A Tale of Two Dams-Spectre Haunting Bharuch

higher education is no more than a bland catalogue of official programmes. Even a basic item of information like the ratio between salary-related expenses and the expenses incurred on academic activities and development cannot be obtained from this report. Those responsible for preparing this chapter owe an explanation to the public why the usability of the data assembled and published at a substantial expense should be targeted to be so low. The chapter on adult education reports the progress made under the National Literacy Mission which was launched in 1988. As is now customary, information is provided about the number of illiterates enrolled, the number of instructors and agencies involved, and the expenditure incurred, but no data are given to indicate the number of illiterate adults who became literate as a result of the adult education programme Apparently, the programme has either ignored the task of maintaining records of individual participants, or perhaps the success record is too poor to be maintained and revealed. An interesting development in adult education is the plan to involve college and university students. The report mentions that the National Literacy Mission has assigned to universities and colleges the task of 'covering' 5 lakh people in precisely is meant by this 'coverage* is