that you would all compete for is that you have an industry partner who does part-time funding. That is an essential element for this Uchchatar Avishkar Yojana.

Sir, with your permission, I would also like to speak as a parent today. मनℂ े बार-बार कॉन्रᴂ सेज़ मᴂ और आदरणीय VCs और Directors की बैठकⴂ मᴂ यह सनु ा है कक हमᴂ grow करने के मलए ककिना पैसा चार्हए। एक सत्मय यह भी है कक हम लोग कु छ चीजᴂ अपने ही घरⴂ मᴂ त्रबना पैसⴂ के सधु ार सकिे हℂ। कल एक बहुि ववख्याि साइंर्टथट ने यह कहा कक हमारी यत नवमसटि ीज़ के 90 प्रतििि कररकु लम defunct हℂ। अगर हम चाहिे हℂ कक हमारे पास इंडथरी आए, िो तया यह हमारी रेथपांमसत्रबमलटी नहीं है कक स्जनके पास एकेडेममक रीडम है, वे कम से कम त्रबना पैसⴂ के अपने कररकु लम को बेहिर करᴂ।

मेरा आप सबसे यह आग्रह है कक िेज रफ़िार से एजुके िन बदलिी है और आप सब उसके बारे मᴂ पढ़िे हℂ िथा जानिे हℂ, लेककन यह हमारी स्ज्मेदारी है। यह वविेषि: आपकी स्ज्मेदारी है कक यह जानकारी, यह कररकु लम, यह New Knowledge छािⴂ िक पहुंच।े मेरा यह भी आग्रह है कक एक timeline मᴂ, वह एकेडेममक वषि आप तनधािररि करᴂ, इससे

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हमारा कररकु लम 50 प्रतििि बदल जाएगा। आपको इसके मलए HRD से िंड की ज셂रि नहीं है, बस्쥍क थवे楍छा से तनणिय करने की ज셂रि है। तया आप यह टाइम लाइन बिा सकिे हℂ?

मेरा यह कहना है कक हमने ‘उड़ान’ नाम का एक कायििम ि셂ु ककया है। उसके िहि एक हजार लड़ककयⴂ को, स्जनके पररवार की वावषिक आय एक लाख से कम थी, एक र्डवाइस र्दया। उस र्डवाइस पर सारा डॉटा अपलोड ककया िथा 24x7 की एक हे쥍पलाइन दी और हमने उनको weekend पर mentors र्दए। उनमᴂ से कु छ िो IITs से भी थे। हमने कहा कक आप इस रेतनंग के बाद स्जस भी IITs मᴂ प्रवेि पािे हℂ, िो हम आपकी िीस भी दᴂगे। हमारा यह एक छोटा सा प्रयोग था। It was not a mammoth task. हमने ककसी से उसके मलए पैसे भी th नहीं मांगे। मझु े बहुि खुिी है कक तलास 12 मᴂ 300 लड़ककयां िाममल हुई और उनमᴂ से 50 per cent लडककयां इंजीतनयररंग इंस्थट絍यय िन्स मᴂ गई। उनमᴂ से एक लड़की िो IIT भवु नेश्वर गई। I spoke to the parent of that child. वह एयरिोसि के एक बहुि ही साधारण कमिचारी थे । उसने जीवन मᴂ यह कभी नहीं सोचा था कक ओर्डिा के गांव की लड़की एक र्दन IIT भवु नेश्वर मᴂ जाकर पढ़ेगी।

मेरा आप से आग्रह है कक अगर हम एक-एक ब楍चे को भारि सरकार मᴂ बैठकर रेस कर सकिे हℂ कक वे ककिनी प्रगति कर रहे हℂ, िो तया आप सब उिनी ही 셁धच अपने ब楍चⴂ िथा अपने students मᴂ अपने इंस्थट絍यय िन्स मᴂ ले सकिे हℂ? मनℂ े ‘Times of India’ मᴂ पढ़ा था कक इस बार IITs मᴂ जो 25 प्रतििि ब楍चे भिी हुए हℂ,उनके मािा-वपिा की वावषिक आय एक लाख 셁पए थी। इसका मिलब यह हुआ कक ग्रामीण थिर पर ववववध प्रांिⴂ से आपके यहां ककिने students आिे हℂ? जब हम इन छािⴂ से बाि करिे हℂ, िो वे कहिे हℂ कक Madam, हमारी अंग्रेज़ी इिनी अ楍छी नहीं है, इसमलए हमᴂ classroom मᴂ concept समझने मᴂ परेिानी होिी है।

That is why I appreciate what IIT, Chennai has done in terms of PAL. Can we really expand it and help those children who genuinely have a challenge with regard to languages because that is where a lot of talent is lying latent.

म ℂ इस बाि का ववश्वास व्यति करिी ह ाँ कक महामर्हम राष्ट्रपति जी के नेित्मृ व मᴂ ववस्ज़टसि कारं ᴂ स के सौजन्य से बहुि एडममतनथरेर्टव चᴂजेज आए, लेककन मेरा आग्रह है कक यहााँ पर स्जिने इंथटी絍यि न लीडसि ववराजमान हℂ, you are the custodians of the future of our country. So, when you look at a teacher, when you look at a student, think that in your hands you hold the future of my nation, our nation.

