Page 6 - EW February 2023

From the

THE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT MAGAZINE Editor

Volume X XIV No.2

BOARD OF ADVISORS A lthough Indian education is at a liberalisation and deregulation
N.R. Narayana Murthy, H.V. Gowthama, Shukla
Bose, Dr. Glenn Christo, Dr. R. Natarajan inflection point three decades after Indian industry was liber-
(Bangalore); Adi Godrej, Dr. Augustine Pinto, alised in the landmark Union Budget of 1991 — when licence-
Guilherme Vaz, Ketan Gala, Kirit Mehta, Balkishan permit-quota raj which had cabined, cribbed and confined the
Sharma (Mumbai); Dr. Ramdas Pai (Manipal);
Prof. Geeta Kingdon (Lucknow); Rajiv Desai, Dr. Indian economy for over four decades was substantially disman-
Parth Shah, Jeroninio Almeida, Premchand Palety tled — better late than never.
(Delhi); Dr. Kannan Gireesh (Chennai); Robindra
Subba (Kurseong); Sanjeev Bolia (Kolkata); Dr. Indians have a bad history of writing and recalling history. But it’s impor-
Achyuta Samanta (Bhubaneswar); Shyama Thakore tant to remember that for several millennia until the mid-18th century, the
(London)
Indian subcontinent and neighbouring ancient China, were the wealthiest and
EDITOR most prosperous countries worldwide contributing 50 percent of global GDP.
Dilip Thakore India was in a sweet spot when the nation attained its political freedom in
MANAGING EDITOR 1947. Several visionary industry pioneers including G.D. Birla, J.N. Tata, Kas-
Summiya Yasmeen turbhai Lalbhai, and the Chettiar industrialists of peninsular India who had
CHIEF SUB-EDITOR prospered between the two World Wars despite numerous hurdles placed in
Sundar Anand their path by the British Raj, were well-positioned to transform independent
Paromita Sengupta, Reshma Ravishanker, Gopi India into Asia’s fastest developing and most prosperous economy.
Chand N, (Bangalore), Autar Nehru (Delhi) But that tryst with destiny was sabotaged by imposition of Soviet-inspired
9868256512, Baishali Mukherjee (Kolkata)
9836491981, Shivani Chaturvedi (Chennai) Nehruvian socialist ideology upon high-potential independent India. Thou-
9500506102 sands of laws, rules and regulations were enacted to shackle private enterprise.
CHIEF EXECUTIVE Tax revenue and national savings were canalised into giant Soviet-style public
Bhavin Shah +91 9867382867 sector enterprises (PSEs) managed by government clerks and bureaucrats.
MARKETING Unsurprisingly, despite being conferred monopoly status, India’s 256 Central
Vice President — Sales: Tejas Pattni 9022487997 PSEs and an equal number promoted by state governments, never generated
West: Aasana Jain 9820319127 promised surpluses which would have financed public infrastructure, educa-
South: Poonam Shah 9731966373
North: Hannan Ahmed 9810302768 tion and health.
E-mail: marketing@educationworld.in Forty years later, a non-Nehru leader of the Congress party — prime
GRAPHICS minister P.V. Narasimha Rao — substantially dismantled neta-babu licence-
Suresh K. permit-quota raj. As a result the annual rate of GDP growth doubled and 400
SUBSCRIPTIONS million citizens were lifted out of poverty, until the Covid pandemic pushed an
Kiran Kumar: 9108225694/ estimated 100 million back under the poverty line.
080 43711141 Unfortunately, while Indian industry was substantially unshackled in 1991,
sub@educationworld.in
the logic of liberalisation was not extended to the education sector. The tight
ONE YEAR SUBSCRIPTION: RS.1700 grip of the neta-babu brotherhood and left academics over Indian education
OVERSEAS SUBSCRIPTION: USD95
Cheques/drafts in favour of DT Media & had the same effect. None of India’s 42,000 colleges or 1,072 universities —
Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. Bangalore despite some of them being of 150 years vintage — is ranked among the Top
EDITORIAL 200 WUR (World University Rankings) published annually by the globally
C3-36, 3rd Floor, Devatha Plaza respected QS or Times Higher Education. Thirty years later, after promulga-
131 Residency Road, Bangalore 560 025. tion of the National Education Policy, 2020, there are signs that the logic of
Tel: 080 22480880; Fax: 2227 5962;
E-mail: editorial@educationworld.in liberalisation is being applied to India’s floundering education sector. But as
our detailed cover feature warns, don’t rule out a spanner in the works.
Printed and published by Dilip Thakore on behalf
of DT Media & Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. Our second lead story beams an overdue spotlight on a neglected dimen-
Printed at Rajhans Enterprises, 134, 4th Main, In- sion of India’s moribund education sector: developing children’s SEL (social
dustrial Town, Rajajinagar, Bangalore-44. Published and emotional learning) skills, badly damaged by the over-long lockdown of
at C3-36, 3rd Floor, Devatha Plaza, 131 Residency schools during the Covid pandemic.
Road. Bangalore 560 025.
Editor Dilip Thakore.
RNI No. KARENG/1999/00234
Website: www.educationworld.in

6 EDUCATIONWORLD FEBRUARY 2023