History of Social Work Education in India

Introduction

Social work  is a professional and academic discipline that seeks to improve the quality and well being of individuals, groups, and communities through research, policy, community organizing, direct practice, crisis intervention,  and teaching for the benefit of those affected by social disadvantages such as poverty, mental and physical illness or disability, and, social injustice  including violations of their civil liberties and human rights Social work profession began to lean heavily on the patterns and institutions developed in the west and specially in the United States. 

professional  education for social work in India began in 1936 when school of social work  was set up in Bombay by the house of Tata, one of the largest private and business enterprises the main inspiration for its establishment came from America, For 11 years between 1936 to 1947, this institute was the only imparting professional  education in social work  In 1946, the second institution was established in Lucknow under auspices of young women Christian association with a substantial grand from its counterpart in USA It was shifted to Delhi and named Delhi school of social work After two years of experimentation, it started a form a two year programmed of social work training in 1949 and was affiliated to as a graduate school to the university of Delhi for the master of arts degree. the institution was eventually merged with the university in 1979 and became one of its departments for a administrative matters under the faculty of social sciences, In 1950another institute was started as a faculty of social work under the university of Baroda somewhat on the general pattern of the American which was accepted earlier at Bombay and Delhi During the next decade 1951-60fourteen more institutions were started  in 1971-80 By the end of 1980thiirty institutions were providing social work education and training at graduate level I t is new reported that the number has gone to fifty or more in the mid -nineties The years between 1970 and 1980 also saw social work educators advocating greater need

for relevance of social work education. Several institutions undertook major review of curricula and development of new courses with more development focus and focus on poverty. However by 1984there was discrepancies and confusion that had seeped into social work that prompted ArmaityDesai to argue strongly that social work needs to move away from too much dependency on provisions and services to organising people to promote change, from institutionalised to non institutionalised

 programmes, from remedial to those that confronts the cause of poverty, from

private concern to public issues, from research with problem focus to one of action oriented research. Social action should not be seen only as a method but as an overriding philosophy behind social work education and practice in India. Social work education in 1986 witnessed the setting up of the curriculum development

centre in TISS. This was followed by another major curriculum review undertaken by theUGC in 1988-1990 where social action; policy and planning and social conflict were stressed. The report of the UGC curriculum development which came out in 1989 for the first time noted the important of caste in social work and the  same got incorporated as a component in social work curriculum under a course titled, “Issues and concerns of social work profession”. As if to amplify

the irony further, M.S.Gore came out with a book titled, “Social Context ofIdeology” which revolved around the ideas of Dr.B.R.Ambedkar.

This movement was furthered by an interesting gathering of social workers around a theme‘Towards People Centred Development’ organised by the TISS that purportedly deliberated on campaign and movements for empowerment of the marginalised. In 1997 the Declaration of Ethics of Professional Social work came out from the TISS published in the Indian Journal of Social work.

By 2003, a National Seminar on Standards for Assessment of Quality in Social Work Education was organised by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, and  sponsored by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), on November 11-13, 2003. The Seminar aimed at developing minimum and quality standards in social work education, for the NAAC criteria of assessment and

accreditation. Twenty-four resource persons were identified to chair the different sessions and prepare papers on standards for specific criterion or sub-criterion. They were identified from the University Grants Commission (UGC)/ NAAC experts and officials; former members of the UGC Panel for Social Work Education; Presidents of social work professional associations; Heads of

institutions for social work education, accredited by NAAC with Five Stars; select practitioner in charge of field action projects at institutions for social work education; and those who were also social work educators. By 2005 restructuring of the first school of social work began. The new social work programmes were rolled out in 2006 only within the TISS. Post restructuring of the first school of social work in the country, new distinct fields of practiced has emerged in social work education which includes  Dalit  and Tribal Social Work, Women  Centered Social Work and Disability Social Work (bodhi s.r). While restructuring had happened trends has not picked up social work education across the

country, while efforts towards the same is taking place at a rapid pace. There is the formation of a Government backed Network of Social Work Education led by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences

in 2012, which is constituted by one senior representative from every social work institute in the country towards reforming social work courses, revision of curricular and updating the same in tuned with contemporary and future needs.

 

Social work education is mainly organized at the masters level because  the American model which it copied was primarily at the graduate level till the end of the sixties Since then institution for ender graduate social work education in America have multiplied but in India less than a dozen institutions offer the bachelors degree in social work even today. Just as in ,social work education originated outside the established university education system in India

In India out of 200 universities which cover about 5000 colleges,  only fifteen universities have separate department of social work, two universities are deemed to be universities and all other social work institutions are affiliated to universities

Major components of social work education

The programme of education has basically three components : class room courses research project and field work .The courses offered are generally divided in to four groups. The first group consist of courses about Indian history, social structure, history and philosophy of social work and social problems; the second group relates to the study of human  growth and development; and the third group includes methods of working with people such as social case work ,social group work community organization and community development ,social welfare administration and social research; and the group is composed of specialized courses

The need for employment of professional social workers in various posts both in the voluntary sector and government arose with the introduction of several national programs of social welfare and  development through five year plans.

The initial stage of social work education, the Scholl of social work which were launched mainly by the non-government organizations were in close touch with practicing agencies in the field.

In the initial stages ,social work methods were primarily used in the field of social welfare over the years, social started working in diverse field, like rural development ,child development, social development etc.

the major emphasis of social work education is to provide training to students to gain employment in remedial and service oriented and voluntary and social work orientation The ideal focus would be to train students towards aggressive social work that is towards social change or reform.

