By Dr Arvind Kumar
A grateful nation celebrates 66th birth anniversary of our beloved Prime Minister late Sh Rajiv Gandhi who had a vision of a strong, prosperous, vibrant and self-sufficient India. In thinking and planning for the nation, Rajiv Ji was ahead of his times as he thought of Information Technology, science and technology and revamping of education system as fundamentals essential to transform the India society and the nation as a front-ranking country in the comity of nations. We are fortunate today that by implementing some of his ideas like Information Technology, India has emerged as a giant in this sector giving even developed countries a run for their money. There are fields where his ideas are direly required to be implemented so that we are able to alleviate poverty, tackle unemplyment, and raise the living standards of the people, particularly of the dalits. The present education system is partially based on the New Education Policy (NEP) as pioneered by Rajiv Gandhi. More emphasis on reforming higher education at the college level as well as university level is called for. India can emerge as Education Hub and instead of India students going abroad for higher or technical education; the Hub can attract foreign students. The best tribute to Rajiv Gandhi is to emulate his ideals and put them into practice.
