UGC Report on Inter University Center on Rural - Ministry of Rural ...

3.3 Networked functioning:
The complexity of today’s global economic environment along with the talisman to
help us emerge successful are well described in the following two statements:
“The dynamics of our society, and particularly our new economy, will
increasingly obey the logic of networks. Understanding how networks will
be the key to understanding how the economy works”.
-Kevin Kelly, In New Rules for the New Economy
“The old common sense was an understanding of cause and effect in the
complicated world of discrete events. The next common sense is a
description of cause and effect in a world of interweavings”.
-Michael Lissack and Johan Roos, The Next Common Sense
As described in 2.3 knowledge is available in a creative/functional form across
various agencies belonging to various sectors/ ministries. At the same time no successful
development project, leave alone industrialization, is possible without the convergence of
atleast a few of these agencies/sectors/schemes. Therefore we may conclude that:
India’s ambitious plan of achieving faster and inclusive growth is possible
only through knowledge leveraging existing institutional strengths.
Since knowledge, in its creative and functional form, is scattered across many
disciplines/ Institutions / Agencies / Sectors it is imperative to adopt a style of
networked functioning
This is very clear from the following resolution of the Workshop on India and the
knowledge economy : Leveraging Strengths and Opportunities (Nov 9, 2004, New Delhi) :
“It is necessary to improve the efficiency of public R&D and to increase
private R&D, as well as to encourage greater University-industry linkages.
There is also the need to strengthen the emerging new model to produce
innovations in more cost effective way based on leveraging traditional
knowledge with modern science and exploiting public-private
partnerships.”
The need for linkage with various stake holders like scientific bodies, NGOs,
Panchayati Raj, schemes of Central and State government departments is clear from the
following statement from the report of the National commission on Farmers (2006)
“The NRAA (National Research Association for Agriculture) should
provide scientific and intellectual support to and fully tap the potential of
Panchayati Raj Institutions and participations of NGOs and communitybased
organizations. The NRAA should be structured somewhat like
National Dairy Development Board with clear-cut functions in the areas
of policy formulation, resource mobilization, coordination with all
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