A trend of setting up units for curriculum development in ministries or in university departments internationally come later. India too has a similar history. Two review committee  one in 1960 and another in 1975,were set up by the university grant commission. Commission is a body set up by government of India in 1953 the main function of the commission are promotion and coordination of university education and the determination and maintenance of standards of teaching ,examination and research in universities.

In keeping with international trends of curriculum activities, the university grand commission invited some university departments to carryout curriculum review reforms for various disciplines. A curriculum development centre for this purpose was set up in September 1986 The major task for this curriculum development centre were, (i) the reviewing the existing curriculum,(ii) formulating new curriculum,(iii) suggesting teaching learning resources, iv suggesting ways and means of preparing these and( v) suggesting teacher development programs.

Conclusion

The need for indigenous elements of social work education in terms of its philosophy ,approaches, principles , theories and study materials cannot be over emphasized because working with people, studying social problems and administering social welfare programs call for indigenous orientation and skills. If social work has to move towards professionalism in society has to become effective, it must have indigenous foundations incorporating dominant cultural philosophies, on the one hand, and projected goals which are being promoted on the other.

References

1.Hans Nagpaul,(2005) Social work in urban India,Rawat Publiations,New Delhi .

2Surendra singh,Srivastava S.P,(2003),Social Work Education inIndia:Challenge and Opportunuties,New Royal Book Co.Lucknow.

3.Jacob K.K,(1994) Social Work Education in India,Himanshu Publications,Delhi.

4.Indian journal of Dalit and Tribal Social Work Vol.1,Issue 3 No 1.

History of Higher Education (Technical Education) in India and Karnataka

Name: Roopashree H.R
Reg No: 1347102

I.HISTORY OF TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN INDIA

Education in India is provided by the public sector as well as the
private sector, with control and funding coming from three levels:
central, state, and local. Takshasila was the earliest recorded centre
of higher learning in India from at least 5th century BCE and it is
debatable whether it could be regarded a university or not. The
Nalanda University was the oldest university-system of education in
the world in the modern sense of university. Western education became
ingrained into Indian society with the establishment of the British
Raj.

Technical Graduates: The number of graduates coming out of technical
colleges increased to over 700,000 in 2011 from 550,000 in FY 2010.
However, according to one study, 75% of technical graduates and more
than 85% of general graduates are unemployable by India's most
demanding and high-growth global industries, including information
technology. Nevertheless, that still means that India offers the
largest pool of technically skilled graduates in the world

The history of imparting formal technical education in India can be
traced back to mid-19th century, although it got momentum in 20th
century with the setup of Constitution of Technical Education
Committee of the Central University Board of Education (CABE) in 1943;
Preparation of Sergeant Report in 1944 and Formation of All India
Council of technical Education (AICTE) in 1945. With the country
gaining independence in 1947, the development of technical education
had become a major concern for the government of India to face the new
challenges and move the country forward.

In order to maintain the standard of technical education, a statutory
authority- The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE)- was
set up in 1945. AICTE irresponsible for planning, formulation and
maintenance of norms and standards, quality assurance through
accreditation, funding in priority areas, monitoring and evaluation,
maintaining parity of certification and awards and ensuring
coordinated and integrated development and management of technical
education in the country[1].

The beginning of formal Technical Education in India can be dated back
to the mid-19th Century. The major policy initiatives in the
pre-independence period included the appointment of the Indian
Universities Commission in 1902, the issue of the Indian Education
policy resolution in 1904 and the Governor General's policy statement
of 1913 stressing the importance of Technical Education. The
establishment of the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, the
Institute for Sugar, Textile and Leather Technology in Kanpur, the
National Council of Education in Bengal in 1905 and the Industrial
Schools in several Information in this section has been taken from the
website of AICTE, accessed in March 2007. 12 provinces marks the dawn
of the technical education in India in the early twentieth century

The All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) was set-up by
the Government of India in November 1945 as a national level Apex
Advisory Body to survey the national facilities for technical
education and to promote their development in a coordinated and
integrated manner. To ensure this and
as stipulated by the National Policy of Education (1986), AICTE was
vested with statutory authority for planning, formulation and
maintenance of norms and standards, quality assurance through
accreditation, funding in priority areas, monitoring and evaluation,
maintaining parity of certification and awards and ensuring
coordinated and integrated development and management of technical
education in the country.

The AICTE Bill was introduced in both the Houses of Parliament and
passed as the AICTE Act No. 52 of 1987. The Act came into force with
effect from 28 March 1988. The statutory All India Council for
Technical Education was established on 12 May 1988 with a view to
proper planning and coordinated development of technical education
system throughout the country, the promotion of qualitative
improvement of such education in relation to planned quantitative
growth and the regulation and proper maintenance of norms and
standards in the technical education system and for matters connected
therewith[2].

The purview of AICTE (the Council) covers programs of technical
education including training and research in Engineering, Technology,
Architecture, Town Planning, Management, Pharmacy, Applied Arts and
Crafts, Hotel Management and Catering Technology etc. at different
levels.

