"Can just one degree ... make a person fit for jobs needing very high skill levels?" Ph.D is the third degree on gets, after Bachelor's and Master's degrees! Ph.D is not just 'one' degree!
"I know of 'professors' who, in order to get published before promotion interview have started their own journals" Wrong! Professor's post is the highest ranking job in academics, there will not be any more promotions for professors!
"you'd need 60,000 top-class peer reviewers. There's no way anyone can claim that such a large number is available" It is estimated that about 1% of population will get Ph.D. That means, about 6.6 crore doctorates are available in the world, much higher than 60,000! Further thousands of non-doctorate peer reviewers of good quality will also be available in the world!
"a very minor step has been taken by those universities (like the JNU) which insist that assistant professors, in order to become associate professors, must undergo an orientation course. I wonder how many other universities and institutes like the IITs and the IIMs have even this requirement." How many publications, patents, and sponsored projects do faculty of JNU get every year because of this 'good' move? Please compare the corresponding figures for IITs and IIMs.
