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NEW DELHI: Having successfully
completed the negotiations on the ‘123 Agreement’ with Washington,
the prime minister has decided to make agriculture, education and power priority
sectors for this year.

Concerned over the recent trend of many
meritorious students failing to get admission in colleges and faced with a
demand for more skilled youth to tap the potential of the employment market, the
prime minister has called a meeting of the full Planning Commission on August 6
to discuss ways to overhaul the higher and vocational education sectors by
pumping in more investment and by modernising infrastructure.

Forming the basis for the discussion will be a committee report,
commissioned by the PMO, which has recommended a Rs 27,000 crore additional
outlay in the Eleventh Plan to achieve these goals. The prime minister will also
call a meeting of the chief ministers to frame the action-plan for implementing
this new education mission across the country.

The prime minister has
also decided to kick-start his visits to various states to take stock of the
implementation of the recent action plan for rejuvenating crisis-torn
agriculture sector, framed by the Centre and chief ministers at a special
conference here. Mr Manmohan Singh’s first visit will be to Hyderabad on
July 31 for a meeting with the Andhra Pradesh chief minister and his cabinet
colleagues.

A high-level central team comprising finance minister P
Chidambaram, agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, planning commission deputy
chairman Montek Singh Ahluwallia and as many as 10 secretaries of various
central departments will accompany Mr Singh in his meeting with the top brass of
the Y S Rajashekhara Reddy government.

PMO sources said the decision
to overhaul the higher and vocational education sectors got underway after the
top echelons spotted a disturbing trend of students, even after scoring more
than 90% marks, failing to get seats in colleges for higher education. Adding to
the thrust was the demand by the bodies like CII and FICCI for more skilled
labourers to tap the growing job opportunities in industry, trade and commerce
sectors

Looking for a long-term action-plan to address these
challenges, the prime minister constituted a committee — the skilled
development mission — with a mandate to propose credible remedial
measures. Sources said this committee submitted its report to the prime minister
on July 18, with wide-rage recommendations to reinforce the higher and
vocational education sectors.

While calling for a huge financial
investment in these sectors to the tune of Rs 27,000 crore during the Eleventh
Plan, the committee, among other things, has recommended setting up of as many
as 30 new central universities across the country during the next five years,
which sees a major increase both in terms of new colleges and more seats for
students.

The committee has also recommended constitution of a
National Skill Development Authority to oversee the expansion and modernisation
of the vocational education sector where more ITIs and polytechnics, among other
things, will be set up.

PUDUCHERRY: A national-level workshop on the National Knowledge
Commission’s Report on Higher Education in India will be held at
the Pondicherry University Convention-cum-Cultural Centre, Kalapet, on
Saturday at 9.30 a.m.

According to a press release here the workshop aims to create an
awareness of the immediate need to revamp the system of higher
education in the light of GATS and WTO initiatives in trying to treat
higher education as a non-merit good.

The workshop is being organised by the PG Research Department of
Commerce and the Kanchi Mamunivar Centre for PG Studies in association
with the Puducherry Council for Science and Technology. A. Anbarasu,
Secretary, Public Works and Science and Technology, will be the chief
guest. Jayanta Kumar Ray, Director of Higher and Technical Education,
will preside over the inaugural function, and Thomas Joseph, Secretary,
Kerala State Council for Higher Education, will speak.

July 28, 2007 10:50 IST

Rarely have we seen a
time when parents were overwhelmed with so many investment options to
help them plan for their children’s future. It is equally true that
often parents find themselves so preoccupied that they can’t seem to
find time to manage their own commitments, let alone plan for their
children’s education and marriage among other events. That is why it is
important that they get some professional help. This is where mutual
funds come in.

Put
simply, mutual funds hire the services of a professional money manager
to invest on behalf of a group of individuals. The individuals pool in
their savings and leave it to the fund manager to manage their money in
an optimal manner. Individuals can go about their work as usual,
content in the knowledge that there is professional help at hand.

Mutual
funds have much to offer to parents. Consider this – you have office
work to complete, household work to do, children’s homework to help
with and whole lot of other social and personal commitments to take
care of. In the middle of all this, where is the time to invest for
your child’s education or marriage or business?

• Why you must plan for your child’s future

Say
hello to child plans/funds. We mentioned that mutual funds invest on
behalf of individuals to achieve a pre-determined objective. For many
investors, this objective is planning for a house, retirement, an
overseas trip, parking surplus money. For parents, this objective can
be ‘planning for child’s education or marriage or seed capital for
his/her business’.

Parents
must note some peculiar feature of child funds. These features tell
parents exactly what makes these funds tick. It gives them a reason to
consider these plans for building a corpus for their children’s future.

Investment objective
The
good news for parents is that there is common ground between their
objectives and the objectives of child funds. Child funds are launched
with the explicit objective of helping parents build a corpus. Sample
this – Principal Child Benefit’s investment objective reads – ‘To
generate regular returns and/or capital appreciation/accretion with the
aim of giving lumpsum capital growth at the end of the chosen target
period or otherwise to the Beneficiary (child).’

