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| During the next decade, India will have the following missions: | ||
COURAGE
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| I was trying to ask our scientists about the achievements in science during the year 2008. As you are all aware, the placing of chandrayan on moon orbit has taken place during the year 2008. It has resulted in terrain mapping revealing some interesting lunar land forms that are unusual and the presence of iron in minute amount in certain minerals found in lunar surface. The x-ray spectrometer is able to detect signals of the element magnesium, aluminum and silicon from the lunar surface. Scientists of CCMB have developed a technology for asexual seed production in food crops by a process called apo-mix-is which would allow production of high yielding hybrid seeds at greatly reduced cost for the farmer. I am sure members assembled here will be able to visualize many such accomplishments. | ||
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All medical students must have some of these points in mind and be dedicated to work for saving others life. This was said to the students of government medical students in Trivandrum.
A nation should first have a vision, for it is this vision that will help generate the ideas that will propel its growth. Former President of India, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, said this at the special plenary session on 'Ideas Shaping India' during the first day of the three-day 'Ideas India 2008', being organized in New Delhi by Aspen Institute India.
"Vision 2020 envisages economic development of India by year 2020 by achieving 10 per cent Gross Domestic Produce (GDP) growth maintained at least for a decade," Dr Kalam said while acknowledging that the global financial meltdown, or "economic turbulence" as he termed it, has put an obstacle in achieving this aim within time.
Looking at the positives from India's point of view, Dr Kalam said, "we are slightly safe from economic turbulence because we did not go for complete reforms and Indians have a mind for saving." The negative, according to him was that sales of products have come down. To overcome this, he said, "we have to pump money into the rural economy and fuel prosperity there."
In this context, he stressed on giving impetus to PURA (Providing Urban amenities to Rural Areas) movement. PURA will help in thinning the urban-rural divide and thus help in equitable spread of economic progress in the country, he said. "For me, GDP is an urban notion," Dr Kalam said adding, "and sooner it is translated into what we propose to be a National Prosperity Index, it is better for us." The National Prosperity Index, he said, means GDP rate plus rate of bringing people above the poverty line plus improving the value system of the country. "This would be a true indicator of progress in whole of the country," he said.
Answering a question on spurt in terrorism activities and Mumbai terrorism strike, Dr Kalam said that "strength respects strength. I am of a strong view that we need a UN force for counter-terrorism so that we can react multilaterally to this threat." When evil minds combine, good minds can't be watching, he said adding, "they have to come together."
The former president pointed out three things that people can do to fight the menace of terrorism. "Education to young minds about dynamics of terrorism, bringing elders together irrespective of their religion and being righteous in the heart will go a long way in this direction," he said.
On the front of education, Dr Kalam stressed on giving focus to primary education. "We absolutely need to change the syllabus and system of primary education in our country," he said. "Primary classes should be turned into creative laboratories as that is the time to make change," Dr Kalam said adding, "for this to happen, it is important to train primary school teachers in such a way that they can tap the talent and imagination of children at that level."
When asked by Chairman of Aspen Institute India and CMD of Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Mr Jamshyd Godrej, on how to improve the state of agriculture in the country, Dr Kalam said the "way forward is cooperative farming, better technology, multi-crop system and better marketing." Agreeing that the agricultural sector needs to improve to fulfill the needs of the country, he said that there is an urgent need to go for better soil management, seed management, water management and pre- and post-harvest management. "All have to go hand in hand for things to improve," he pointed out.
On being asked by Vice-Chairman of Aspen Institute India and Chairman and CEO Avantha Group, Mr Gautam Thapar about his experiences as the President of India, Dr Kalam said that he realized that "under the Constitution, the President of India has tremendous amount of accountability and unlimited latent powers." Rashtrapati Bhavan for me, he pointed out, is the People's Bhavan.
