Happy Birthday Dr. APJ Kalam

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR SIR !!!

 

Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam , was the 11th President of India, serving from 2002 to 2007, he was elected during the tenure of the National Democratic Alliance (India) coalition government, under prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. During his term as President, he was popularly known as the People’s President

Political views

In his book India 2020 APJ Abdul Kalam strongly advocates an action plan to develop India into a knowledge superpower and into a developed nation by the year 2020. He regards his work on India’s nuclear weapons program as a way to assert India’s place as a future superpower.

It has been reported that there is considerable demand in South Korea for translated versions of books authored by him.Kalam continues to take an active interest in other developments in the field of science and technology. He has proposed a research programme for developing bio-implants. He is a supporter of Open source software over proprietary solutions and believes that the use of open source software on a large scale will bring the benefits of information technology to more people

As an aerospace engineer

After graduating in Physics from St. Joseph’s College in Tiruchirapalli, Abdul Kalam graduated with a diploma in the mid-1950s from Madras Institute of Technology specializing in Aeronautical Engineering. As the Project Director, he was heavily involved in the development of India’s first indigenous Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-III). As Chief Executive of Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP), he also played a major part in developing many missiles of India including Agni and Prithvi. Although the entire project has been criticised for being overrun and mismanaged. He was the Chief Scientific Adviser to Prime Minister and Secretary, Department of Defence Research & Development from July 1992 to December 1999. Pokhran-II nuclear tests were conducted during this period, and have been associated with Kalam although he was not directly involved with the nuclear programmer at the time

Honours

On April 29, 2009, he became the first Asian to be bestowed the Hoover Medal, America’s top engineering prize, for his outstanding contribution to public service. The citation said that he is being recognised for making state-of-the-art healthcare available to the common man at affordable prices, bringing quality medical care to rural areas by establishing a link between doctors and technocrats, using spin-offs of defence technology to create state-of-the-art medical equipment and launching tele-medicine projects connecting remote rural-based hospitals to the super-specialty hospital. A pre-eminent scientist, a gifted engineer, and a true visionary, he is also a humble humanitarian in every sense of the word, it added.

On 13 September 2009, he was a recipient of the International von Kármán Wings Award.

The Government of India has honoured him with the nation’s highest civilian honours: the Padma Bhushan in 1981; Padma Vibhushan in 1990; and the Bharat Ratna in 1997 for his work with ISRO and DRDO and his role as a scientific advisor to the Indian government.

Kalam is the third President of India to have been honoured with a Bharat Ratna before being elected to the highest office, the other two being Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Zakir Hussain. He is also the first scientist and first bachelor to occupy Rashtrapati Bhavan.

After his tenure as the president he is now a visiting guest professor at JSS University, Mysore. He has agreed to deliver a minimum of four lectures every year.

Books and documentaries

Kalam’s writings

• Wings of Fire: An Autobiography of APJ Abdul Kalam by A.P.J Abdul Kalam, Arun Tiwari; by K. Bhushan, G. Katyal; A.P.j. Pub. Corp, 2002.
• Scientist to President by Abdul A.P.J. Kalam; Gyan Publishing House, 2003.
• Ignited Minds: Unleashing the Power Within India by A.P.J. Abdul Kalam; Penguin Books, 2003.
• India 2020: A Vision for the New Millennium by A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Y.S. Rajan; Penguin Books India, 2003.
• India-my-dream by A.P.J. Abdul Kalam; Excel Books, 2004.
• Envisioning an Empowered Nation: Technology for Societal Transformation by A.P.J. Abdul Kalam; TATA McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Ltd, 2004.
• Guiding Souls: Dialogues on the Purpose of Life by A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Arun K Tiwari; Ocean Books, 2005.
• Children Ask Kalam by A.P.J Abdul Kalam; Pearson Education, ISBN 81-7758-245-3
• Indomitable Spirit by A.P.J Abdul Kalam, 2006
• The Scientific Indian: A Twenty-first Century Guide to the World around Us by APJ Abdul Kalam and YS Rajan

Biographies

• Eternal Quest: Life and Times of Dr. Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam by S. Chandra; Pentagon Publishers, 2002.
• President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam by R. K. Pruthi; Anmol Publications, 2002.
• A. P. J. Abdul Kalam: The Visionary of India’ by K. Bhushan, G. Katyal; A.P.H. Pub. Corp, 2002.
• A little Dream (documentary film) by P. Dhanapal; Minveli Media Works Private Limited, 2008.
• The Kalam Effect: My Years with the President by P.M. Nair; Harper Collins, 2008.
• ‘My Days With Mahatma Abdul Kalam’ by Fr.A.K. George; ISBN No:978-8190452953; Publisher: Novel Corporation, 2009

Kalam’s frisking: some burning questions

By Tanveer Jafri,

Former President of India, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam was frisked by the security staff of the US based Continental Airlines at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi on his way to Newark, USA. While Dr. Kalam, in his well known polite and generous way, followed all the security checks as asked by the security staff, the staff people, by not having any trust in the former President of India, frisked him as usual, (read rudely).

