NCRI holds National Convention
The National Council of Rural Institutes (NCRI) has ogranised its First National Convention of Rural Institutes at Jubilee Hall in Hyderabad on October 19, 2009. Nearly 300 delegates representing various institutes across the country took part in the deliberations of the convention. Inaugurating the Convention, Honourable Minister of State for Planning and ParliamentaryAffairs, Government of India, Shri Narayanasamy, called for creation of ur-ban facilities in rural areas. “NCRI is an apex body and a leader in rural higher education. It is designed to promote rural higher education within the Gandhian framework,” he said. Shri Narayanasamy said that the NCRI can play a vital role to help implement Government programmes with an accent on rural higher education. To enable the NCRI to do this, it has to be strengthened financially and providedgreater autonomy, he said. The Union Minister has also described details of various schemes of the Union Government. The Minister said that a new scheme of setting up 1000 new polytechnics has been approved by the Government. Skills training, even short-term, can transform lives and enable the poor to earn, save and spend, thus joining the mainstream of the economy. Earlier, in his welcome address NCRI Chairman Dr S V Prabhath said that the convention is to provide a common platform for all the institutions that are working on rural higher education. He mentioned that the NCRI supports Rural Institutes financially and otherwise. Dr Prabhath said the NCRI has established a Rural Resource Informatics Centre which is in the process of networking with various national and international databases to provide value-added services which would help in establishing systems for programme implementation of rural institutes.
A book titled ‘Gandhi Today’ was released by the Minister on the occasion. ‘Gandhi Today’ is a special volume consisting of a collection of short papers associated with the relevance of Gandhian ideas to the contemporary world contributed by eminent personalities, Gandhians and academicians from different parts of the world. The award winners of an essay competition on “Strengthening Rural Institutes using Technology for Social Advancement” held on National Technology Day, May 11th, 2009, were given prizes by the honourable Union Minister. Shri Trivikraman Subramaniam of Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, Rajasthan, was awarded the first prize carrying a cash award of Rs 10,000. Shri Ankur Kumar of Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, Goa Campus, was awarded the second prize with a cash award of Rs 7,000. Shri G Vishwanathan of Indian Institute of Information Technology, Kancheepuram, has been awarded third prize and a cash prize of Rs 5,000. On behalf of Shri G Vishwanathan, his parents Smt and Shri G Ganeshan received the prize from the Honourable Chief Guest.
Revenue and Tourism Minister of Puducherry, Shri Malladi Krishna Rao, graced the occasion. In the second session of the day, Padmabhushan Dr P V Indiresan, former Director of IIT, Madras, spoke on Rural Institutes as Knowledge Platforms - Role of RRIC. “We need a different paradigm of rural development with focus on high quality schools, reliable secondary care medical services and affordable public transport. There should be faster connectivity to schools and hospitals at all times. We are spending over Rs 80,000 crore a year for rural development. A part of this budget if earmarked for developing village clusters, it would go a long way in bettering the lives of villagers. This will enhance the Human Development Index quickly,” Dr Indiresan reasoned. NCRI Chairman Dr Prabhath invited Padmasri Dr D P Rao, former Director, National Remote Sensing Agency, Hyderabad, to share his views on the role of RRIC in rural institutes as knowledge platforms. “With lack of facilities and avenues rural populace is moving to urban centres. Actually, there are rich resources available in rural areas itself,” said Dr D P Rao. “Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy of basic education -- Nai Talim -- is a way of learning to reverse this migration. We are not making any efforts in this direction. There is a mismatch between the rural masses and the governance. Therefore RRIC has a tremendous role to serve rural people with accountability. RRIC should prepare a database structure to find who will make good service. It should evolve into a second front for rural development,” elaborated Dr Rao.