The set up of Indian Institutes of Technology, Indian Institutes of
Management and Indian Institutes of Science was a major step in the
development of technical education in the country. The quality of
education of these institutes has managed to change the outlook of
India so much that this ancient country which was earlier known for
yoga and meditation is now known for computer engineers. However, it
does not mean that the challenge of making technical education
accessible to the rural populace and other under developed sections of
the society has been overcome

II.HISTORY OF TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN KARNATAKA

Some of the technical skilled educational institutions are started
before Independence (since 1943), by name "Occupational Institutes".
Then later, these are renamed as "Polytechnics"(multiple technical
skills/many technical skills). All these Polytechnics were working
under "Public Instruction Department", since before independence to
till 1959.Since number of Polytechnics and Technical degree colleges
are increased, the new department called "Technical Education
Department" came into existence in 1959.[3]

A) University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering (UVCE) was
established in the year 1917, under the name Government Engineering
College, by Bharat Ratna Sir M. Visvesvaraya, and was affiliated to
University of Mysore. It is the 5th Engineering College to be
established in the country. This is one of the oldest technical
institutions in the country, imparting technical education leading to
B.E, M.E, B.Arch, M.Sc (Engineering) and Ph D degrees in the various
disciplines of Engineering and Architecture. The college is approved
by the AICTE and the Government of Karnataka. The departments are
accredited with five A+ for three years by the National Board of
Accreditation, New Delhi.[4]

B) Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) is a collegiate public
state university in Karnataka State, India. It was established on 1
April 1998 by the Government of Karnatakaas per VTU Act 1994, to
improve the quality of technical education in the state. Apart from a
few notable exceptions, VTU has complete authority in the state of
Karnataka. It is a statutory requirement for colleges offering any
program in engineering or technology in the state to be affiliated
with the university.[5]

The university is named after Sir Visvesvaraya from Karnataka, the
only engineer to be awarded a Bharat Ratna award, the highest civilian
award in India. JnanaSangama, Belgaum is the headquarters of VTU.
Additionally, the university has three regional centers located in
Bangalore, Gulbarga andMysore.

VTU is one of the largest universities in India with 208 colleges
affiliated to it with an intake capacity of over 67100 undergraduate
students and 12666postgraduate students. The university encompasses
various technical & management fields which offers a total of 30
undergraduate [11] and 71 postgraduate courses.

III.CHALLENGES AND THE WAY FORWARD IN HIGHER TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN INDIA

Ø Need for a policy framework: Emphasizing the present status of
technical education in India, Prof P Rama Rao, ARCI, and
Hyderabadsuggested the need for a policy framework for improving the
quality of
technical education in the country[2].

Ø Need for strengthening: In terms of the data, 97% of 10, 60,000
annual intakes of students are being accounted by the private
institutions. The annual intake of students in all Indian Institute of
Technology is 7,500, National Institute of Technology 35,000 and the
rest i.e. 10, 17,500 is accounted by the private institutions. This,
viewed along with the lowering of quality of engineering education,
highlights the dysfunctional accreditation process and the need for
strengthening the process to improve the quality of technical
education.

Comparing the number of engineers graduating in a year, at different
levels for India and the USA, Dr Rao indicated that only 5% of the
Bachelor degree holders from India go for the Master's degree whereas
the corresponding figure for USA is about 50%. The total Ph.D. degree
holders in engineering discipline in India for the year 2009-10 is
only 1500 whereas for USA it is 7500.

Looking at sector-wise data, in the field of aeronautical engineering
the total number of students per year in B.Tech is 285, M.Tech 175 and
PhD only 30. The scenario is not very different and encouraging for
the computer science and geology disciplines. India is also witnessing
an acute shortage of faculty in engineering discipline which is about
50,000.

Ø Regional imbalance: There is also a regional imbalance in
engineering education establishments. More than 505 of the engineering
colleges are located in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and
Tamil Nadu which does not auger well for the balanced socio-economic
development of the country.

Ø Absence of international flavor: Dr Rao also identified problems
like absence of international flavor in both student and faculty, low
research activity across the disciplines and asymmetry in technology
assessment which are areas of concern and need policy guidelines.

Ø Level of excellence resources: India has success stories in
technical education and human resource generation which can guide in
policy formulation. Dr Y Nayudamma's model of balanced development of
the Indian leather sector through an academia-industry partnership and
Institute of Chemical Technology established in the year 1933 are
among the few examples that can be emulated. The level of excellence,
resources and level of autonomy should be synchronized in a policy for
achieving quality technical education in India in the next five years.

Ø Complex relationship: Public-Private partnership is a complex
relationship which needs well thought out policy guidelines along with
proper checks and balances. Drawing upon the US experience in
generating wealth for the nation by investing in academic Research and
Development, Dr Rao stressed the need for increasing the R & D funding
in India for building and sustaining a modern and vibrant nation.

Refrences:

1. Education in India-Wikipedia
2. TECHNICAL EDUCATION SYSTEM IN INDIA: PRESENT SCENARIO:IJRESS
Volume 2, Issue 10 (October 2012) ISSN: 2249-7382 by Prof.Shivani and
ShashiKaurana
3. Directorate Technical education, Karnataka
4. UVCE-Wikipedia
5. VTU-Wikipedia.

HIGHER EDUCATION IN CHEMISTRY

Rekha Kumari (1345102) Chemistry

HIGHER EDUCATION IN CHEMISTRY

Introduction of higher education

The higher education is an educational level of post-secondary education, tertiary education and the research education. It also includes teaching and social services activities of universities. In addition, professional level education is always comes under it. The professional field involving the collection, analysis and reporting the data of higher education called research education. In India, there are so many institutions to teach this system. The United States has the top most position in higher education. After China, India has the third rank for it.  

 

Ancient history of chemistry

The history of chemistry took long time to reach from ancient history to the present. An ancient civilization used technologies which dates back 1000 B.C.  

Establishment

Near the end of AD eighth century, an Arab alchemist also known as a father of chemistry was used the word alchemy. “Alchemy” indicates to both the investigation of nature and an early philosophical and spiritual discipline to combine chemistry with metal. The ‘alchemy’ word derived from Arabic word Al-Kimya. Kimya sometimes indicated either by kemi or kemia, which means the land of black soil or the art of melting gold and silver. The protoscience of chemistry, alchemy, was unsuccessful to explain the nature of matter and its transformations. In 1661, Robert Boyle was made a clear differentiation between chemistry and alchemy.

