Know thyself

Star performers inevitably catch this affliction. Left unchecked, they begin to attack their very source of strength. India, in this decade of fast growth, is in inexplicable denial of its most obvious competitive advantage. It is, even more dangerously, in conflict with itself. Consider this. The prime minister makes an explicit statement about his priorities by setting up the Knowledge Commission, with a futuristic mandate to sharpen India8217;s knowledge edge and with the privilege of reporting directly to him. This doesn8217;t quite square with extending reservations to the most visible symbols of India8217;s knowledge edge, the IIMs and the IITs. The battle for excellence, with this policy, is not just about the admission criteria at these institutes. It is about the relevance of institutions of governance, and about the state8217;s strength to harness constructive interrogation.

The quota extension policy is both a question for the Knowledge Commission as well as an opportunity. The role-making service of the IITs and IIMs is well recorded. So is the need to nurture their premier status. It has therefore often been the case that they have been insulated from policies 8212; often populist 8212; extended to other centres of higher learning. For the Knowledge Commission to mean something as an institution, it is thus important that it not limit itself to advice on how to manage the IIT-IIMs. The issue before them is of salience to much of India8217;s knowledge empire: the need to strengthen meritocracy by broadbasing access to opportunity. Is it to be through proportional reservations at all levels? Or is that proportional representation to be instead made self-replicating by more imaginative delivery of social goods at primary stages? A debate has been begun in the commission, and it must to driven to its forward-looking momentum.

For the central government too, this will be a far-reaching moment. The prime minister has before him a chance to break from the insularity of administrative decision-making 8212; based on populism and expedient shortcuts. He also bears the responsibility to act upon the terms of national enrichment he stated by setting up the Knowledge Commission. Now is the time to temper his minister8217;s diktats by heeding the informed advice at his command.