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आज हमने इंतलम सव डवे लपमᴂट की बाि की, टीचसि की बाि की। मझु े आईआईटी काउंमसल की चेयरपसिन होने के नािे बहुि गवि है कक हमने राष्ट्र के इतिहास मᴂ पहली बार कहा कक जो ब楍चे अक्षम हℂ, उनके मलए आईआईटीज़ मᴂ िीस माि की जाएगी। लेककन जब हम टीचसि की बाि कर रहे थे, एतसेस की बाि कर रहे थे, not once did we speak about persons with disabilities who can be promoted as teachers. Are we giving them enough access within our institutions? मेरा आग्रह है कक administratively, we look at the hard numbers, we look at the hard realities, but I am hopeful that we think with an intelligent brain. With these words, Hon’ble President, I thank you, Sir, for your patronage, for your blessings and your Secretariat which has been extremely patient with all of us and which has diligently got us together so that we can serve our nation better. Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Hon’ble Minister, Shrimati Smriti Zubin Irani, in- charge of Human Resource Development. Now, I request Shri Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Shipping and Transportation, for making his observations.

श्री नननतन जयराम गडकरी : आदरणीय राष्ट्रपति महोदय, मेरे सहयोगी आदरणीय थमतृ ि ईरानी जी, हंसराज अहीर जी और उपस्थथि सभी महानभु ाव, सबसे पहले म ℂ आदरणीय राष्ट्रपति महोदय को बहुि-बहुि धन्यवाद देिा ह ाँ कक उन्हⴂने मझु े आपके साथ इंटरएतट करने का मौका र्दया। म ℂ इस बाि को थवीकार करिा ह ाँ कक हम सरकार मᴂ जो काम करिे हℂ, उसका हमारी यत नवमसटि ीज़/आईआईटीज़ के साथ स्जस प्रकार का कोऑर्डिनेिन चार्हए, वैसा हो नहीं पािा। मझु े लगिा है कक राष्ट्रपति महोदय जी ने जो ि셁ु आि की है कक जो महत्मवपण ि एजकु े िनल इंथटी絍यि सं हℂ और जो हमारे महत्मवपण ि मंिी और ववभाग हℂ, इनके बीच हमᴂ कोऑपरेिन, कोऑर्डिनेिन और क्यतु नके िन की ि셁ु आि करनी चार्हए।

मेरा आपसे एक अनरु ोध है कक कु छ टेतनोलॉजीज़ ऐसी हℂ, स्जनका इ्पॉटᴂस इंटरनेिनल लेवल पर है, कु छ राष्ट्रीय थिर पर है, कु छ रा煍य थिरीय है और कु छ र्डस्थरतट लेवल पर है। हमारे इंथटी絍यि ंस को यह सोचना चार्हए कक हम टेतनोलॉजी के ऊपर जो ररसचि कर रहे हℂ, उनका उपयोग उस क्षेि मᴂ वहााँ की सथटेनेत्रबमलटी के मलए और इंतलम सव डवे लपमᴂट के मलए कैसे हो सकिा है। वहााँ के जो थटेकहो쥍डसि हℂ, उनका भी इसमᴂ कोऑपरेिन, क्यतु नके िन और कोऑर्डिनेिन होना चार्हए।

मेरे र्डपाटिमᴂट के बारे मᴂ एक और बाि महत्मवपण ि है, जो म ℂ आपसे कहना चाहिा ह ाँ। म ℂ थमतृ ि जी से यह बाि कह ाँगा कक इस ररसचि के मलए जो भी यत नवमसटि ीज़ और इंथटी絍यि सं