Chemistry in the middle age

Alchemy originated from China. The alchemical writings appear in Chinese literature as early as the third century B.C. Chinese alchemy is closely related to Taoism, which is a system of philosophy and religion. But some told that it is originated from Egypt and filtered into china. But alchemy really started from the philosophy of Taoism. Ko Hung has written three goals of alchemy:

i.   The preparation of real gold from base metal.

ii. The preparation of gold from either natural or artificial but always genuine gold in an 
     edible form.

iii. The chemical preparation of other less efficacious medicines of immortality.

AL-Razi had written a book on alchemy, “Secret of secrets”, in that he divided mineral bodies into six classes:

1. Bodies, the metal.

2. Sprits, Sulphur, arsenic, Mercury, and salt ammoniac.

3. Stones, marcasite, magnesia etc.

4. Vitriols(known to pliny).

5. Boraces, borax, natron(soda), plant ash.

6. Salts, common salts, kali (potash), “Salts of eggs” (Saltpetre) used in china for fireworks.

 

 

 

Division of chemistry:  

Initially chemistry had divided into three different names according to location.

i.   Hindu

ii. China

iii. Europe

Hindu chemistry

 The Sanskrit Vedas mentioned five elements earth, water, air, ether and light( Aristotle said 384-322 BCE). The later Vedas mention gold, silver, copper, bronze, lead and tin. The Samkhya system of philosophy mentions five elements (tantmantras): sound, touch, colour, taste and odour, from which proceed five coarse elements (mahabhutas): ether, air, fire, water and earth, containing one to five of the subtle elements in the above order. The atomic theory occurs in the Vaisesika system, attributed to kanada and developed in Buddhist and Jainist works from the 2^nd century B.C.

Chemistry in china

In China, the idea of chemistry came from India early in the Christina era. In this country, Bronze appeared about 1300 B.C. Chinese people used cast iron extensively in the Han dynasty. They were used many objects which made up of cast iron.

Alchemy in Europe

In Europe the beginnings of chemistry were unknown during the middle Ages. It was written on the “divine art”. Large numbers of books on alchemy written in the period 1250-1500 A.D.

Beginning of chemistry education:

Chemistry is the branch of natural science which deals with the composition, structure and properties of matter, and the changes which it undergoes. For example there are certain chemical changes like rusting of iron, burning of fuels, obtaining metals from their ores etc.

The slow progress of science among the ancients was due to the divorce of theory and practice. By this we commonly understand the pretended art of changing the base metals into gold.

The Nobel Prize in chemistry

The beginning of 20^th century was also a very important turning point in the history of chemistry. Therefore, a survey of the Nobel prizes in chemistry during this century will provide an analysis of important trends in the development of this branch of natural sciences, and this is the aim of a present essay.

Chemistry has a position in the centre of the sciences, bordering onto physics, with provides its theoretical foundation, on one side, and onto biology on the other. Living organisms being the most complex of all chemical systems. Thus, the fact that chemistry flourished during the beginning of the 20^th century is intimately connected with fundamental developments. There are some scientists who got the Nobel Prize for their invention:

1.  Joseph John Thomson: Electron (1906) in physics.

2.  Ernest Rutherford: Atomic model (1911)

3. Niels Bohr: The structure of atoms (1922)

4. Eduard Buchner got noble prize for Chemistry in the year 1907.

So, by doing experiments and recording the results, alchemists set the stage for modern chemistry.

History of chemistry in India

The Modern science appeared only in the latter part of the nineteenth century. By the mid nineteenth century European scientists started coming to India. A science college was established in Calcutta in 1814. The study of chemistry was first introduced in the presidency college of Calcutta in 1872, followed by post-graduate teaching in chemistry in 1886. Indians had made considerable progress in the field of chemistry during the ancient and medieval periods, having evidence of P. C. Ray’s two volumes on ‘History of Hindu chemistry’. Then so many scientists started taking keen interest in modern scientific research activities in the field of organic, inorganic etc. Thus P.C. Ray established the Bengal Chemical of Pharmaceutical Works Ltd. in Calcutta. The Alembic Chemical works was established by J.K.Gajjar in 1905 at Baroda. The Indian chemical industry was established and it continued to grow with a slow but a steady pace in the 20^th century.

Internal perspective on chemistry and training

The creation of a multi-disciplinary research community on science visualization is beginning to address the internal perspective with one important forum and driving force leads to training. A chemist who holds a Ph.D. or at least a master’s degree can understand the theory easily by his thinking ability. So training or research on a particular field is very necessary.   The chemistry – biology interface program of the national institute for general medical science has funded a landmark institution training program (T32). This training program integrates biology and chemistry through a common set of course requirements, a hands-on team based approach to laboratory training, a unique preceptor training.

New direction in chemistry

In 1912, Rutherford and Bohr had to change their viewpoint on the nature of matter. On the study of the whole nature of matter was not paid attention as much as on the atomic nuclei and the movement of nuclei in the electric field. Therefore the range of chemistry was restricted to the nature of matter around us. However the meaning of matter denotes that the substances are made up of atoms and molecules. Nowadays Quantum and Nuclear chemistry are currently well developed under the chemical science but it categorized as a science based on the use of concept which describe the phenomenon matter to atomic or molecular scale.  So the field of chemistry is still, on our human scale very broad and it is everywhere is accurate.

