Secretary of the University Grants Commission (UGC), Dr R K Chauhan, stated that India had made rapid progress in the field education but it still had a long way to go. Chauhan was delivering a key address at a seminar on ‘Globalisation and its effect of the Development of Economy’, organised by the Commerce department of GMN College in Ambala Cantonment on Sunday.

He said the UGC was paying special attention to the areas and colleges which were not up to the mark, while adding that new techniques of research were being introduced to encourage young scholars. Chauhan, however, expressed concern in cases where teacher unions were playing the role of a “road block” in expansion of education.

He also announced that GMN College had been selected as a ‘College of Excellence’ for its overall performance in the field of teaching. More than 100 delegates from different colleges of the region attended the seminar.

The consensus opinion among the speakers including D S Bhardwaj, director, Khalsa Institute of Management in Yamunanagar, Hawa Singh and Narender Singh from Kurukshetra University was that the policy of “policing globalisation” adopted by the Indian government had had a tremendous effect on our economy, which has made strides in the field of technology, particularly the IT sector.

More than 30 scholars and teachers presented their research papers followed by a discussion.

Earlier, Head of the Commerce department of GMN College, Dr V K Jain, said the Indian economy had experienced major policy changes in early 1990.

“The economic reform popularly known as Liberalisation, Privatisation and Globalisation (LPG model) aimed at making the Indian economy the fastest growing economy and globally competitive. A series of reforms undertaken with respect to the industrial, agricultural, trade and financial sector were aimed at making the economy more efficient,” he said.