National Knowledge Commission, Report to the Nation, 2006

The government of India appointed the National Knowledge Commission – chaired by telecommunications expert Sam Pitroda – on June 13, 2005, to serve as an advisory body to the prime minister of India (then, Manmohan Singh). The Commission published this report in January 2007.The Commission was appointed for a three-year period from 2005 to 2008. It was to make recommendations to build an educational system ‘to meet the knowledge challenges of the 21st century’; encourage knowledge creation in science and technology; manage institutions enforcing intellectual property rights; as well as promote knowledge applications in agriculture and industry and the use of knowledge to make government services more effective, transparent and accountable.The 87-page report is divided into nine chapters: National Knowledge Commission (chapter 1); Access to Knowledge (chapter 2); Knowledge Concepts (chapter 3); Creation of Knowledge (chapter 4); Knowledge Applications (chapter 5); Delivery of Services (chapter 6); Recommendations (chapter 7); Consultations (chapter 8) and Abbreviations (chapter 9).The report contains recommendations under the following nine themes: libraries, translation, language of instruction, ‘knowledge networks’, the Right to Education Bill, vocational education and training, higher education, national science and social science foundations, as well as e-governance.