 

Five decades of Chemistry education in International level

The IUPAC role in pure and applied chemistry was established in 1950s. The junior author (KVS) was mesmerized by the chemical demonstrations of the legendary Hubert N. Alyea, A lifelong affair with third international components of chemical education in august 1977 at Ljublajana, The involvement of KVS with the Committee of teaching of chemistry (1977-1980), to serving as India’s national representative(1981-1985), to serve as CTC Secretary(1986-1990) and then as (1991-1995).

The first Decade

When the CTC- under C.N.R. Rao and David Waddington realized the urgent need to upgrade student laboratories in developing countries, an action plan was formulated in 1979. Its implementation began at DU under the title, “Locally produced Low Cost Equipment (LPLCE) for teaching of chemistry”. The field-testing part of the project, catalyzed by generous support from UNESCO made spectacular progress beginning in the late 1980s. The senior author (NKU) organized teacher training component under auspices of the center for professional development in higher education established at DU by the Indian University Grants Commission (UGC). BBC Open University made a documentary on the social dimension on the DU project.

The Second Decade

In the second decade, to start LPLCE was christened “Cost Effective Science Education”.  The new label provided the multidisciplinary orientation necessary for hands-on environment education. KVS strengthened the formal aspects of the teacher training program.

The Third Decade

The Indian adaptation, titled RASAYNIKA (Sanskrit word for Chemistry) was introduced in 2004. The award was chaired by the reputed Indian industrialist G. H. Singhania, who was made an IUPAC fellow in 2006. The award function was held during Chemical Education Week in January 2005.

 

Chemistry education in next millennium

The shaping of chemistry was fundamentally important. At the beginning of 21^st century, many forces shape the teaching and learning chemistry. So shapes depend on some factors. There are some practical ways for chemistry education to respond to those shaping forces, which include:

(a) Fundamental changes in the counters of chemistry as defined by new interfaces and
      research areas.

(b) Changes in our understanding of how students learn and how that applies to chemistry
      education.

(c) The wide spread implementation of computer and information technologies to visualize
      complex scientific phenomena and,

(d) External forces such as global concerns about energy and water resources and the
      environment, and the level of chemical literacy and public understanding of science.

Over the next decade we should take challenges related to energy in following fields:

·         Fuel cell chemistry and technologies

·         Materials for solar energy capture and storage

·         High-energy density, rechargeable storage batteries

·         Biomass as a renewable fuel source

·         Superconducting materials for energy distribution

·         Technologies and catalysts for coal as a fuel

·         Carbon dioxide sequestration

·         Lower cost, lighter weight, more durable, recyclable polymers for vehicles.

Finally we need to understand and address the energy crisis that exist in many part of our globe today and the challenge of findings sufficient food to meet daily caloric requirements for our body’s internal combustion engines and sufficient fuel to prepare that food.

In addition to required courses in analytical, organic, inorganic and physical, should study interdisciplinary course. Those interested in the environmental field also should take courses in environmental studies and become familiar with current legislation and regulations. Nowadays computer course are also become important along with chemistry. So along with chemistry can be increased computer skills to modeling and simulation tasks. Statistics are also useful in chemistry because both chemists and materials scientists need the ability to apply basic statistical techniques.

Conclusion

Therefore interdisciplinary study becomes very meaningful in this field. The amount of gain of knowledge or idea is not restricted, as much as possible can gain and use in relevant fields. Because all disciplines are relatively connected to each other and used. So the higher education helps to coordinate between different disciplines. Rashtriya Uchattar Shiksha Abhiyan is a centrally sponsored scheme which provides strategic funding to state higher and technical institutions.

References

1. Cobb, Cathy and Goldwhite, Harold. Creations of Fire: Chemistry’s Lively

2. History from Alchemy to the Atomic Age. New York: Plenum Press. 1995.

3. Fernando, Diana. Alchemy: An Illustrated A to Z. London: Blandford. 1998

4. Levere, Trevor H. Transforming Matter: A History of Chemistry from

5. Alchemy to the Buckyball. Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins

    University Press. 2001.

6. Molecule Targets a Key Biological Pathway,” ScienceDaily. June 14, 2013.

7. Morris, Richard. The Last Sorcerers: The Path from Alchemy to the

8. Periodic Table. Washington, D.C.: Joseph Henry Press. 2003.

HIGHER EDUCATION IN CHEMISTRY

Rekha Kumari(1345102) chemistry

Growth, Evolution and Contemporary Perspectives of the Science of Economics with special Reference to Indian History of Economic Thought

By

Joshy K. J

PhD Scholar in Economics

Reg.No. 1341801

Christ University

Bangalore- 29.

 

Economics is a social science that deals with the economic activities of mankind. In other words, it is a social science of human wants and their satisfaction. It is social as it deals with society and human behaviour. It studies the production, distribution, consumption and exchange of goods and services. It is a science as it qualifies the important features of any scientific disciplines- it contains a systematic body of knowledge; it has numerous laws, models and theories with universal applicability; these laws can be experimented according to real life situations. The origin of the term economics is from a Greek word 'oikonomia', meaning 'household management'. Thus the science of economics is as old as humanity. Economic thought dates from earlier Mesopotamian, Greek, Roman, Indian, Chinese, Persian and Arab civilizations. Therefore, the subject matter and coverage of economic science has been evolved tremendously through different schools of economic thought. Great economists and thinkers contributed immensely to the growth of the subject into its present form. A school of thought can be understood as a group of people who share common beliefs or opinions or outlook about a particular discipline or philosophy. This essay is an attempt to describe prominent schools of thought in economics that contributed to the development and evolution of economics discipline over a period of several hundred years. Also this essay tries to familiarize the most significant figures pertaining to different schools of thought along with their contributions.