He was made to remove his shoes and those were checked in the way as they contained any explosive or contraband. His pocket, wallet even his cell phone was minutely checked. No doubt, Dr. Kalam is an idol for Indians. He is seen as a great scientist, missile man, Bharat Ratna along with the “people’s President”. When such a person is frisked in the Indian capital by an American company, the anger and excitement among Indians is bound to happen. The people are angrier of the fact that the security staff frisked Dr. Kalam despite knowing that he is the former Indian President. The debate in the country is on regarding this issue. Even in the Parliament, there was much debate on this.

Though the Continental Airlines has tried to normalize the situation by offering apology to Dr. Kalam, but a common Indian is asking whether the frisking of Dr. Kalam was according to the security protocols or it was a usual American way of insulting India. When the company says that the checks were according to the protocols, Indian people have every right to ask whether it had ever frisked the former US Presidents, George Bush and Bill Clinton in the same way? If yes, then it has to provide proofs of this. If it does so, then Indian citizens would certainly be convinced. And if these protocols are for people other than Bush and Clinton, then this is really objectionable and an insult to India.

There seem to be many technical and contradictory issues involved in this entire incident. Like, the list of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) of India, under which many VIPs are exempted from the security checks, it also includes the former Presidents. On the contrary, the list of the Transport Security Administration (TSA) of the United States doesn’t include the former Presidents of India. Now the question is which list the company should follow? Indian or American?

Post 9/11 America is on such a high alert that it is always worried of another terror attack. Perhaps, this is the reason that America hasn’t witnessed another attack despite numerous attempts by the terrorists. But in the name of this alertness, prominent people of other countries should not be insulted. In 2003 too, the Indian Defence Minister George Fernandez was frisked twice in America. Last year, the Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee cancelled his London visit just because of his frisking at the Heathrow. Similarly, the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had to pass the security check in Moscow last year. The question is that when other countries don’t trust the prominent citizens of India, then why the Government of India doesn’t strengthen its security protocols? Indian Parliament has also been attacked. After the Mumbai attacks, it seems that no place in India, highly protected or sensitive, is safe. In these circumstances, India should also strengthen its security system in the same way. Whether Hillary Clinton or Bill Clinton, we should follow the same security checks with them as the American security agencies follow with the Indian leaders.

In Parliament, a member, by calling Dr. Kalam a national hero, called this incident an insult of India. The CPI MP Sitaram Yechuri accused that Kalam was frisked because of his first name ‘Abdul’. He clearly meant that because Dr. Kalam was a Muslim, that’s why the American agency insulted him. Was Dr. Kalam was frisked due to his name or it was a normal course? This is different issue. But there is no denial the fact that after 9/11, Muslims are seen with a sense of doubt in America. Many of India’s prominent Muslim scholars were even returned from the airport. There are many incidents which show that the American agencies are hostile towards the people having Muslim names, wearing Islamic dress or having beard. Now the question is that who is responsible for this doubtful condition of the Muslims?

In spite of all the above realities, this is also true that our politicians are always in search of an issue, which they can politicize. Some politicians seem to be more hurt than Kalam himself. They named this incident as insult of the nation, attack on Indian honour, insult of the largest democracy etc. we should not forget that here every citizen, either Prime Minister or President, cast their vote in queue. Dr. Manmohan Singh didn’t feel insulted when he got his driving license renewed himself in a queue.

In fact the country and its citizens feel insulted when some politicians snatch money from the poor and stock it abroad. Nation feels more ashamed when the chief of any national political party or any cabinet minister is caught on camera accepting bribe. Nation feel insulted when the MPs show the bundle of notes in the Parliament. It is more insulting for the nation when a Member of Parliament accepts bribe for asking a question in the Parliament. The country and the people have their heads down with shame when corrupt, thieves, criminals and gangsters enter the Parliament after winning election. What to say about the American agencies, perhaps it is a part of the American policy that everybody is bound to trust them. If American thinking would not be so, then there would not have been entry of sniffer dogs in Rajghat. Whenever any American dignitary visits India, the entire responsibility of his/her security is of the American security agencies. Indian security agencies are just responsible for the outer circle. To fill this gap of trust and distrust there is need to take strong steps, to show willpower and to leave the tendency of sycophancy.

