“Hazaron saal Nargis apni be noori pa roti hai, badi mushkil se hota hai chaman men deeda war paida”
Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen “A. P. J.” Abdul Kalam , the 11th President of India from 2002 to 2007, a career scientist turned reluctant politician, one of India’s most eminent scientist and a people’s President passed away yesterday after collapsing during a lecture at the Indian Institute of Management in Shillong. The late President was born and raised in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu and studied physics and aerospace engineering. He had the unique honor of receiving honorary doctorates from 30 universities and institutions.
He has also been awarded the civilian awards – Padma Bhushan (1981) and Padma Vibhushan (1990) and the highest civilian award Bharat Ratna (1997). Dr. Kalam had lead the ISRO’s ( Indian Space Research Organization) satellite launch program and headed the country’s guided missile program for many years. He was the scientific advisor to the Defence Minister from July 1992 to December 1999. DR. APJ Abdul Kalam was the guiding spirit behind the “weaponisation of strategic missile systems and the Pokhran-II nuclear tests in collaboration with Department of Atomic Energy”. He was the brain behind India’s missile program – Agni and Prithvi. One of his pet themes was PURA – or the Provision of Urban Amenities in Rural Areas – a theme he referred to often in his travels abroad.
It won’t be an exaggeration to say that a great tree has fallen, and the crash has for the moment silenced all the sounds of the forest. Talks of Wars and controversies at home are hushed for the moment. All men, of all schools of opinion, creeds, and parties, see now, in the calm face of the dead, ‘the likeness Hindustan -the great of old.’ Kalam’s name has become part of history today but the elevation and comprehensiveness of the ideals that he set forth would live long after him. APJ Abdul Kalam has become a grand ideal, a great name, a hero who had guided the destinies of this land.
His journey as a space scientist began in early 1960s at Thumba, a coastal village near here, which housed India’s first rocket launcher, Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launcher. Kalam was one of the few young scientists sent by Dr Vikram Sarabhai for training of ‘sounding rockets’ at the National Aeronautics Space Agency in the US. When he reached Thumba in 1964, Kalam had no great infra structure to support. There he had converted a cattle shed at this coast into a laboratory to work on sounding rockets. In those days, even rocket parts and payloads were transported by bicycle. Kalam, who was not a cyclist and he used to hitchhikee with strangers.
After Vikram Sarabhai’d death in 1971, Kalam played a key role in transforming the equatorial rocket launcher station into a hub of space technology. It was renamed Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC). In that complex his team designed, developed and built a satellite launch vehicle called SLV3 that was put India’s first satellite, Rohini, into the earth orbit. That achievement brought India into an exclusive member of the Space Club. He worked at VSSC until 1982. Later he moved to the DRDO (Distinctive Profile of a Developed India)
It was a dream ‘India Vision 2020’ as to how India to look like by 2020:
1. A nation where the rural-urban divide has been reduced to a thin line.
2. A nation where there is an equitable distribution of, and adequate access to, energy and quality water.
3. A nation where agriculture, industry and the service sector work together in symphony.
4. A nation where education with a good value system is not denied to any meritorious candidates because of societal or economic discrimination.
5. A nation which is the best destination for the most talented scholars, scientists, and investors from around the world.
6. A nation where the best of healthcare is available to all.
7. A nation where governance is responsive, transparent and corruption-free.
8. A nation where poverty has been totally eradicated, illiteracy removed, crime against women and children is absent, and no one in the society feels alienated.
9. A nation that is prosperous, healthy, secure, devoid of terrorism, peaceful and happy, and continues on a sustainable growth path.
10. A nation that is one of the best places to live in and is proud of its leadership.
The India Vision 2020 document was prepared at the time of Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao. It was given to his successor, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who announced in Parliament as well as in one of his Independence Day addresses that India will become an economically developed nation by 2020. At a governors’ conference during my presidency, Manmohan Singh announced that his government, too, will carry forward the task of economically developing the nation.
Today, when he is no more among us, it is the ripe time to assess where we stand 2015 in terms of what we aspired to be in the 1990s, and discover the gap.
The real tribute to Dr. Abdul Kalam would be to develop an inclusive political system that gives the required full support to farmers, scientists, engineers, doctors, teachers, advocates and other professionals alike to enable this nation to achieve success in the green revolution, white revolution, the space mission, defence mission, science and technology mission, and infrastructure development mission.
There is no dearth of honest, hard working, committed and ignited minds in the country. Let the system inspire to ‘do it, we’re with you.’ And the youth with bubbling spirit are ever ready to respond – ‘Yes, We’ll do it.’ We would truly do justice to the soul of the Great Departed Leader APJ Abdul Kalam if we could make India a developed nation.
May his soul live rest in peace ! Amen !