Classical School

Modern economic theory is customarily said to have begun with Adam Smith (1723-1790), who is widely considered to be the father of modern economics. He was influenced by a wide range of economic philosophers, going all the way back to the ancient Greek philosophers. For instance, the ideas and works of Aristotle had a profound impact on the thinking of Thomas Aquinas, who subsequently influenced the scholastic thinking to a great extent.

It is true to say that the feudal economy rose from the remains of the slave economy of the Roman empire. There were some forerunners of classical political economy. The name of William Petty is very relevant in this context, who made an important innovation concerning the explanation of value. On the one hand, he completely abandoned the subjective theory of value and on the other he introduced the concept of natural value. It means the prices would tend to adjust to the natural value through small oscillations, though the mechanism of this convergence was not clarified. Another scholar John Locke was influenced by Petty who attempted to justify private property by making use of the labour theory of value. Locke's basic idea was that individual liberty implied the right to control one's own labour. Two major groups, popularly called as 'mercantilists' and 'physiocrats' influenced the development of the subject considerably. Both were associated with the rise of economic nationalism and modern capitalism in Europe. Mercantilism was an economic doctrine flourished from the 16^th to 18^th century which advocated that a nation's wealth depended on its accumulation of gold and silver. If a nation doesn't have the access of extracting them, then they should export goods and services in order to obtain them. They advocated for the need of importing cheap raw materials for making manufacturing goods for the purpose of exports and imposing protective tariffs on foreign goods and prohibiting manufacturing in colonies. Physiocrats, a group of 18^th century French thinkers developed the idea of circular flow of income and output in an economy. A significant aspect of Physiocrats' ideology was that they considered agriculture as the source of all forms of wealth since agricultural production generates a clear surplus over the cost. The 18^th century saw important pre conditions for the industrial revolution in the form of the spread of capitalism in the country side, increase in agricultural productivity, technical innovations etc.

Classical school is the oldest school of economic thinking. Economists like Adam Smith, David Ricardo, J.S.Mill, J.B.Say, Thomas Robert Malthus etc have played important roles in this connection. Classical economists focus on the tendency of markets to move towards equilibrium position. They believed in the full employment equilibrium. It also focuses on objective theories of value.  Adam Smith who is widely considered as the father of modern economics published his famous book, 'An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of Wealth of Nations' in 1776. According to him, it is the division of labour that triggers growth process and capital accumulation that drives it. He was successful in convincing the invisible hand theorem. That is price mechanism is the driving force of the economy. The concept value was explained in the premise of scarcity and cost of production. In connection with this, in the later period, Marxian philosophy focused on the labor theory of value and Karl Marx considered it to be the exploitation of labor by capital. He introduced the term surplus value to explain his labour theory of value. (It is important to note that the Marxian School directly descends from the works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels which focused on labour theory of value and the exploitation of labour class by the capitalists. Therefore, this school handles the labor theory of value as a method for measuring the degree to which labor is exploited in a capitalist society, rather than simply a method for calculating price).Classical economists believed in the inherent capacity of an economy and they considered that the best way to achieve allocative efficiency is to leave the economy free without any government intervention. This was the basis of the so called laissez faire capitalism which became the foundation of their theoretical frameworks. While Adam Smith emphasised on the production and wealth creation, David Ricardo focused on the distribution of income among different factor owners. J.B.Say put forward the famous proposition that 'supply creates its own demand'. Classical economists immensely contributed to the fields of economic growth and international trade. Thomas Robert Malthus used the idea of diminishing returns to explain low living standards. He also questioned the automatic market mechanism to ensure full employment. In fact the starting point of international trade theories, the concepts of absolute advantage and comparative advantage were given by Adam Smith and David Ricardo respectively. J.S.Mill parted company with the mainstream classical economics due to the distinct difference between the market's two roles; in allocating the resources and distributing the income. According to himthe market might be efficient in allocating the resources but not in distributing income. Classical economists believed that money plays only a neutral role in the economy in influencing the variables. Changes in money supply affects only the price level, so that only the nominal variables are changed; the real variables remain unchanged as they are affected only in the long run, because of changes in real factors like capital stock, labour force, efficiency of labour, technology etc.

It is widely recognised that the Classical period lasted until 1870.

Neoclassical School

A body of theory later termed 'neoclassical economics' or 'marginalism' formed from about 1870 to 1910. The term economics was popularized by such economists as Marshall to substitute the earlier broader term political economy. The neoclassicals followed the footsteps of Classical economists. The prominent economists of neoclassical school of thought are Alfred Marshall, Lionel Robbins, A.C.Pigou, William Jevons, Leon Walras, Clark, Pareto, Mrs.Joan Robinson etc. All of them have contributed immensely to the growth of economics in their own unique ways. Neoclassical economics synthesized supply and demand as joint determinants of price and quantity in market equilibrium, affecting both the resource allocation and income distribution. They evolved scientific methods with assumptions and hypotheses and attempted to derive general rules related to the behavior of consumers and firms. According to them the economics agents are rational, consumers try to maximize utility and producers try to maximize profits. Alfred Marshall defined economics as the science of material welfare. According to him wealth is only a means to achieve the ultimate objective of material welfare. Many economists following this school consider utility concept given by Marshall as his greatest contribution to the subject economics. A.C.Pigou studied the important aspects of wage structure. The importance of scarcity and the problem of choice as pointed out by Robbins paved the way for thinking in new lines. Marginal productivity theory given by Clark, the quantity theory of money by Irving Fisher, Pareto optimality conditions, Walrasian general equilibrium model etc were some milestones of neoclassical school of thought. Mrs. Joan Robinson's contributions in the field of growth models have significant impact on economics of growth in the later periods.

