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The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, with the Chairman of the Knowledge Commission, Mr Sam Pitroda, in New Delhi on Tuesday. — R.V. Moorthy

New Delhi , Aug. 2

THE Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, today called for strengthening the "knowledge base" by focusing on "brain power" of the country, while launching the Knowledge Commission here.

The Prime Minister emphasised the need to improve access and excellence in primary schools, higher education and research institutions of national excellence, and asked the Knowledge Commission to come forward with creative ideas to promote the "knowledge base" of economy and to exploit its latent potential. We must leverage it to make India truly the `knowledge engine' of the world, he said.

In the 21st century, "it is not military power or economic power that will, in fact, determine a nation's place in the world now in the making, but its brain power. Brain power should, of course, be reflected in a country's economic competitiveness as well as military prowess," said Dr Singh.

"More importantly, it should be reflected in, what Prof Amartya Sen has called, human capabilities," said Dr Singh, adding that the ability of a nation to make the best use of its brain power will shape its place in the world in the present century. Referring to the fact that India would remain a country of young population even as other countries begin to age, the Prime Minister said, "These youth can be an asset only if we invest in their capabilities".

With more than 250 universities, and many more research and development units, and professional colleges and institutions, India has the world's largest chain of publicly funded R&D institutions. On an average, more than 3.5 lakh engineers and 5,000 Ph.D. scholars graduate from our universities and colleges every year, he said.

With such a vast pool of qualified, English-speaking scientific and technological manpower, India must have the ambition to become a large base of R&D activity.

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