CHANDIGARH: A 3-member National Knowledge Commission (NKC) led by its Advisor S.Regunathan Monday called on Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to apprise him with the recommendations of the commission and their implementation to create a knowledge base in the state.

Regunathan informed adal that NKC was set up in 2005 as a highl-level advisory body to the Prime Minister of India headed by Dr. Sam Pitroda with the objective of transforming India into a knowledge society.  It covers sectors ranging from education to e-governance in five focus areas of knowledge paradigm; Access – easy access to knowledge, Concepts - all levels and forms on, Creation – effective creation of, Applications – of knowledge and Services – like e-governance.  

Interacting with the Commission, Badal appreciated the recommendations of the NKC and said that the state government would implement them to strengthen the educational system, promote research and innovation and knowledge applications in sectors like health, agriculture and industry.  He also evinced keen interest to work in tandem with commission in focus areas of literacy, education, higher education, technical education, medial education, vocational education, libraries, science & technology, innovations, intellectual property rights and language & portals.  Mr.Badal assured the visiting team that the state government would extend fulsome support and cooperation to the Commission for translating its recommendations into reality.  

Later, the team headed by Mr.Reghunathan alongwith two research associates Aditi Saraf and Kanan Dhru had a detailed meeting with a group of officers headed by Chief Secretary to share their vision and perspective on an action plan for Punjab on select areas such as e-governance, translation, libraries, higher education and vocational education.  

Prominent amongst others who were present on the occasion included Chief Secretary RI Singh, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister DS Guru, Secretary Coordination Tejveer Singh and Additional Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Gagandeep Singh Brar.