DIGITIZE TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE

DIGITIZE TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE-BASE ON HIGH PRIORITY: Dr. M.M. JOSHI
Dr. M.M. Joshi Minister for HRD, Dr. V. Kathiria, MoS, HRD, Dr. S.K. Tripathi & Mrs. Kumud Bansal, Additional Secretary, M.H.R.D.		with public libraries and PIB offices. He desired that a suitable mechanism be evolved for this so that people could make use of this vast digitized library network. It was also informed that in about six months, the exclusive educational satellite, EDUSAT, would be in place. This would not only help spread quality education in India, it would also enable the country to share its knowledge-base with the neighbouring countries. Responding to suggestions that India should take a lead role internationally in matters relating to education and culture, Dr. Joshi said, India is always willing to share its knowledge and heritage for welfare of the humanity. The country has been highlighting concerns in the international fora on issues relating to human advancement, such as values in education, sustainable consumption, and ethics in science research. India is currently engaged in global discussions on climate change and getting support for research in biotechnology. The four sub-commissions on education, culture, science and technology and communication presented their reports in the meeting. The sub-commissions have generally sought UNESCO’s help in capacity building in different areas. Members of the Commission showed concern at the low priority given to the South Asian region by UNESCO. Prof. V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai, Vice-Chairman,represented the UGC in the Indian National Commission for Co-operation with UNESCO.
inister for Human Resource Development, Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi suggested that Ministries dealing with education, culture, information technology, science and technology, health and media join hands to create a system to digitalize all forms of traditional knowledge for their proper preservation and use. This could be on the lines of or by expanding the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) recently set up in the area of traditional medicine, by the Health and S & T Ministries, he said. Dr. Joshi cautioned that if this is not done in time and exhaustively, the enormous cultural heritage of India would be lost to forces of commercialization. Dr. Joshi was interacting with top officials of a number of Central Ministries, organizations and experts dealing with education, science and technology, social	sciences, culture and media at the meeting of the Indian National Commission for Co-operation with UNESCO. He added that threats to intangible heritage, traditional knowledge and cultural diversity would keep rising due to commercialization and also due to the impact of globalization and new technology. He emphasized that instead of depending on the developed nations, India must evolve its own mechanisms to deal with them. He informed that a large number of ancient scripts have been digitized in the last few years and this work would be completed on a high priority so that the knowledge is not grabbed, monopolized and exploited by a select few. The Minister also proposed to share the vast library resources presently available with Universities and the four proposed National Institutes of Science of the UGC, the IITs, NITs,