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आगे आएाँगे, इसके मलए उनको जो भी ररसॉसेज़ लगᴂगी, उन्हᴂ अपने र्डपाटिमᴂट से उपलब्ध करने के मलए हम िैयार हℂ। आपने ररसॉसज़े की जो बाि कही, वह त्रब쥍कु ल सही है। म ℂ आपको केवल एक छोटा सा अनभु व बिािा ह ाँ। म ℂ कु छ समय पहले महाराष्ट्र मᴂ मंिी था। म ℂ पस्ब्लक वतसि ममतनथटर था और मेरे पास पैसे नहीं थे। यह जो म्ु बई मᴂ म्ु बई-पणु े एतसप्रेस हाईवे पर 55 फ्लाईओवसि हℂ और वली-बांद्रा सी मलंक प्रोजेतट है, मझु े इनका काम करने का सौभाग्य ममला, िो सरकार ने मझु े 10 करोड़ 셁पए र्दए थे। जब म ℂ 5-5, 6-6 हजार करोड़ 셁पए के काम क셂ाँ गा, ऐसा कह रहा था, िो मझु से एक बार मीर्डया के लोगⴂ ने पछ ा कक आप ककस भरोसे यह बाि कहिे हℂ कक ये काम हⴂगे, िब मनℂ े एक बाि कही थी, वह आपके मलए नहीं है, पर मझु े लगिा है कक वह बहुि महत्मवपण ि है। िब मनℂ े जवाब मᴂ कहा था कक if there is a will, there is a way and if there is no will, there is only survey, discussion, seminar, sub-committee and research group. मझु े लगिा है कक िाथट तनणिय करने मᴂ कोई ररसॉसि की आवश्यकिा नहीं है। मनℂ े सरकार से 10 करोड़ 셁पए लेकर पस्ब्लक से 4 हजार करोड़ 셁पए खड़े ककए और ढाई साल मᴂ 8 हजार करोड़ 셁पए के काम भी हुए और उनके पैसे वापस भी हुए। अब म ℂ अपने र्डपाटिमᴂट मᴂ कहिा ह ाँ कक एक मंिी को पैसे की कोई कमी नहीं है। म ℂ अभी िक डेढ़ लाख करोड़ 셁पए के कांरैत絍स साइन कर चकु ा ह ाँ और 5 साल मᴂ 5 लाख करोड़ 셁पए के काम करने हℂ। पैसे का मैकेतन煍म मझु े पिा है। प्रधान मंिी जी ने हमसे पहले ही कहा कक पैसे मााँगने के बजाय र्डपाटिमᴂट के 셂쥍स मᴂ, तनयमⴂ मᴂ और पॉमलसीज़ मᴂ आप तया सधु ार कर सकिे हℂ, वह कररए। म ℂ मानिा ह ाँ कक बहुि से काम त्रबना पैसे के भी हो सकिे हℂ। जैसे मेरे र्डपाटिमᴂट की बाि है, उसके मलए मझु े आप लोगⴂ का सहयोग चार्हए। सबसे इ्पॉटᴂट चीज है कक हम 8 लाख करोड़ 셁पए का पेरोल, डीजल और ि ड ऑयल इ्पोटि करिे हℂ। म ℂ बीच मᴂ लंदन गया था, िो र्हन्दजु ा जी की िैयार की हुई इलेस्तरक बस मᴂ बैठा था। उन्हⴂने कहा कक इसकी कीमि ढाई करोड़ 셁पए है। वापस आने के बाद जब मनℂ े उनसे पछ ा, िो उन्हⴂने कहा कक इसमᴂ 55 लाख 셁पए मलधथयम ऑयन बैटरी की कीमि है। वापस आने के बाद मझु े लगा कक हमारे देि मᴂ मलधथयम ऑयन बैटरी तयⴂ नहीं बनिी। पढ़िे-पढ़िे एक जगह मझु े जानकारी ममली कक हमारे इसरो के सायंर्टथ絍स ने सैटेलाइट और रॉकेट सायंस के मलए मलधथयम ऑयन बैटरी का संिोधन ककया है। हमारा एआरएआई नामक एक इंथटी絍यट है, जो ऑटोमोबाइल इंजीतनयररंग की सभी बािⴂ का ररसचि करिा है। मनℂ े उनको, सीआरटी को और इसरो के सायंर्टथ絍स को र्द쥍ली मᴂ मीर्टंग के मलए बलु ाया और उनसे कहा कक आप कार के मलए, बस के मलए, बाइक के मलए, थक टर के मलए मलधथयम ऑयन बैटरी तयⴂ नहीं िैयार करिे, तयⴂकक वह मेरा र्डपाटिमᴂट है, िो उन्हⴂने कहा कक हमᴂ ककसी ने कहा ही

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नहीं। मनℂ े कहा कक म ℂ आपसे कहिा ह ाँ, आपको पैसे चार्हए, िो र्डपाटिमᴂट से देिा ह ाँ। उन्हⴂने कहा कक इसकी ज셂रि नहीं है, हम करᴂगे। 6 महीने के बाद हमारे ऑटोमोबाइल इंजीतनयररंग के सभी एतसप絍िस और इसरो के सायंर्टथ絍स मेरे पास आए और उन्हⴂने कहा कक अब हमने मलधथयम ऑयन बैटरी का संिोधन पर ा कर मलया है और वह मेड इन इंर्डया और मेक इन इंर्डया है। यह जो एक बस के मलए 55 लाख 셁पए का बैटरी बैक अप लगिा था, हमने उसे केवल 5-6 लाख 셁पए मᴂ िैयार ककया है। हमने पायलट प्रोजेतट मᴂ इसकी 20 बसेज़ िैयार की हℂ और 2 ममनी बसेज़ पामलयि ामᴂट के मलए िैयार की हℂ। इस सेिन मᴂ हम लोग इनको पामलयि ामᴂट को डोनेट कर रहे हℂ। थवाभाववक 셂प से यह ररसचि ऐसा है, जो इ्पोटि सबस्थट絍यट , कॉथट इिेस्तटव और पॉलिु न री है। जो ऐसे ररसचि हℂ, जो हमारे पर े जीवन को बदल सकिे हℂ, अगर ऐसे ररसचि मᴂ हमारी यत नवमसटि ी अपना पेटᴂट लेिी है, िो मझु े लगिा है कक उनको इसमᴂ कािी अ楍छी ररसॉसि से मदद भी हो सकिी है। हमने अभी इसका काम ककया है और आने वाले समय मᴂ हमारा सपना है कक हम 2 साल मᴂ इलेस्तरक बाइक, इलेस्तरक कार, इलेस्तरक बसेज़ लाएाँगे और उनमᴂ 80 셁पए के पेरोल, 60 셁पए के डीजल की जगह 12 셁पए की इलेस्तरमसटी लगेगी। अगर यह काम भी हम राि मᴂ 10 से 6 बजे के बीच करᴂग,े िो कु छ जगह इसका 50% रेट है, िो इसकी कॉथट 6 셁पए आएगी। एक ररसचि से हमारे पर े देि की बहुि मदद हो सकिी है। डेढ़ लाख बसेज़ थटेट गवनमि ᴂट की अंडरटेककं ग्स के पास हℂ, स्जनकी हालि बहुि खराब है। अगर हम उनको इलेस्तरक पर कंवटि करᴂगे, िो हमारे र्टकट रे絍स आधे हो सकिे हℂ। मझु े लगिा है कक जो ऐसे ररसचि हℂ, अगर आप लोग इन पर ध्यान दᴂगे, िो देि के मलए इसका बहुि बड़ा उपयोग होगा।

