India as a Knowledge Society is not a Hoary Old Chestnut

Sarath Shyam
When we recognize the economic, political and cultural values of knowledge and seek universal presence, equity in access, empowerment and lifelong learning within the social structure, we get an elevated status of being a knowledge society. With the penetration of ICT in day-to-day administrations and increasing importance of the service sector, India stands today in the threshold of a knowledge society wherein the knowledge workers have emerged to be the key social categories.

The western media, however, may not completely agree with it and would call the country's aspirations to become knowledge society a hoary old chestnut. It is nothing but the prejudices of western media who considers themselves as the global pathfinders and thinks that featuring educational institutions in the global rankings is the only way to build knowledge societies. Indeed, only a small number of leading universities in a few countries can genuinely claim the status of 'world-class university,' as the focus of most higher education establishments is rather on strengthening their particular fields and their appeal to a very closely targeted student clientele.

There is no denial of the fact that the higher education system is the engine of the knowledge ecology and its effectiveness will determine the success of a country's transformation into a knowledge society. Being a country that considers its large number of young population as an important asset, India has many States, which are seeking to transform themselves into a knowledge society. With a long and rich tradition of higher education and the presence of world-class institutions like IISc and IIM-Bangalore, Karnataka is far ahead of its counterparts in this race. While, the rapid growth of IT Industry has been a major impetus for this transformation, Karnataka has seen an explosion of new universities and colleges in the past few decades and many of them have gained a reputation in research and education that extends far beyond the boundaries of the state and the country.

With the help of our expert panel, we are introducing some of the important institutes in Karnataka as '20 Most Promising Educational Institutes in Karnataka' in this edition and hope it finds beneficial to you.

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