Keynesian School and the Emergence of Macroeconomics

Before the so called 'Keynesian revolution' which led to the development of a separate branch of study in macroeconomics, it was existed under the name monetary theory. John Meynard Keynes has rewritten the history of economics and brought revolutionary changes in the field of economics. His teachers, including Alfred Marshall from the neoclassical school, taught the principles based on full employment, Say's law of markets and Laissez faire capitalism. But he challenged all of them and proved that what they believed was not right. The Great Depression (1929-33) was a period of great turmoil in Europe and America. Their economies were shattered and unemployment mounted to unprecedented levels. Several economists attempted to analyse the scenario and came up with theories and solutions. Keynes, in his famous book, A General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money was published in 1936, in which he had analysed the Great Depression of 1930s in a very convincing way. According to him the Great Depression was caused by the fall in aggregate demand which he referred to as effective demand. As a result of fall in aggregate demand recessionary trend appears which culminated in a depression. Keynes refute the Classical economists' viewpoints including full employment theory, monetary neutrality, Say's law, saving investment equality and so on. According to him, during recession, monetary policy would be highly unsuccessful because the increase in money supply would be trapped in the economy as the interest rate is low. Keynes called it as liquidity trap in his theory of liquidity preference. Keynes advocated for massive Government intervention in reviving aggregate demand in the economy. Keynes emphasized the role of Government spending and private investment in determining the level of income and employment in the economy. For him, full employment equilibrium is only an ideal situation, but not common as Classicals believed. It can also be at below or above full employment levels. He considered that the major cause of inflation is the increase in aggregate demand above the full employment level, aggregate supply remaining constant. He has given the famous quote, 'In the long run we all are dead'. His analyses are mostly based on short term in mind.

The success of Keynesian policy framework helped almost all economies to rebuild the economies after such a disastrous depression period. It led to the development of a separate branch of economics that is the so called macroeconomics. The Keynesian legacy was continued by his followers extending his principles to other areas of study. Economists like Hansen and Samuelson studied the application of Keynesian principles in different aspects. Harrod and Domar extended the Keynesian growth models into the long run development aspects of developed economies. For many years it was widely believed that Keynesian solutions are the ultimate end of it which can resolve all the problems of modern economies. In 1970s an unprecedented phenomenon appeared in advanced economies, the existence of inflationary trend along with mounting unemployment. It is referred to as stagflation, since inflation is present when the growth is stagnant. Till that time it was believed that during high inflation unemployment tends to be low because of better productivity and higher profitability. Besides, Keynesian policy suggestions didn't seem to be effective in this context and they were proved to bring more acute negative consequences. For instance, if Government spends more to curtail unemployment, inflation would increase further and the situation would be worse. Thus economics has grown much beyond Keynesian School of thought giving room for Post Keynesian Schools of economic thinking.

 

Monetarism and Chicago School of Economics

The old monetarists like Irving Fisher, Alfred Marshall, A.C.Pigou etc have contributed significantly to the development of modern monetary theories. All of them contributed to the age old quantity theory of money which stated that money supply is the sole variable affecting the price level. Any change in the money supply has a direct and proportionate relationship with price level. Fisher gave the famous equation of exchange which says, MV=PT. The same idea had been conveyed by the Cambridge economists Pigou and Marshall through the equation Md=kPY.

The most important figure among modern monetarists is Milton Friedman of Chicago University. Other important names in USA include Anna Schwartz, Karl Brunner and Allan Meltzer. The prominent monetarists outside USA include David Laidler, Michael Parkin and Allan Walters. Modern monetarists explain not only the changes in general price level but also changes in output and employment. According to monetarists money supply is the prime determinant of nominal GDP in the short run and general price level in the long run. The output or real income is determined in the long run by the real factors like stock of capital, the level of technology, the propensity to save, natural resources, changes in human resources etc. However, inflation cannot occur without a more rapid increase in the quantity of money supply rather than an increase in output level. Monetarists refuted Keynesians argument that monetary policy is less effective in comparison with fiscal policies. According to them monetary policy should be conducted in a manner that money supply should grow at a constant rate. Money supply growth should be in line with economic growth targets. They believed in the inherent stability of the private sector and the cyclical fluctuations in the economy are mainly due to bad policies of the government. It is interesting to see that in monetarists' view point the severity of Great Depression (1929-33) was mainly due to the failure of Federal Reserve in preventing bank failures and the consequent reduction in money supply across the world. If a country suffers from inflationary pressures, it is mainly due to rapid expansion of money supply at a higher rate than the level of output.

Supply side Economics

The supply side economics was emerged as an alternative to Keynesian demand management policies which were proved unsuccessful during the stagflation period. The supply side economists emphasized the role of managing the aggregate supply instead of aggregate demand. According to them stagflation is mainly caused due to leftward shift in aggregate supply curve cost push factors which increases the price level and curtails the output level. The problem can be resolved if we can raise the level of aggregate supply so that the aggregate supply curve would be shifted back to the previous level. Arthur Laffer has given the most important contributions in this field through drawing a connection between low marginal tax rates and high tax revenue. The provisions of supply side economists include deregulation and delicensing, reduction of marginal tax rates and its positive effects on output, saving, investment and tax revenue, liberalization policies etc. It is better known to some people as 'Reagonomics', since US president Ronald Reagon popularized greater tax cuts to boost the economy.