Even
more explicit is UTI Children Career Plan’s investment objective – ‘to
provide children after they attain the age of 18 years a means to
receive scholarship to meet the cost of higher education and/or to help
them in setting up a profession, practice or business or enabling them
to set up a home or finance the cost of other social obligation.’

Asset allocation
Although
most child funds take on a degree of risk by investing in stock
markets, they are relatively less risky compared to diversified equity
funds that can invest upto 100% of their assets in equities. They are
relatively less risky because fund houses have taken adequate measures
to ensure that child funds are managed conservatively.

The
most important measure adopted by fund houses is to cap the equity
investments at a reasonable level. Most of them have capped the equity
weightage of the portfolio at varying levels, usually not exceeding 70
per cent of the net assets.

These
funds have the flexibility to invest in equity and debt markets
depending on the fund manager’s view on these markets. These funds work
like asset allocation plans allowing the fund manager to shift across
asset classes so as to maximise returns for the investor.

For
instance, in an equity fund, the fund manager is usually compelled to
remain completely invested in equities even when stock markets appear
overvalued and therefore poised for a correction. But a child fund with
a cap on the equity component can always shift a portion of its assets
in debt when the going gets rough.

On
the same lines when equity markets are overvalued, the fund manager can
shift a portion of his assets to debt so as to capture gains. When
equity markets decline, he can add to the equity component. By smartly
allocating assets across debt and equities, he can ensure that he
enters low and exits high, the cornerstone of a successful investment
strategy

Lock-in
We
mentioned that fund houses make provisions to ensure that the risk
associated with child funds is controlled. One way to lower the risk of
equities is to make long-term investments. Over the short-term equities
are the riskiest assets; over the long-term, if you tread wisely, they
can generate the best risk adjusted returns for you. That is just what
fund houses do; they give the fund manager the time and flexibility to
make really long-term investments in the child fund. For that, they
have what is commonly referred to as a lock-in period.

If
you are an investor in public provident fund and National Savings
Certificate then you already know what a lock-in period means. In fact,
fixed deposit investors are equally aware of this term. Only difference
is that child funds have an equity flavour, while NSC, PPF and FDs are
debt instruments.

Reason
why it makes imminent sense for equities to have a lock-in is because
they demonstrate their potential over the long-term (at least 3 years
in our view). When the fund manager is certain that he can invest the
money for a longer period of time without being concerned about the
investor standing outside his office demanding his money, he can make
more prudent investments that stand a good chance of making money over
the long-term.

For
parents, who want to build a corpus for their children over the
long-term, a lock-in must be seen as an ally for two reasons. One, it
enables the fund manager to make investments that are in the investor’s
long-term interests. Second, it acts as a deterrent for the parent from
making premature withdrawals.

As
parents will appreciate, child funds have a lot of features working for
them. Even if some of these features appear restrictive in nature (cap
on equity investments, lock-in period) remember over the long-term they
work to the parent’s benefit. They instill discipline and have the
potential to generate a corpus for the child, and in the final analysis
that is all that matters.

Puducherry: The Pondicherry University has initiated steps to
establish a Centre of Higher Education in Karaikal to offer
Post-Graduate courses, according to PMK MP M. Ramadoss.

He said in a release here on Friday that a team of university
officials, led by Vice-Chancellor J.A.K. Tareen, would visit Karaikal
on Saturday to hold a meeting with the District Collector and other
officials. Education Minister M.O.H.F. Shahjahan, the PMK Member of
Parliament and principals of various colleges and educational
administrators would form part of the team. The project would require
an investment of Rs 20 crore, provided by Centre.

HYDERABAD: Union Minister of State for Human Resources Development
D. Purandareshwari on Saturday opined that the prime ingredient for
economic progress and well-being of a nation was education.

At the valedictory of Bharat Nirman Public Information Campaign at
Vikarabad in Rangareddy district, she said Government was committed to
achieve ‘Education for All by 2010’.

No stone was left unturned to provide qualitative education to
children belonging to the backward classes and the underprivileged
sections, she said, adding that in the 10th Five Year Plan, Rs. 43,827
crore was allocated for education, including Rs. 17,000 crore for
primary education alone. The Minister recalled that through the Sarva
Shiksha Abhiyan, the Government aimed at providing basic facilities in
all schools.

New Delhi, July 27: A nationwide survey by the
National Knowledge Commission (NKC) reveals that innovation is fast
emerging as a key driver of India’s economic growth. Innovation
intensity (percentage of revenue derived from products/ services which
are less than three years old) has increased for large firms as well as
small and medium enterprises (SMEs), with the latter registering a
greater increase.

The panel has submitted the findings and recommendations of the
survey, the first of its kind in India, to Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh. Releasing the report in the Capital today, NKC chairman Sam
Pitroda observed that both for SMEs and large firms, innovation leads
to enhanced competitiveness and profitability.