SPEECHES:-

THANKS GIVING ADDRESS TO THE NATION

 

 “When you wish upon a star, Makes no difference who you are Anything your heart desires Will come to you”

 

Friends, I am delighted to address you all, in the country and those living abroad, after working with you and completing five beautiful and eventful years in Rashtrapati Bhavan. Today, it is indeed a thanks giving occasion. I would like to narrate, how I enjoyed every minute of my tenure enriched by the wonderful association from each one of you, hailing from different walks of life, be it politics, science and technology, academics, arts, literature, business, judiciary, administration, local bodies, farming, home makers, special children, media and above all from the youth and student community who are the future wealth of our country. During my interaction at Rashtrapati Bhavan in Delhi and at every state and union territory as well as through my online interactions, I have many unique experiences to share with you, which signify the following important messages:

1. Accelerate development : Aspiration of the youth,

2. Empower villages,

3. Mobilize rural core competence for competitiveness,

4. Seed to Food: Backbone for agricultural growth

5. Defeat problems and succeed,

6. Overcome problems through partnership,

7. Courage in combating calamities,

8. Connectivity for societal transformation,

9. Defending the nation: Our pride and

10. Youth movement for Developed India 2020

Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam’s Speech: A Must Read

I have three visions for India. In 3000 years of our history people from all over the world have come and invaded us, captured our lands, conquered our minds. From Alexander onwards. The Greeks, the Turks, the Moguls, the Portuguese, the British, the French, the Dutch, all of them came and looted us, took over what was ours. Yet we have not done this to any other nation. We have not conquered anyone. We have not grabbed their land, their culture, their history and tried to enforce our way of life on them. Why? Because we respect the freedom of others. That is why my first vision is that of FREEDOM. I believe that India got its first vision of this in 1857, when we started the war of independence. It is this freedom that we must protect and nurture and build on. If we are not free, no one will respect us.

My second vision for India is DEVELOPMENT. For fifty years we have been a developing nation. It is time we see ourselves as a developed nation. We are among top 5 nations of the world in terms of GDP. We have 10 percent growth rate in most areas. Our poverty levels are falling. Our achievements are being globally recognized today. Yet we lack the self-confidence to see ourselves as a developed nation, self-reliant and self-assured. Isn’t this incorrect?

I have a THIRD vision. India must stand up to the world. Because I believe that unless India stands up to the world, no one will respect us. Only strength respects strength. We must be strong not only as a military power but also as an economic power. Both must go hand-in-hand. My good fortune was to have worked with three great minds. Dr. Vikram Sarabhai of the Dept. of space, Professor Satish Dhawan, who succeeded him and Dr. Brahm Prakash, father of nuclear material. I was lucky to have worked with all three of them closely and consider this the great opportunity of my life.

I see four milestones in my career: ONE: Twenty years I spent in ISRO. I was given the opportunity to be the project director for India’s first satellite launch vehicle, SLV3. The one that launched Rohini. These years played a very important role in my life of Scientist.

TWO: After my ISRO years, I joined DRDO and got a chance to be the part of India’s missile program. It was my second bliss when Agni met its mission requirements in 1994.

THREE: The Dept. of Atomic Energy and DRDO had this tremendous partnership in the recent nuclear tests, on May 11 and 13. This was the third bliss. The joy of participating with my team in these nuclear tests and proving to the world that India can make it, that we are no longer a developing nation but one of them. It made me feel very proud as an Indian. The fact that we have now developed for Agni a re-entry structure, for which we have developed this new material. A Very light material called carbon-carbon.

FOUR: One day an orthopedic surgeon from Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences visited my laboratory. He lifted the material and found it so light that he took me to his hospital and showed me his patients. There were these little girls and boys with heavy metallic calipers weighing over three kg. each, dragging their feet around. He said to me: Please remove the pain of my patients. In three weeks, we made these Floor reaction Orthosis 300 gram calipers and took them to the orthopedic centre. The children didn’t believe their eyes. From dragging around a three kg. load on their legs, they could now move around! Their parents had tears in their eyes. That was my fourth bliss!

Why is the media here so negative? Why are we in India so embarrassed to recognize our own strengths, our achievements? We are such a great nation. We have so many amazing success stories but we refuse to acknowledge them. Why? We are the first in milk production. We are number one in Remote sensing satellites. We are the second largest producer of wheat. We are the second largest producer of rice. Look at Dr. Sudarshan, he has transferred the tribal village into a self-sustaining, self-driving unit. There are millions of such achievements but our media is only obsessed in the bad news and failures and disasters.

I was in Tel Aviv once and I was reading the Israeli newspaper. It was the day after a lot of attacks and bombardments and deaths had taken place. The Hamas had struck. But the front page of the newspaper had the picture of a Jewish gentleman who in five years had transformed his desert land into an orchid and a granary. It was this inspiring picture that everyone woke up to. The gory details of killings, bombardments, deaths, were inside in the newspaper, buried among other news. In India we only read about death, sickness, terrorism, crime. Why are we so NEGATIVE? Another question: Why are we, as a nation so obsessed with foreign things? We want foreign TVs, we want foreign shirts. We want foreign technology. Why this obsession with everything imported. Do we not realize that self-respect comes with self-reliance?

