Another achievement in the world of words

This was the paper presentation contest won at DCE in the National Program on Knowledge Power. We had to write a paper on "Creating Knowledge Power" in 500 words. Got some cool cash as the prize.

Here is the Paper:

Creating Knowledge Power:


Without knowledge there would hardly be any difference between man and animal.
Knowledge has played a key role in the evolution of mankind with the first
invention of the wheel to today’s nanotechnology. USA, stands as the superpower
today because it is powerful and powerful because it creates the most knowledge
and implements it.The world would be a naked child without knowledge, and no
wonder that more than half of the world is in that stage of evolution, begging the
parental super power for economic charity and military security.
India was also amongst them. Today it is emerging, and unlike other emerging
countries, our strength has been knowledge. We were late in the modern evolution
of mankind in the form of industrialization and the computer and space
phenomena. Never the less we have caught up. Yet a lot has to be done to reach the
zenith.
The first step in that direction is to make knowledge accessible to the major part of
the 1 billion population which still lives in the world of darkness marred by
ignorance and apathy. Accessible education is the only solution which can only be
implemented when the mass realizes the importance of it, and the education projects
are implemented rigorously in the down trodden sections of the society.
The second step would indeed be knowledge creation. The universities, which are
the temples of learning, can play the most crucial role. Encouraging innovative
thinking in the colleges is the ideal solution. The students can only work in that
direction if they happen to love the subjects they learn. Thus in this regard, making
university education more liberal, where the student has more freedom to choose
subjects that he likes,and thus is able to give his best. The present redundant system
of education in the form of rigorous, compulsory and out-of-date courses and strict
examinations has to be changed where in the system becomes self sufficient in
knowledge creation as well as innovative and critical thinking is evolved.
When knowledge is created, it itself finds its way to be implemented. When a
student is thinking on his feet, he would be more self-aware and confident to
implement that knowledge in the form of entrepreneurship and scientific research
as well as teaching his fellow colleagues and junior students. Hence, it is vital that
better university system comes up, by encouraging liberal system and more efficient
faculties who would encourage the students to search for knowledge themselves.
More universities and colleges are indeed needed, but those which exist have to be
reformed immediately and that should be our priority. Indeed the IITs and IIMs
are the best examples.
Today the knowledge industries like finance, engineering and software is what
empowers the US economy. Knowledge is in our genes and once we are able to open
ourselves and look beyond the basic needs of family and getting a job, we can
definitely defeat the US economy. This indeed needs initiatives at the macro level of
the political and economic system.