Imagine an India in which elementary school enrolment (I-VIII) and adult literacy are approaching 100%, school drop out rates are near zero, all children who are not going on for higher academic studies receive vocational training, and computer literacy is almost up to the standard of Western nations. Imagine a country in which nearly all citizens have access to all forms of print and electronic communication media-television, telephone, the Internet.

Compare that with India as it is today, with only 64% of its people meeting even the most minimum standard of literacy, where 59% of students never complete 5^th standard, where secondary enrolment is 58% but of those that enrol 54% (68% of the total age group) never complete 8^th standard, where only a small percentage of youth receive vocational training before entering the workforce, and where probably less than 1% of the working age population is computer literate.

Now try to conceive of how much more productive, prosperous, dynamic and expansive would be the India that you have imagined. Think about the potential benefits of new educational methods that would make it possible for school children to complete the entire secondary school curriculum within the first five or six years of education, with greater comprehension and retention and greater capacity for thinking, problem solving and creativity. How much more knowledgeable, skilled, and competent would be the nation's workforce? Imagine the impact on social productivity and living standards of corporations, universities, and government administrations staffed by such a workforce. How much more efficient and innovative? How much better informed would be the decisions taken by individuals regarding education, occupation, politics, business investment, health, child-rearing and life-style? How much more effective the institutions operating for the development of society? Imagine a workforce able to meet the entire world's shortage of technical and professional graduates. Imagine companies and universities from around the world gravitating to India as the premier scientific and technological research and development environment. Imagine an India in which cities are far cleaner and more modern, citizens more enlightened and responsible, entrepreneurs more dynamic and sophisticated, institutions far more effective and responsive. Surely as a minimum, this India would enjoy a per capita income three to four times higher, perhaps ten times higher, than the country does today.

The term ‘knowledge society' has gained prevalence in recent years due to the revolutionary strides in technology and the rapid evolution of new systems for the gathering, transmission and application of information. A confluence of technologies-television, computers, networking, satellite communications and the internet-constitute the technological basis for the knowledge revolution. Their rapid proliferation over the past decade has made possible movement of information around the world at lightning speed. This dramatic acceleration in the development of information technologies; in the speed and extent of global knowledge accumulation, dissemination and exchange; in the blurring and transcendence of traditional boundaries between fields of knowledge; and in the emergence of new knowledge-based industries are defining characteristics of the knowledge revolution.

The concept of Knowledge Society includes also that of the learning society. The pace of knowledge generation and adoption is so rapid in the world of today that learning can no longer be confined to formative years of youth. All members of the population must continue to acquire knowledge throughout their adult lives in order to avail of the economic opportunities that rapid development makes possible. This requires the development of innovative delivery systems for dissemination of practically useful information on a continuous basis.