Translation industry has vast potential in India: Pitroda

Nation : Translation industry has vast potential in India: Pitroda Posted by admin on 2006/10/11 10:00:12 http://www.teluguportal.net/modules/news/article.php?storyid=17237 New Delhi, Oct 11 (IANS) The translation industry has the potential to generate more than 500,000 jobs in India, and necessary recommendations would be made to exploit the potential, said Knowledge Commission Chairman Sam Pitroda Wednesday. "We are working towards strengthening the translation industry by opening state-run training institutions and then open it for the private sector," Pitroda said at a discussion organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here. "The translation industry in India has been neglected so far. India is a diverse country and we don't understand each other's culture or languages. Why can't a Bengali work be translated into a Gujarati work?" he queried. "That's the only way knowledge can be truly imparted." Pitroda said the entire education system in India needed a complete overhauling - right from government-run schools to institutions of higher education - since education was becoming a privilege for the few who could afford it. He added that the Knowledge Commission - set up by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2005 - has given a set of 10 recommendations in this regard to the government and another set of 10 suggestions would be made in a couple of months. "Our recommendations cover areas like increasing the number of universities to 1,500 from 350 in the next few years. We have also given recommendations on libraries, affirmative action, language, translations, literacy and programmes," said Pitroda. He hoped the recommendations would trigger wide debates in society, and said: "I want criticism to arise because that is how there will be change in people's mindsets, which is very important for the country to develop." Pitroda - who led India's telecommunications revolution of the 1980s and headed the Technology Mission that covered areas like drinking water and edible oils - said the government had accepted the commission's paper on e-governance. The Chicago-based technocrat-entrepreneur - who is also part of a UN committee to help push technology across the globe in the 21st century - said India had a long way to go before it could call itself a superpower.