हमारे यहााँ हर साल 5 लाख एतसीडᴂ絍स होिे हℂ, स्जनमᴂ 3 लाख लोगⴂ के हाथ-पैर ट ट जािे हℂ और करीब डेढ़ लाख लोगⴂ की मत्मृ य ु हो जािी है। इसमᴂ 48 लाख ककलोमीटर रोड लᴂग्थ है, स्जसमᴂ 96 हजार ककलोमीटर नेिनल हाईवे है, स्जस पर देि का 40 परसᴂट रैकिक आिा है। अभी हमने इसको डेढ़ लाख ककलोमीटर करने के मलए िय ककया है, िाकक रैकिक का डाइवमसिकिकेिन हो। मझु े लगिा है कक यह इिना बड़ा ववषय है कक हम लोग रोड इंजीतनयररंग मᴂ, हमारे ऑटोमोबाइल मᴂ ककस प्रकार का ररसचि करके इसको रोक सकिे हℂ, इसमᴂ थवाभाववक 셂प से आप लोगⴂ के ररसचि से इसका उपयोग हो सकिा है।

एक इंटेमलजᴂट रैकिक मसथटम, यक े , यए सए, जापान और जमिनी, इन सबके ऐतट का अध्ययन करके बनाया जाएगा। म ℂ इंग्लℂड मᴂ थवेल मᴂ गया था, उनका इंथटी絍यट भी मनℂ े देखा, स्जसमᴂ आईटी का उपयोग करके कािी काम हुआ है। अभी हमने िाइववंग लाइससᴂ के

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मलए ऐसी नीति िैयार की है कक कं प्यट र के माध्यम से परीक्षा ली जाएगी, चकं क आज देि मᴂ िीस प्रतििि िाइववंग लाइसᴂस बोगस हℂ, इसमलए थवाभाववक 셂प से हम चाहिे हℂ कक इसमᴂ कोई ह्यम न ऐरर न हो। इसमᴂ बहुि ररसचि करने की आवश्यकिा है, इसमᴂ भी आपका सहयोग प्राप्ि हो सकिा है। अपने यहां हर प्रोजेतट मᴂ हमने one per cent of the cost of construction, plantation, transplantation, beautification and maintenance के मलए रखे हℂ। हमारे पास पााँच साल मᴂ पााँच लाख, पााँच हजार करोड़ 셁पये उपलब्ध हℂ। Educational Institutions, Cooperative Institutions, NGOs और अन्य सभी प्रकार के लोगⴂ को इसके मलए हमने कहा है और इस साल हम उस पर अपना काम ि셂ु कर रहे हℂ। अभी र्द쥍ली मᴂ इसके मलए 3000 लोग आए थे। हमारे सामने इसमᴂ सबसे बड़ी र्दतकि यह है कक बड़े-बड़े पेड़ⴂ को हम काट देिे हℂ, स्जसके मलए हमᴂ बहुि द:ु ख होिा है। तया व쥍डि की सभी टेतनोलॉजीज़ का उपयोग करके , हम बड़े पेड़ⴂ को रांथप्लांट करने के मलए ररसचि कर सकिे हℂ? हम हरेक पेड़ के मलए पैसे देने के मलए िैयार हℂ। इसमᴂ इंजीतनयररंग का उपयोग भी हो सकिा है।

िीसरा, जैसा कक आपको पिा ही है कक हम अभी inland waterways मᴂ 111 ररवसि को कन्वटि कर रहे हℂ। हमारे पामलयि ामᴂट ने 5 inland waterways को मान्यिा दे दी है और इसकी थवीकृ ति के मलए पामलयि ामᴂट के सामने त्रबल पᴂर्डगं है।

चायना मᴂ 47% goods and passenger traffic पानी पर है, कोररया और जापान मᴂ 43%-44% है, यर ोवपयन राष्ट्रⴂ मᴂ 40% से 煍यादा है, लेककन हमारे देि मᴂ केवल 3.5% है। इसे आप इस िरह भी समझ सकिे हℂ कक अगर हम लोग रोड पर जािे हℂ िो 1.5 셁पये का खचि आिा है, रेलवे से जािे हℂ, िो 1 셁पये का खचि आिा है और पानी से जाने मᴂ मसिि 0.25 셁पये या 25 पैसे का खचि आिा है। इस क्षेि मᴂ कािी बड़ा ररसचि हो सकिा है।

अभी हमने गंगा, Buckingham Canal, महानदी और ब्रह्मपिु पर इसका कायि ि셂ु ककया है। इसमᴂ sea plane, hovercraft, catamaran, water bus आर्द िाममल हℂ। म ℂ आपको बिाना चाह ंगा कक आईआईटी के सहयोग से हमने Cochin Shipyard को एक प्रोजेतट र्दया है। कोररया और रमिया मᴂ एक ऐसी चीज़ िैयार हुई है, जो पानी के 8 मीटर ऊपर से दौड़िी है, स्जसकी थपीड 150 से 160 ककलो मीटर है और स्जसकी कॉथट 10 셁पये प्रति ककलो मीटर आिी है। मनℂ े अपने लोगⴂ से कहा है कक आप इस पर ररसचि कररए। आज ही इसके मलए मेरे यहां पर दो घंटे िक मीर्टंग चलिी रही है। मनℂ े इसके मलए उन्हᴂ रमिया और कोररया भी भेजा है। हमारे यहां Cochin Shipyard है, जो एक बहुि अ楍छी ऑगिनाइज़ेिन है,