New classical Economics

New classical macroeconomics dates from the 1970s. It uses the neoclassical microeconomic foundations for macroeconomic analysis. The original idea of rational expectations was developed by John.F.Muth, but it was popularized by Robert Lucas. It is an attempt to explain macroeconomic problems and issues using micro-economic concepts like rational behaviour, and rational expectations. In Friedman's theory when aggregate demand increases, in the short run general price level increases, which induce firms to expand output and employment. In this nominal wages lag behind the changes in the general price level. According to Robert Lucas, a prominent figure associated with New Classical School, there is no reduction in unemployment rate since the increase in price level is correctly anticipated and incorporated by the workers and business firms into the wages. It is only the price level that rises, leaving the real output and unemployment unchanged. The other leading economists who have worked immensely in this field are Thomas Sargent, Neil Wallace and Edward Prescott.

Contribution of Indian Economists and Philosophers to Modern Economics

The contribution of Indian economists and philosophers to the growth of mainstream economics is really immense. Indian Economic Association is the oldest and largest association of economists from all walks of life. It is the land with a great ancient civilization and a glorious past. Many of the Indian voices are well echoed in the international economic forums in modern days. The colonial rule over two centuries had a very strong impact on the philosophy of economics in India. It has been evolved through different phases, with the ideas of eminent persons of various time periods.

It is worth mentioning that recent researches indicate that the Indian scholar-philosopher Chanakya who was also called as Kautilya (340 BC-293 BC) as the forerunner of modern economics. He had written extensively on this subject, particularly on political economy. His great work, the Arthashastra (meaning the science of wealth) gave birth to many basic concepts in economics including opportunity cost, the demand-supply mechanism, public goods, diminishing returns, producer surplus, asymmetric information, short run and long run and so on. As the advisor to the Maurya emperor of ancient India, he spoke about the source, prerequisites and major obstacles of economic progress. He also gave emphasis on the role of tax incentives in encouraging growth. However it is quite unfortunate that modern economics doesn't seem to have any indebtedness to Chanakya.

The subject of poverty and welfare has dominated the economic scene in India during the last two centuries. An early 19^th century economic thinker and social reformer, Ram Mohan Ray (1772-1833) believed that the laissez faire policy would not help in improving the economic condition in India because of the abject poverty throughout the country. He firmly believed that the policy would only be beneficial to U.K. He was the first one to attack the British policy for the drain of wealth which became instrumental for the poverty of the nation. Dadabhai Naoroji (1848-1917) also rejected the free trade policy of Classical school and advocated protection policy for Indian goods and started 'Swadeshi' movement for popularizing Indian goods. He first raised the question of 'drain of wealth' in 1867 which became the basic theory of analysis of poverty by a well known economist of 19^th century, M.G Ranade (1842-1901). His analysis proved that about one-third of the national income of the country was being drained annually by the Britishers.

Gandhian philosophy in 20^th century connected economics with social justice. He argued for gram swaraj (independence of rural economy). According to him the strengthening the rural economy should be the base of India's growth strategy. Nehru, the first prime minister of independent India believed that industrialization was a key factor in enhancing the level of development. He initiated five year plans, followed a socialistic pattern of society giving adequate representation to private and public sectors. To add to India's growth strategies, the greatest revolution in terms of policy changes would be the introduction of new economic policies in 1991 under the leadership of Manmohan Singh, the then Finance Minister of the country. It has opened the doors of the economy not only to the flow of goods and services but capital and technology as well. It has earmarked a new era in the history of Indian economy by taking a large leap from protectionism to competitiveness.

Amartya Sen, the Nobel laureate in economics in 1998, is perhaps the most popular face among economists at the beginning of the new millennium. He is the first economist who has won this great honour not only from India or Asia, but also from the entire third world. Sen developed the capability approach which talks about a human being's ability of functioning in different capacities. Sen defines poverty in terms of capability failures. He has broadened the concept of entitlement which recognizes that the market can ensure entitlement provided, all people can get work and a reasonable wage. There are many eminent economists in India whose contributions provide the country with new directions of growth. The names of Jagdish Bhagawati, Kaushik Basu, Manmohan Singh, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Raguram Rajan etc. are worth mentioning here. In fact the changes happening in the economic front are clear signs of the changing philosophy of the science of economics.

Few Milestones along the Growth of the Discipline

 

At present, most of the Indian universities and colleges offer courses at undergraduate and masters' levels with all possible specializations in economics. But this was not the case till recently. It was mainly because of two different reasons; one, the science of economics has evolved into its present form only in the last century. Second, since the country was under the British Raj till 1947, the few universities functioning in the country, were following a system which are in their crude forms. For instance, Bombay University calendar during 1869- 70 shows that it was offering only one subject related to economics as part of the BA course. Political economy paper was offered as an elective paper because the science of economics was in the initial stages of its evolution. The Indian Economics department was established in the Madras University in 1912. St. Agnes college was established in 1921 and economics was one of the subjects offered in all combinations in the humanities stream. The credit to start mathematical economics for the first time goes to this college.

Conclusion

In a closer analysis we can see that the growth and evolution of the subject economics happened systematically over a long period through additions and deletions by numerous economists, philosophers and policy makers. It is very important to note that economics is still an evolving subject as it deals with society and human behavior. It is the reason by which the domains of economics have been extended to new horizons. Interdisciplinary researches have been increasingly important in modern days. It also contributes to new thinking and new ways of finding solutions to existing problems. The issues pertaining to developing world are also widely addressed. The globalization and market integration moves have made it important to address issues globally rather than looking at issues at a micro level. The science of economics is still awaiting revolutionary changes that suit the current needs of the economies. It is nothing but the growth of the discipline under consideration.

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