India needs to turn into knowledge based society: Pranab

The technological prowess of a country determines its overall strength and to achieve that education, from primary to higher level should be linked with research, President Pranab Mukherjee said today.
He said India needs to turn itself into a knowledge based society and emphasised that for that focus should be on research and innovation.
Speaking on the occasion of 125th anniversary of the Chanchal Siddheswari Institution here, he said education provides the basic foundation for economic growth and called for radical change in education methods so as to contribute to innovation, discovery and research.
According to him, the level of technology in each country determines its strength and called for an interlinking of all levels of education, from school to college and research so that modern and high quality education can be provided to the youth of India.

Addressing the students, Mukherjee said the importance of technology and innovation could be learnt from reading of history.
"Babur with a smaller army had managed to defeat the Lodhi army because of better use of techniques of warfare," he said.

He also said that in a country like Norway, the per capita income of people is high because of modern education.
He said the level of knowledge and education in a society is directly linked with its economic prosperity.
He also unveiled a statue of eminent author Shibram Chakraborty.