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उन्हⴂने कहा है कक टेतनोलॉस्जकली यह स्भव हो सकिा है। अगर इस पर आईआईटी मᴂ भी ररसचि होिा है, िो ककिना बड़ा रेवॉ쥍यि न होगा।

हमारे सागरमाला प्रोजेतट मᴂ और भी नये पो絍िस बनाए जा रहे हℂ। राष्ट्रपति महोदय जी के सामने मझु े यह बिािे हुए खुिी हो रही है कक हमारे 12 मेजर पो絍िस और िीन ऑगिनाइज़ेिंस, Shipping Corporation, Dredging Corporation और Cochin Shipyard, इन 15 को ममलाकर पहली बार सब प्रॉकिट मᴂ आ गए हℂ। इस बार इसमᴂ हम 6,000 करोड़ 셁पये से 煍यादा मनु ािा कमाएंगे।

इस प्रकार इसमᴂ इिना इन्नोवेिन हो सकिा है, परु ानी टेतनोलॉजीज़ को चᴂज करने की इिनी आवश्यकिा है, इिनी इन्वेथटमᴂट की आवश्यकिा है, इिनी स्थकल डवे लमᴂट की आवश्यकिा है, लेककन हमारे पास अभी कु छ नहीं है।

म ℂ ऑटोमोबाइ쥍स का मंिी ह ं। हमारे यहां से ऑटोमोबाइ쥍स थपेयर पा絍िस मᴂ 2.5 लाख करोड़ 셁पये का एतसपोटि होिा है, लेककन मेरे पास मंिालय मᴂ एक व्यस्ति भी ऐसा नहीं है, जो इसके बारे मᴂ कु छ बिा सकिा हो। मेरी आपसे ररतवेथट है कक आप इसमᴂ भी हमᴂ मदद कीस्जए। ऐसी और भी कई बािᴂ हℂ, स्जनके मलए अभी हमारे मंिी, श्री अहीर साहब बैठे हुए हℂ। हम यर रया के मलए 55,000 करोड़ 셁पये की सस्ब्सडी देिे हℂ। हमारे देि मᴂ यर रया िर्टिलाइज़र की 30 कैममकल िैतटरीज़ हℂ। चार िैतटरीज़ मᴂ naphtha से यर रया बनािे हℂ, स्जसकी कीमि 40 हजार प्रति टन आिी है। जो नचै रु ल गैस से यर रया बनािे हℂ, उसकी कीमि 15-20 डॉलर आिी है। चायना मᴂ कोल के माध्यम से जो यर रया िैयार होिा है, स्जसको हम इ्पोटि करिे हℂ, उसकी कीमि 8-10 हजार 셁पये प्रति टन आिी है। हमारे देि मᴂ इिना कोल पड़ा हुआ है और 400 셁पये का बैग 1400 셁पये मᴂ गया है, वहीं दस री ओर इस पर हम 55,000 करोड़ 셁पये की सस्ब्सडी दे रहे हℂ। अगर कोल से यर रया बनेगा, िो देि की बचि होगी।

ऐसी बहुि सी बािᴂ हℂ। अनेक बािⴂ पर प्रधान मंिी जी innovation, entrepreneurship, technology and Digital India की बाि कह रहे हℂ। म ℂ यह मानिा ह ं कक ववज़न यही है कक ज्ञान, ववज्ञान और िंि ववज्ञान साथ चलᴂ। We call it conversion of knowledge into wealth.

आखखर मᴂ मेरा आपसे अनरु ोध है कक आप conversion of waste into wealth पर भी ररसचि कीस्जए। म ℂ स्जस िहर से आया ह ं, वहां पर हमने टॉयलेट के पानी को 18 करोड़

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셁पये मᴂ बेचा है। अगर हम अपने पर े देि के ्यत नमसपल कॉपोरेिन के पानी को बेचᴂगे िो उससे हमᴂ ककिना इ्प्लॉयमᴂट ममलेगा, ककिना पैसा ममलेगा?

अब बाद मᴂ हमारे ध्यान मᴂ आया कक उससे ममथेन तनकल सकिी है। हमने उससे बस चलाने की बाि ि셂ु की। अब हमारे िहर मᴂ अगले डेढ़-दो सालⴂ मᴂ इस पर चालीस बसᴂ चलᴂगीं, जो बायो-सीएनजी ममलेगा। कािी बड़े पररमाण मᴂ इथनॉल पर, अ쥍टरनेर्टव फ्यए ल पर काम हुआ है। म ℂ आपसे यही अनरु ोध क셂ाँ गा कक agricultural, rural and tribal sectors मᴂ innovation and technology जो है, उस पर 煍यादा emphasis होना चार्हए कक वहााँ गरीबी, भखु मरी और बेरोजगारी 煍यादा है और रोजगार तनमािण करने वाली अथिव्यवथथा मᴂ innovation and technology का बहुि महत्मव है। हमारे सभी ववभागⴂ मᴂ आपकी जो भी यत नवमसटि ी या आईआईटी हमारे साथ कोऑर्डिनेट करेगी, आप स्जिने प्रोजेत絍स लᴂगे, उनके मलए ररसचि के मलए जो भी थपााँसरमिप चार्हए, इसमᴂ हम अपनी िरि से आप सबका तनस्श्चि 셂प से सहयोग करᴂगे। आप हमारे ववभाग से स्पकि ज셂र रखखए, िाकक आपकी नॉमलज का, आपकी ररसचि का हम अपने यहााँ कािी बड़े पररमाण मᴂ उपयोग कर सकᴂ ।

