Dr Kasturirangan, the mind behind the New Education Policy, used to head India’s space agency

• Kasturirangan, who is the head of the drafting committee on NEP, strongly believes in the need for diversity in education.
  
• Kasturirangan is also an eminent scientist who steered the Indian space programme as chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for nine years.
  
• He pursued Bachelor of Science with Honours and Master of Science degrees in Physics from Bombay University.
  
  

The Indian government has revamped its education policy after three-long-decades. And a big part of the credit goes to Dr Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan — who along with his team drafted the policy. The new education policy includes a whole host of changes, including the new 5+3+3+4 structure, flexible examinations, and opening up vocational education training at younger levels.

Kasturirangan, who is the head of the drafting committee, strongly believes in the need for diversity in education. “Education cannot be in watertight compartments anymore. A chartered accountant cannot just study finance. The panel felt that the various aspects and stages in a child’s education must be interconnected, like school to college to university education. There must be coherence for holistic learning. We can no more afford to be straight-jacketed,” Dr K Kasturirangan told Live Mint.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has hailed the New Education Policy, saying that this will lay the foundation for 21st century India.

Kasturirangan is an eminent scientist who chaired the Indian Space Research Organisation for nine years. He steered the Indian space program and oversaw some of the vital developments, including Indian National Satellite (INSAT-2) and Indian Remote Sensing Satellites (IRS-1A & 1B).

Let’s take a quick look at the Dr Kasturirangan’s journey so far —