Dr T Karunakaran, Director, Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Rural Industrialisation, Wardha, dwelt on Revitalisation of Rural Institutes—Evolving a Suitable Policy. “Replicating the Rural University Model could be fully realised only if NCRI has adequate resources to fund such universities along with the needed regulatory powers. In case the mission of NCRI is understood as one of creation of Rural Universities the process could start only when Planning Commission has an agenda. It would be desirable to limit the scope of activity of NCRI to rural higher education. The model of rural university anyway networks all the 3 tiers of education. Relevance is a concept of linking local natural resources and human capital which has not been incorporated into the scheme of education. NCRI has to create linkage by highlighting the success of Lok Bharati,” Dr Karunakaran said. Dr Sudarshan Iyengar, Vice-chancellor of Gujarath Vidyapeeth, said, “We need to provide integrated education system with formal and informal methods of teaching. Each State Government should get into this education model. Rural education should find a teacher in non-formal way. An artisan need not have a regular degree. He can become a good teacher by giving them the skills he has. We need to get into the higher education. Fundamental debate needs to be settled before we embark upon the structured policy for rural institutes or universities.” Prof. Ramakrishna Rao, academician and Gandhian thinker, said, “The urban and rural divide we have today is the result of the past. Education is the most important thing for rural institute’s meaningful contribution to society. I congratulate NCRI Chairman for organising such a Convention. Ministry of HRD is focused on creation of new universities and IITs. There appears to be no intention of setting up rural institutes. It is very logical for the Govt of India to create a statutory body like NCRI to develop rural higher education.” Dr Pitabasa Sahoo, Associate Professor, Administrative Staff College of India, said that the Rural Institutes seeking support from NCRI should develop and design suitable project proposals in order to meet the objectives of NCRI as well as promote rural education through Gandhian approach. Shri RRK Murthy, Convener, National Convention of Rural Institutes, proposed a vote of thanks.
Union Minister gets close to RIs
Honourable Minister of State for Planning and Parliamentary Affairs Shri Narayanasamy invited questions from delegates attending National Convention of Rural Institutes. Here are a few of the selected questions from the Rural Institutes and the replies provided by the honourable minister.
Shri Shamshad Khan, Secretary/Director, Centre for Rural Education and Development Action, Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh: Tribals are good artisans. The wood and bamboo crafts they work on have immense marketing potential but they are living in penury. They need support from the government.
Honourable Minister: This was also my experience during my visits to tribal areas in Bastar in Chattisgarh and other areas. This issue is being addressed in the Planning Commission. We are chalking out a plan to eliminate middlemen so that artisans get maximum benefit.
Smt S N Fatima, Head, Institutional Programmes, Swami Vivekananda Institute for Leadership Development, Mysore: We work with rural youth after their matriculation. We train them in vocational skills. We are facing challenges in providing them with appropriate placements. If there is any provision from the government, it could help us.
Honourable Minister: There is an unwritten convention among the local bodies that they should absorb trained local youth for any vacancies in them. We cannot make legal provisions for this.
Shri Manohar Rao, President, Medak District Voluntary Agencies Network: Education in the rural areas is a matter of concern. Percentage of rural youth reaching higher education level is very poor, especially among girls. Sweden’s model of high school curriculum is based on vocational courses. Is Govt of India thinking anything on these lines?
Honourable Minister: The Central Government is overhauling the higher education in the country. Overnight we could not bring a change. But steadily we are making positive changes in this sector. We are opening 25,000 schools, especially to bring the drop-out students back into the educational stream. Many colleges like engineering and medical are coming up in rural areas. Growing private participation is opening the flood gates of opportunities. This pace will bring rural universities into existence. Rural children will get better opportunities in higher education.
Nai Talim is the solution: NCRI Chairman Immediately after the presentation on Designing and Developing Suitable Project Proposals, moderator for the session Prof. Ramakrishna Rao, academician and Gandhian thinker, invited the delegates to interact on the subject.
Following are a few of the interactions of the delegates:
Shri Shamshad Khan, Creda, Mirzapur: We have come to a conclusion that we need a lot of things to develop project proposals. Since there is a dearth of committed workers “consultants” are ruling the roost.
Chairman: NCRI has required resources to provide solution in this regard. Nai Talim curriculum is one to cite an example in this context.
Shri D John, India Peace Centre: We are working in remote villages as part of Gobhand Federation. We are developing a self-sustaining economic zone by controlling the local market. Can NCRI give technological methodology to retain the local market for the local people?
Shri GVVSDS Prasad, The Wheel, NCRI: We did a brief calculation in the context of village development on what was coming into a village and what was going out. Liquor, tobacco, soft drinks, cosmetics, fairness creams and confectionaries were coming into the village. Milk, vegetables, flowers, and fruits were going out. If you observe, for every 10 kilos of tomatoes you get only Rs 10. For ten rupees you get one small bottle of soft drink. Watch how the amount of village wealth is looted. Attribution of value is a tricky phenomenon. It is nearly Rs 4 crore loss from each village. This wealth is squeezed out of our villages. What is the solution? Alternatives are available. Khadi can provide the solution to stop plundering of villages.
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