समय की कमी है। म ℂ आपको कंथरतिन मᴂ फ्लाई एि के उपयोग और आयरन थलैग के बारे मᴂ बिािा ह ाँ। आपको िा煍जुब होगा कक हमने 95 लाख टन सीमᴂट बकु ककया है। सीमᴂट का एक बैग बाजार मᴂ 350 셁पये मᴂ ममलिा है, लेककन हमᴂ 120 셁पये प्रति बैग मᴂ थलैग सीमᴂट ममला। आयरन ओर से जो थलैग तनकलिा है, अभी रोड के मलए उसके पहाड़ जैसे ढेर पड़े हुए हℂ। हम लोग झारखंड से रक से लेकर एग्रीगेट त्रबहार मᴂ लािे हℂ। अगर soil stabilisation technology आपने दी और वेथट मैटीररयल का उपयोग हमने कंथरतिन मᴂ ककया, िो cost of construction भी कम होगी िथा quality of construction भी बढ़ेगा।

म ℂ आपसे एक प्राथिना और क셂ाँ गा कक conversion of waste into wealth and conversion of knowledge into wealth, यही वीजन है और technology innovation entrepreneurship आप लोग ही ववकमसि कर सकिे हℂ, िो मझु े लगिा है कक इसका बहुि बड़ा उपयोग होगा। किर से एक बार बहुि-बहुि धन्यवाद। Thank you, very much.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Hon’ble Minister, Shri Nitin Gadkari, Hon’ble Minister, Shrimati Smriti Zubin Irani, Hon’ble Minister, Shri Hansraj Gangaram Ahir, heads of institutions of higher learning, distinguished guests, participants, ladies and gentlemen, at the outset, I would like to compliment all the heads of the Central Higher Educational Institutions for thoroughly analyzing the Action Taken Reports and participating in the discussions on the

408 agenda items through group work and panel discussions. I am happy to see the concrete outcomes, which, of course, will be studied in detail by my Secretariat and the Ministry of Human Resource Development for further action.

This is for the first time that I decided to have this Conference of 114 Central Higher Educational Institutions from fields as diverse as agriculture, pharmaceuticals, information technology, fashion and social sciences, who have come together at a single platform with Central Universities, IITs, NITs, IISc and IISERs. This interaction has provided us the golden opportunity to build a strong inter-linkage between all these institutions for energizing the higher education sector in India.

Distinguished participants, in the past seven Conferences held in the Rashtrapati Bhavan, we worked on building bonds of cooperation among Central Universities, IITs, NITs, IISc and IISERs. We have invested our time and energy in establishing linkages with foreign institutions, industry and alumni. The progress that we have made is remarkable, but a lot more is to be done. I invite all these institutions who have come here for the first time to join the family and build a strong network for mutual benefit and for the benefit of the nation.

It is now time to build linkages amongst all of you that will have multiplier effect. I am happy to see ideas already beginning to float. The Banaras Hindu University and the National Institute of Fashion Technology, capitalizing on their respective strengths, can launch joint degree-level courses in Fashion Technology at Varanasi. Likewise, Languages Universities can collaborate with Technical Institutes to offer language courses using ICT. Agricultural Institutes can partner with IITs, NITs and IIITs to develop technologies for improved agricultural practices. To provide impetus to Institution-to-Institution linkages, an e-platform could be started where you can share ideas and take them forward. The e-platform, hosted by the Rashtrapati Bhavan, where all 114 institutions are connected, can be extended to capture the new needs of this collaboration. I have asked my Secretariat to take this initiative forward in collaboration with the Central Heads of Educational Institutions.

Here, I will like to sound a note of caution. We have signed a large number of MoUs with foreign institutions and with the industry. These will remain mere pieces of paper if we do not vigorously follow up on their implementation. Henceforth, I would like the progress made on these MoUs to be included in the Action Taken Report. The Ministry of Human Resources Development may also kindly set up a mechanism for monitoring the progress.

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Distinguished participants, many of you have pointed out the shortage of resources and delay in sanctions/ approvals as impediments to new initiatives. Taking forward what Prof. C.N.R. Rao had said on 4th November, I would like to make a suggestion. Let us segregate the initiatives which do not require any funds and are within the control of the institutions themselves from the ones which need additional funding. Some of these are regular updation and revision of the curriculum, improving the quality of teaching by adopting new methods, imparting education that will build the character and value system of the students, better maintenance and utilization of the existing infrastructure, etc. If we work on these with a renewed vigour, I assure you the results will be highly rewarding. We have tried this in the Rashtrapati Bhavan. And it has worked. We have increased the activities manifold, improved the look and feel of the campus, and completed the digitization of the services, and all these in the Budget that we were getting earlier. We are fast moving towards being a smart township. We call it the 3 H Township – Humane, Hitech and Heritage. The requirement of additional funds for all these changes has been minimal. For the new initiatives which need additional funds, I am sure reasonable demands will be met by the Ministry of Human Resources Development.

I, on my part, will extend all help to the Minister of Human Resource Development. Because of my experiences as Finance Minister for pretty long years, I know, in the Governmental functioning how difficult it is to get money from the hands of the Finance Minister. No Finance Minister, while in office, will say, good morning in the morning. He will meet his visitors with the compliment ‘No money’! Therefore, I want to offer my support to the Ministry of Human Resource Development and the concerned Ministries for the new initiatives to be funded by the Central Universities, IITs, NITs, etc. I will lend my support to them. We can also think of launching a Global Research Interactive Network (GRIN) as follow-up to the GIAN for funding research collaborations.