“Earlier, time used to be negotiable. Now, we’ve
moved into an era where that is no longer the case,” he said. The
NKC report has surveyed 136 firms in a wide range of sectors with
separate questionnaires for large firms and SMEs.

One of its crucial findings is that a skills shortage,
caused by lack of emphasis on industrial innovation, experimentation
etc in the education curricula, is the biggest external barrier to
innovation. The survey shows that “private and public owned firms
are more innovative than government owned ones”.

It adds, “Innovation to increase competitiveness has
become of utmost importance. Firms realise this and their budget
allocations for innovations are increasing.”

NKC members Deepak Nayyar and Ashok Ganguly were also
present on the occasion. Defining innovation as “the conversion
of an idea into practice, which enhances the productivity of a
firm”, Ganguly discussed the importance of reforming our higher
and vocational education systems in order to encourage innovative
activities.

Knowledge panel proposals

• Innovation a key enabler of economic growth and competitiveness

• Higher & vocational education curricula need reform

• Greater collaboration needed between industry, government, education system and consumer

31 Jul, 2007, 0957 hrs IST,

AGENCIES
MANILA:
Education and health care are lagging seriously behind as India and other South
Asian economies take off, the Asian Development Bank said in a report released
here Tuesday.

It warned that
the region’s competitiveness could be undermined unless governments address the
growing mismatches.

The region
remains on a solid track of high economic expansion led by India, but changing
educational and health needs must be meet if it is to remain an engine of
economic growth, the South Asia Economic Report said. Despite the rapid economic
growth of recent years, its quality of education and health care remains worse
than all other parts of the world except sub-Saharan Africa, ADB
said.

“Clearly, rapid economic
growth alone will not take care of human development in the region,” said Juan
Miranda, head of the Philippines-based lender’s Central and West Asia
department.

“Growth is not
sufficiently inclusive and truly poverty-reducing,” he said. “Successfully
tackling these challenges requires strategic choices in crucial policy
areas.”

Kunio Senga, director
general of ADB’s South Asia department, said: “Quality education is needed at
all levels, and technical, vocational, and higher education should be aligned
with global market
demands.”

Governments must
devote more resources to education, the report said, noting that India has only
12,000 training and vocational institutes, compared to half a million in
China.

The report also cited
the burden of rising non-communicable diseases as lifestyles
change.

“India has more people
with diabetes than any other country in the world,” it added. As the problem
rises among younger age groups, labour productivity will suffer, it
warned.

New Delhi: A scheme that could change the face of
higher education in the country, the Government is planning to make
expensive textbooks available to students in a free digital format.

The
Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry has indicated that it is
willing to share the cost with publishers of digitising study material
for undergraduate and postgraduate courses.

Under the proposed agreement, the Government would compensate the publishers for any losses they might incur.

The
Ministry is also considering setting up its own database, which would
have top journals of the IITs and the Indian Institute of Science.

The
government is even willing to pay half of what it would take to provide
a computer to every teacher in the 18,000 colleges across the country.

In
fact, the University Grants Commission would provide free Internet
connections to institutes, which take up this offer. Also, teachers who
provide online coaching to students would be remunerated for their
services.

The HRD Ministry wants
to incorporate the proposal in the 11th Five Year Plan. And
that’s not all, the Planning Commission will meet in the first
week of August to discuss ways to overhaul the higher education system.

Asserting that the fruits of development have not reached the
villages of Delhi, from where even today only a handful of children
make it to the colleges and even fewer pursue higher studies, Delhi
Congress leader and member of All-India Congress Committee Naresh Kumar
has called for urgent steps to provide better education in the rural
areas of the Capital.

Dr. Kumar said he has also made a representation to
Lieutenant-Governor Tejendra Khanna seeking better educational
facilities in the rural areas. “I have demanded setting up of
Pratibha Vikas Vidyalayas or skill development schools in Narela,
Kanjhawala, Dhansa border, Tikri Kalan and Mehrauli. Simultaneously
co-educational colleges are needed in Najafgarh, Bijwasan, Nangloi,
Bawana and Narela,” he said.

The Congress leader has also called for increasing the seats in
Aditi College, Bhagini Nivedita College and Shraddhanand College for
benefiting children from the rural areas. He suggested to Mr. Khanna
that steps be initiated to have two shifts in all these colleges to
accommodate more students and to introduce vocational and professional
courses so that children from the rural areas may acquire skills to
help them in getting profitably employed.

With the land in the hands of the villagers getting reduced due to
acquisitions by the Government and the increase in the size of the
families, Dr. Kumar said the avenues for earning of livelihood have
been decreasing rapidly in the rural belts. “Few in Delhi even
know that the children there in the absence of proper education and
employment opportunities are getting misled.”

Chandigarh, July 30: Decks are cleared for a
major overhaul of school education infrastructure in Punjab, as Chief
Minister Parkash Singh Badal today successfully persuaded some of the
top captains of business and industry in the country to set up 100
Adarsh Schools in various parts of the state.

The government is also in touch with
some of the leading educational trusts and institutions in the country
to help upgrade the entire process of early education.