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FMS, Delhi Holds 4-Day International Conference on "Human Capital Formation in the 21st Century" Day 1 The much-awaited International Conference on 'Human Capital Formation in the 21st Century' was inaugurated at the Convention Centre, University of Delhi on the 1st December 2005. Prof. Vijay Kapur, Conference Chair - FMS Conferences, delivered the welcome address with a thought-provoking overview of human capital requirements in the 21st century. He elaborated at length about the need for a new paradigm to fulfill the emerging needs of a knowledge economy. FMS, in its 51 years of existence, has contributed significantly to the development of human capital, training two generations of thought leaders. It was in 1995 that Prof. Neelamegham, then Dean, International Relations, Delhi University, first proposed that the knowledge repository that FMS has built up in the area of Human Capital Development be shared with and expanded through a series of discussions. It is this foresight that has culminated in the Human Capital Conference,'05, the first in a series of FMS International Conferences. Mr. B. S. Baswan, Former Education Secretary>, Govt. of India, inaugurated the event. He began by pointing out that India is today in a state of great flux and is characterized by revolutions in every sphere of activity - be it politics, the economy or education. The monolithic Congress is being replaced by regional parties with affiliations at the grassroots level. With a sprawling geography, the challenge today before India is to get people back into the mainstream, the North-East serving as an example of how things can go wrong if citizens find themselves at the edge of national consciousness. Primary education and secondary education, both place huge responsibility on the state, but while the former can be handled entirely by the state in terms of implementation, the execution of the latter would require collaborative efforts on the part of the private sector. In case of technical and higher education, however, there is a demand and supply mismatch, with a few well-reputed educational institutes being applied to and being expected to serve the needs of a vast majority. Education must increasingly be regarded as a business and with private providers expected to enter the field, the statement that 'Education is a public good' must be turned on its head. Contributed by - |
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