Another Height Scaled

There could scarcely be better news for us Indians at the close of the year than India rising to become the world’s fourth-largest economy. It is a moment of collective pride and confidence, offering a strong and inspiring base from which to begin the new year with renewed enthusiasm, optimism, and faith in our national journey.

This achievement rests on foundations that must be further strengthened: a democracy that is continuously deepened; a rule of law that is made more effective; a market economy marked by greater ease of doing business and sharper competitiveness; and a nimble education system oriented toward human capablities and sensibilities, and, together with the sustaining forces of national unity, stability, and a shared sense of purpose.

Each of us has a role to play in the unfolding story of India. Let us participate, contribute, and carry this momentum into the new year.

Wishing all compatriots, near and dear, a very happy, hopeful, and proud New Year.

Niraj Kumar Jha 

Cyber Medievalism

The world is passing from its primitive cyber-age to a medieval cyber-age, with all its blood, gore, and thuggery.

NIraj Kumar Jha

Blocking Brain Drain

In a world where human affairs are increasingly becoming brain games, brain drain is a serious handicap for a nation. Naturally gifted people are rare, and nurturing talent in individuals and retaining it for the community’s benefit is a matter of complex mechanisms. However, the complexity of such mechanisms emerges as a challenge only when a community intends to build them. But why do brains get drained from one land to another? This is invariably about quality of life and opportunities. It is not only about the quality of educational institutions but also about opportunities for jobs and chances of settling there. The quality of educational institutions is not a stand-alone factor causing brain drain. Yet, foreign universities setting up their clones here, independently or as part of the existing university system, are very welcome. What is of critical importance is not their quality as such but their terms of reference. Meanwhile, it is a more gratifying matter that Indian universities are setting up their campuses abroad, and so is the intent to turn formality into functionalism in the education system.

Niraj Kumar Jha

मध्यवर्ग

अर्थव्यवस्था द्वारा प्रत्यक्षतः पोषित वृत्तिक वर्ग मध्यवर्ग का गत्यात्मक अंग है तथा मध्यवर्ग के विस्तार में योगदान देने वाला एक उपवर्ग भी है। यह एक खुला वर्ग है, जिसके विस्तार के साथ देश के विकास में प्रत्यक्ष योगदान देने वाले वृत्तिक रूप में अल्प-आय वर्ग, कृषि तथा पारंपरिक वाणिज्य में कार्यरत लोगों का भी इसमें समावेश होता है। यह वर्ग देश और समाज की उन्नति का कारक भी है और उसका परिणाम भी। यही वर्ग वंचित वर्गों की सहायता हेतु वित्त उपलब्ध कराता है तथा पूँजीपति वर्ग के उपक्रमों के लिए मेधा और कौशल प्रदान करता है। इस वर्ग के जीवन की सुगमता विकास को पोषित और गति प्रदान करती है।

नीरज कुमार झा

स्वागत

औपनिवेशिकता आरोपित प्रथाओं, परंपराओं और क्रियाविधियों को स्पष्ट रूप से निर्धारित समय-सीमा के भीतर समाप्त करने के लिए की गई सचेतन, सुव्यवस्थित और योजनाबद्ध कार्ययोजना एक सराहनीय एवं स्वागतयोग्य नीति है। यह मानवीय गरिमा को प्रतिष्ठापित करने के संवैधानिक संकल्प को पुष्ट करता है। गरिमामय जीवन नागरिकों के आत्मबल का संवर्द्धन करेगा और भारत की विकसित राष्ट्र की ओर यात्रा को सुगम बनाएगा।

नीरज कुमार झा

Higher Education as a Corollary of Power: GER, Institutional Decline, and the New York Moment

In continuation of the previous post, certain facts may be marshalled to confirm the hypothesis concerning higher education and development. The United States, as a superpower and a super economy, historically deployed its power, knowledge systems, and institutional mechanisms to dominate global value chains, extracting resources, talent, and consumables from across the world, thereby securing relatively high-end and high-paying employment for its own citizens. This global positioning made a high Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher education both feasible and functionally relevant, as advanced skills and credentials were required to occupy superior locations in the international division of labour. As this leverage now weakens, the United States appears to be attempting to reclaim labour-intensive, low-paying, and low-skilled jobs for its domestic workforce, a shift visible in crackdowns on immigration and the resort to protectionist trade measures such as tariffs. Similar tendencies are observable across other developed economies. In such a scenario, these countries would neither require nor be able to sustain higher education systems at the present scale, lending credence to the argument that high GER is more a corollary of development than its cause. Instead, higher education in particular, and schooling in general, is increasingly likely to be reorganised as an industry within a competitive global marketplace. A further supporting pattern is that once a country loses its global advantage, its institutions begin to lose their strength. Institutions that were originally instrumental in constructing mechanisms of power and wealth gradually turn into custodians of a settled order, but when that order fractures, these institutions face redundancy and decline. It is in this context that New York, long regarded as the epitome of capitalism and Americanism, now appears to be sliding into the grips of what may be described as third-worldism, symbolising a deeper institutional and structural erosion that also calls into question the sustainability of mass higher education in declining hegemonic economies.

Niraj Kumar Jha

GER: A Hypothesis

Developed countries typically record a Gross Enrolment Ratio of around 50 per cent in higher education. This is often interpreted as a causal determinant of economic development. A more plausible interpretation is that a high GER is primarily an outcome of development rather than its cause. Advanced economies occupy higher segments of global value chains where value addition, productivity, and wages are relatively high. This structural position reduces dependence on low-skill and low-paying employment and enables a larger proportion of the population to remain in extended formal education.

The ability of these economies to sustain high levels of participation in higher education has historically been supported by persistent economic surpluses generated through technological leadership, market dominance, and control over intellectual property. Global value-chain theory suggests that such advantages are not static. As late-developing economies acquire industrial capabilities and move upward within value chains, high-return activities diffuse geographically. This diffusion is likely to compress margins in advanced economies and weaken their surplus-generating capacity. As a result, a greater share of routine, labour-intensive, or lower-return work may need to be undertaken domestically within these economies. In such circumstances, maintaining very high enrolment in long-duration and resource-intensive higher education becomes fiscally and economically more difficult. What currently appears as a stable feature of developed economies may thus prove contingent upon a historically specific configuration of global economic power.

For India, the implications are twofold. First, educational expansion must follow a deliberate sequencing aligned with developmental needs and labour-market realities. Universalisation of primary education remains foundational. This must be followed by systematic vocationalisation at the intermediate level to equip a large workforce with employable skills. Higher education, in turn, should emphasise selective specialisation and excellence rather than mass expansion. Treating higher education as an undifferentiated good risks weakening quality, misaligning skills with economic demand, and dissipating limited public resources.

Second, higher education must be viewed not only as an instrument of domestic capability building but also as a tradable service embedded in the global economy. Countries that host high-quality universities attract international students, generate export earnings, conserve foreign exchange, and extend cultural and intellectual influence. In this respect, the recent establishment of foreign university campuses in India is a positive development. Such initiatives reduce outward capital flows, introduce competitive benchmarks, and place performance pressure on Indian universities, both public and privately managed, to improve academic standards, governance practices, and global engagement.

Niraj Kumar Jha