I was in Hyderabad giving this lecture, when a 14 year old girl asked me for my autograph. I asked her what her goal in life is: She replied: I want to live in a developed India. For her, you and I will have to build this developed India. You must proclaim. India is not an under-developed nation; it is a highly developed nation.

Allow me to come back with vengeance. Got 10 minutes for your country?

YOU say that our government is inefficient. YOU say that our laws are too old. YOU say that the municipality does not pick up the garbage. YOU say that the phones don’t work, the railways are a joke, the airline is the worst in the world, mails never reach their destination. YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is the absolute pits. YOU say, say and say.

What do YOU do about it? Take a person on his way to Singapore. Give him a name – YOURS. Give him a face – YOURS. YOU walk out of the airport and you are at your International best. In Singapore you don’t throw cigarette butts on the roads or eat in the stores. YOU are as proud of their Underground Links as they are. You pay $5 (approx. Rs. 60) to drive through Orchard Road (equivalent of Mahim Causeway or Pedder Road) between 5 PM and 8 PM.

YOU comeback to the parking lot to punch your parking ticket if you have over stayed in a restaurant or a shopping mall irrespective of your status identity. In Singapore you don’t say anything, DO YOU? YOU wouldn’t dare to eat in public during Ramadan, in Dubai. YOU would not dare to go out without your head covered in Jeddah. YOU would not dare to buy an employee of the telephone exchange in London at 10 pounds (Rs. 650) a month to, “see to it that my STD and ISD calls are billed to someone else.” YOU would not dare to speed beyond 55 mph (88 kph) in Washington and then tell the traffic cop, “Jaanta hai sala main kaun hoon (Do you know who I am?). I am so and so’s son. Take your two bucks and get lost.” YOU wouldn’t chuck an empty coconut shell anywhere other than the garbage pail on the beaches in Australia and New Zealand. Why don’t YOU spit Paan on the streets of Tokyo? Why don’t YOU use examination jockeys or buy fake certificates in Boston? We are still talking of the same YOU. YOU who can respect and conform to a foreign system in other countries but cannot in your own. You who will throw papers and cigarettes on the road the moment you touch Indian ground. If you can be an involved and appreciative citizen in an alien country why cannot you be the same here in India. Once in an interview, the famous Ex-municipal commissioner of Bombay Mr.Tinaikar had a point to make. “Rich people’s dogs are walked on the streets to leave their affluent droppings all over the place,” he said. “And then the same people turn around to criticize and blame the authorities for inefficiency and dirty pavements. What do they expect the officers to do? Go down with a broom every time their dog feels the pressure in his bowels? In America every dog owner has to clean up after his pet has done the job. Same in Japan. Will the Indian citizen do that here?” He’s right. We go to the polls to choose a government and after that forfeit all responsibility. We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect the government to do everything for us whilst our contribution is totally negative. We expect the government to clean up but we are not going to stop chucking garbage all over the place nor are we going to stop to pick a up a stray piece of paper and throw it in the bin. We expect the railways to provide clean bathrooms but we are not going to learn the proper use of bathrooms. We want Indian Airlines and Air India to provide the best of food and toiletries but we are not going to stop pilfering at the least opportunity. This applies even to the staff who is known not to pass on the service to the public. When it comes to burning social issues like those related to women, dowry, girl child and others, we make loud drawing room protestations and continue to do the reverse at home. Our excuse? “It’s the whole system which has to change, how will it matter if I alone forego my sons’ rights to a dowry.” So who’s going to change the system? What does a system consist of? Very conveniently for us it consists of our neighbors, other households, other cities, other communities and the government. But definitely not me and YOU. When it comes to us actually making a positive contribution to the system we lock ourselves along with our families into a safe cocoon and look into the distance at countries far away and wait for a Mr. Clean to come along & work miracles for us with a majestic sweep of his hand. Or we leave the country and run away. Like lazy cowards hounded by our fears we run to America to bask in their glory and praise their system. When New York becomes insecure we run to England. When England experiences unemployment, we take the next flight out to the Gulf. When the Gulf is war struck, we demand to be rescued and brought home by the Indian government. Everybody is out to abuse and rape the country. Nobody thinks of feeding the system. Our conscience is mortgaged to money.

Dear Indians, The article is highly thought inductive, calls for a great deal of introspection and pricks one’s conscience too….I am echoing J.F. Kennedy’s words to his fellow Americans to relate to Indians…..

“ASK WHAT WE CAN DO FOR INDIA AND DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE TO MAKE INDIA WHAT AMERICA AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES ARE TODAY”

SALUTE THIS MAN !!!!