Distinguished participants:

In this Conference, we have spent considerable time on reviewing the progress on the action taken on earlier decisions. Filling up vacant teaching positions has been a priority all through. While I note with satisfaction that the Heads of most institutions have now been appointed, I hope that a better picture of faculty position in your institutions will emerge when we meet next. We are making progress on rankings. If we were to expedite action on getting NAAC accreditation, working on the National Institutional Ranking Framework, and criteria for international rankings, the quality of research and education in the Central Universities, IITs and NITs will automatically improve. I note with satisfaction the progress made in the Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) and increased utilization of NKN and NMEICT. It is my fond hope that by next year, we will have at least five CHEIs in world’s top 200.

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I take this opportunity to compliment the HRD Minister for her just now announcement of Rs.100 crores each for the ten top institutions.

SHRIMATI ZUBIN SMRITI IRANI: It is Rs.100 crores for the ten.

THE PRESIDENT: Oh, total Rs.100 crores! I am sorry; I wanted to be a little liberal for improving the rankings. And also, yesterday, it was announced that Rs.500 crores will be allocated for IMPRINT, and Rs.250 crores for Uchhattar Avishkar Yojana, which the HRD Minister has reiterated.

I would also like to speak on the enthusiasm which we are noticing in the institutions for MOOCs and creation of e-content. The recommendations of the Working Group on setting up of Education Technology Centres of NITs on the model of IIT Kharagpur for generating e-content can be pursued. The last mile IT connectivity problem of some institutions should be solved quickly for effective delivery of MOOCs.

To give shape to the various recommendations of the earlier Conferences, the Government has launched a number of Schemes. These include “Unnat Bharat”, “GIAN”, “Uchhattar Avishkar Yojana”, “Ishan Vikas” and “IMPRINT”. Our CHEIs must get actively involved in these schemes and ensure that the intended results are achieved in a time-bound manner.

I presume that appropriate financial allocations for these schemes would have been made. I would request MHRD and other agencies concerned to set up a review and monitoring mechanism for speedy implementation.

Distinguished participants, I am glad that symbiotic relationship between teaching and research is now being fully recognized. To produce good quality research and meet the acute shortage of faculty, we have to give a further push to the award of PhDs in our CHEIs.

While I do see intensification of the involvement of alumni in the governance structure of the CHEIs, there is still a need to widen the area of interaction through sponsored research, endowments, setting up of chairs, donations, and in catalysing faculty recruitment.

The progress made in setting up centres of excellence is slow. However, a welcome development in this area is that the Central Ministries are now coming forward to fund centres of excellence to address the needs of sector- specific technologies. Mr. Gadkari has made a very handsome offer, particularly, for the research required for the sector-specific technologies. The State Governments are also showing interest in setting up such centres. The Ministry of Human Resource Development must act quickly to set up a pro-

411 active single window to help CHEIs to conclude the agreements in line with the existing administrative and legal systems.

Distinguished participants, ladies and gentlemen, innovator, entrepreneur and financier are the three crucial players of the innovation eco-system. I am grateful to all the CHEIs for their overwhelming response to my call for setting up innovation clubs and incubators, industry- interface cells, inspired teachers network and community development cells. Some of you have now mentioned about entrepreneurship cells and development offices to attract funding. I will like you to add setting up of these cells to the list. In the context of “Start-up India, Stand-up India”, entrepreneurship acquires a new dimension.

Our institutions of higher learning must have a governance mechanism that supports growth, collaboration and innovation. The institutions must become transparent, accountable and responsive to the needs of their stakeholders. An e-platform ‘Brihaspati’ developed by IIT Kanpur for better academic management can be studied by other institutions for adoption.

We have received some very good suggestions on the engagement of CHEIs with the community and society for sustainable and inclusive development. Some of the suggestions made include: Assigning students to teach in nearby Government schools for at least 12 hours annually or for one hour per month. Given the student base at the tertiary level, this could potentially create 35 crore teaching hours. Besides helping to mitigate the existing shortage of teachers at primary and secondary levels, it will create in the minds of students a desire to enter the teaching profession.

Students may be deployed to undertake community-based projects to uplift the conditions of people residing in nearby areas. Students may study and identify problems faced by villages in the vicinity. Inter-disciplinary teams can then work on innovative solutions which blend modern technology to local practice.

Distinguished participants, Ladies and Gentlemen, Rashtrapati Bhavan and Ministry of AYUSH has recently collaborated to open an AYUSH Wellness Centre to offer the integrated system of Indian medicine in the President’s Estate. This facility has received an overwhelming response. You too can think of a similar initiative in your campuses. It will deliver the benefits of alternate systems of medicine to higher education networks, and lead to its further refinement, innovation and research. I am sure, the Ministry of AYUSH will extend a helping hand.

The first Festival of Innovations was hosted in Rashtrapati Bhavan in March this year. Many of your faculty members and students participated in the exhibition and as members of the Innovation Clubs. For the second

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Festival of Innovations to be held in March 2016, I expect greater response and eager participation.

In 2015, the Rashtrapati Bhavan has organized a series of in-residence programmes where 31 inspired teachers from Central universities, 36 NIT scholars and 10 innovation scholars, besides 4 writers and artists spent one to three weeks as my guests in the Rashtrapati Bhavan. In 2016, we intend to hold these in-residence programmes for inspired teachers and students from remaining Central institutions, and award-winning school teachers from States, besides innovation scholars, artists and writers. The Secretariat will notify the schedules shortly.

