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Our Bureau

Mysore , Feb. 12

IN a bid to enable India emerge as the knowledge capital of the world, the Union Government proposes to set up a Knowledge Commission over the next few weeks, said the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, on Saturday.

Speaking after inaugurating the Infosys training centre here, Dr Singh said the commission would be headed by a dynamic individual and supported by creative youngsters. It would leverage the knowledge network to make India a knowledge engine of the world.

Showering praises on Infosys founders for their vision and leadership, Dr Singh said he was an admirer of the inspiring work done at Infosys. "Chairman Narayana Murthy and CEO Nandan Nilekani have emerged as the role models of India for tomorrow," he said.

The IT major has set new benchmarks in corporate governance, intellectual productivity and has lived up to the Gandhian notion of "simple living and high thinking."

"Narayana Murthy has become a national icon, global brand name and a role model for CEOs worldwide," the Prime Minister said.

He also lauded the role of IT in breaking traditional mindsets about India's capabilities and cited it as the single biggest reason for the country occupying mind share among the global investment community.

Dr Singh went down the memory lane recalling his first Budget as Finance Minister in 1991, wherein he had quoted Victor Hugo: "No power on earth can stop an idea whose time has come."

He said he had then dreamt of the emergence of India as a major global economic power. "The time has come now," he told Infoscians adding, "I am mightily pleased to see that the future is here today."

Infosys symbolises the new phase of confident globalisation, Dr Singh said. "When we launched the economic reforms in 1991, everybody thought the return of East India Company. The experience in 15 years has proved that India is globally competitive. It is interesting to see that `brain drain' has stopped and people from the West are coming to India in search of jobs," he added.

"Our endeavour is to make India a major player in the IT and ITeS sector," the Prime Minister said, adding that the progress made in the software sector is not enough. "We need to invest in hardware sector also as the Government is giving major thrust in areas such as convergence, broadband networking, among others to take IT to all levels," he added.

Services sector growing

Stating that the services sector is emerging as a major growth area, which has received less attention, Dr Singh said that his Government is committed to create an environment for the rapid growth of the sector. The fast growth in services sector has enabled the economy to be less dependent on the vagaries of monsoon, he added.

Lack of good infrastructure has been a bottleneck for the growth of services sector, Dr Singh said, "The time has come to address the infrastructure needs of India and our Government is committed to it."

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