The first Visitor’s Awards for Best University, Innovation and Research in Central universities were presented during the Conference of Vice- Chancellors this year. The applications for the Second Visitor’s Awards have been invited. The last date for submitting nominations is 15th November, 2015, and these Awards will be presented in February, 2016. I look forward to an enthusiastic response.

Since this is the first Visitor’s Conference, some new institutions have joined the group as invitees. In the next Conference, they will be part of the whole. They will be expected to report the progress on the recommendations made in the earlier conferences as applicable to them, as well as the ones that are being made in this Conference.

Distinguished participants, Ladies and Gentlemen, I have listened to your recommendations carefully. I thank you again for your keen participation and fruitful contribution to this Conference. As the Visitor of your institutions, I take immense pride in your achievements. I am confident that you will now open your wings to scale new heights. The administrative Ministries concerned are fully behind you. For any assistance, my Secretariat is also available. With the hope to see you with greater achievements and speedier progress next year, I conclude.

Thank you, Ladies and Gentlemen, for the patience. Jai Hind.

DR. THOMAS MATHEW: Thank you, Hon’ble President, Sir, for your Address. Now, we have come to the last event of the three-day Conference. I request Shri R. Subrahmanyam, Additional Secretary, MHRD, to propose the Vote of Thanks.

ADDITIONAL SECRETARY (TE), MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT SHRI R. SUBRAHMANYAM: The Hon’ble President of India, the Minister for Human Resource Development, Shrimati Smriti Zubin Irani, the Minister of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways, Shri Nitin Gadkari, the Minister of Chemical and Fertilizers, Shri Hansraj Gangaram

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Ahir, Vice-Chairman of NITI Aayog, Dr. Arvind Panagariya, Secretary to President, Shrimati Omita Paul, CEO, NITI Aayog, Ms. Sindhushree Khullar, Secretary, Pharmaceuticals, Dr. Subburaj, Secretary, Textiles, Shri S.K. Panda, Secretary, Youth Affairs, Shri Rajeev Gupta, Secretary, Department of Agricultural Research, Dr. S. Ayyappan, and Heads of all premier educational institutions in this country, it has been an absorbing and intense three day- interaction in this grand setting, and I must say it has recharged everyone with a lot of positive energy. This Conference has seen a number of stirring speeches and also unveiled a new chapter in the research agenda of the country through the launch of the IMPRINT India.

There has been a great deal of learning, both at the peer level and by interaction with luminaries, like Prof. C.N.R. Rao, Prof. M.S. Swaminathan and Shri Sathyarthi. There has been a great deal of discussion and many a conclusion that would help us to look at the future with confidence and clarity. We have seen how the issues of research, innovation and social responsibility have been brought to the centrestage as a part of this Conference. We took stock of what has been done in the last one year and what can and what should be done in the next one year till we meet again. The Conference has been skilfully interspersed with panel discussions and Group work, which allowed a high degree of participation in a very orderly manner. Through this, the Conference has succeeded in arriving at a clear course of action for all institutions for the next one year. The quality of discussions and the standard of recommendations have been extremely high. All this has become possible only because of the unflinching commitment of the Hon’ble President of India, who has been guiding us with his scholarship and kindness. On behalf of all of us present here, I would like to thank the Hon’ble President and assure him that we will start working on the conclusions reached in this Conference and would strive to take each of these institutions to an unprecedented glory. I thank the Hon’ble Minister for HRD for her active leadership in ensuring that the education sector in the country reaches greater heights while keeping in view the requirements of the poorer sections of the society.

This Conference is remarkable not only for its scale but also for its inter- disciplinary nature. We have had participation from institutions which are premier Engineering institutions, Institutions of Science, Pharma, Social Sciences and Fashion Technology. I thank the Ministries of Chemicals & Fertilizers, Pharmaceuticals, Shipping and Textiles for taking interest in ensuring a very lively participation.

The Conference has gained enormously by interventions from expert panelists, by their wisdom and experience. I thank Shri B.V.R. Mohan Reddy, Dr. Arvind Panagariya, Dr. Mashelkar, Shrimati Sindhushree Khullar, who co- chaired the panels.

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The arrangements for this Conference have been impeccable and added glitter to the grandeur of this place. I thank Shrimati Omita Paul and her entire team, especially the Additional Secretary, Dr. Thomas Mathew, Press Secretary, Mr. Venu Rajamony, and most importantly for us, Shri Suresh Yadav, for working so hard and making everything perfect. The perfection shown here itself is a lesson in management to all the participants.

I thank the staff of Rashtrapati Bhavan, who tirelessly worked to make this Conference a success. All the participants here represent the cream of the educational administrators and academics in the country. I thank each of them for working as a team and for working out solutions for the problems posed to them.

Sir, we go back from this Conference with a great sense of responsibility and to carry forward the decisions taken here and to see that we raise ourselves, both in stature and in our results. I end this Vote of Thanks with the solemn assurance that this team of higher education in India will strive to live up to the aspirations of the country and the leaders thereof, and to the people at large. Thank you.

DR. THOMAS MATHEW: Thank you, Shri Subrahmanyam. Now, the Hon’ble President will be pleased to declare the Conference closed, but before I invite him to do so, I have a small announcement to make. As soon as the Hon’ble President declares the Conference closed, all the distinguished invitees may kindly rise and stand behind their respective seats, because the Hon’ble President would be pleased to walk around and meet you personally before he leaves. Hon’ble President, Sir.

THE PRESIDENT: Let me declare the Conference closed.

(The Conference then concludes)

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