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WHY WE NEED A GOOD INFRASTRUCTURE IN THE HOSPITALS. LET ME SAY WHY?.............In 1979, a six member team was preparing the flight version of a complex second stage control system of SLV-3 for static test and evaluation. The team was in countdown mode at T-15 minutes (15 minutes before the test). One of the twelve valves did not respond during checkout. Anxiety drove the members of the team to the test site to look into the problem. Suddenly the oxidizer tank, filled with red fuming nitric acid (RFNA) under pressure, burst, causing severe acid burns to the team members. It was very traumatic experience to see the suffering of the injured. My friend Kurup and I rushed to the Trivandrum Medical College hospital and begged to have our colleagues admitted, as six beds were not available in the hospital at that point of time. The hospital had to erect clean tents to admit and treat the burn injury patients. I am giving this example to show the importance of identifying and nominating hospitals who have adequate availability of beds for treatment of burn injury cases while dealing with the safety of particular chemical manufacturing unit in a given region.
1. Agriculture and Food processing: Increase the productivity into 3.4 times and concentrate on Food processing and marketing.
As the President of India, when I addressed to the nation in 2005, I have set a goal of realizing Energy Independence (coming out of fossil fuel) by the year 2030. When our population may touch 1.4 billion people, demand from power sector will increase from the existing 130,000 MW to about 400,000 MW. This assumes an energy growth rate of 5% per annum. Electric power generation in India now accesses four basic energy sources: Fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas and coal; Hydroelectricity; Nuclear power; and Renewable energy sources such as bio-fuels, solar, biomass, wind and ocean. One of the important research areas will be to increase the efficiency of photovoltaic cells from the existing 15% to 50% within the next three years and make the commercial version available in five years time.SO PLZ FRIENDS SAVE ENERGY ......
1. Engineering and Technology is a life time mission. I will work, work and work and succeed.
1. A Nation where the rural and urban divide has reduced to a thin line.
When I see the future teachers in this audience, I look at you dear friends, as one integrated system of education, system of learning and system of knowledge. You have to provide the guidance and build capacity among the youth to participate in the realization of distinctive profile I have mentioned above. 
1. An educational Institution that radiates greatness by teaching capacity of the teachers.
1. I am proud to belong to the Indian Armed forces of great tradition.
At a Special Olympics, nine contestants, all physically or mentally disabled, assembled at the starting line for the 100 mtr race. At the starting signal, they all started out, not exactly in a dash, but with a relish to run the race to the finish and win. All, others except one little boy who stumbled on the asphalt, tumbled over a couple of times, and began to cry. The other eight heard the boy cry. They slowed down and looked back. Then they all turned around and went back......every one of them. One girl with Down's syndrome bent down and kissed him and said, "This will make it better" Then all nine linked their arms together and walked together and finally reached the destination. Everyone in the stadium stood, and the cheering went on for several minutes. People who were there are still telling the story. Why? Because deep down we know this one thing: What matters in this life is more than winning for ourselves. What matters in this life is helping others win, even if it means slowing down and changing our course. I would say that, you do not have to slow down. Rather by helping difficult areas, the feed back will make you go faster. If you pass this on, we may be able to change our hearts as well as someone else's. "A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle".
IN a speech with the students in NIT he said:"Now, I would like to narrate an incident which took place during a function where Nobel Laureate Prof. Norman E Borlaug, a well known agricultural scientist and a partner in India’s first Green revolution, was conferred with Dr. MS Swaminathan Award, at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi on the 15th of March 2005. Prof. Borlaug, at the age of 91, was in the midst of all the praise showered on him from everybody gathered there. When his turn came, he got up and highlighted India’s advancement in the agricultural science and production and said that the political visionary Shri C. Subramaniam and Dr. MS Swaminathan, pioneer in agricultural science were the prime architects of First Green Revolution in India. Eventhough Prof Norman Borlaug was himself a partner in the first green revolution, he did not make a point on this. He recalled with pride, Dr. Verghese Kurien who ushered White Revolution in India. Then the surprise came. He turned to scientists sitting in the third row, fifth row and eighth row of the audience. He identified Dr. Raja Ram, a wheat specialist, Dr SK Vasal, a maize specialist, Dr. BR Barwale, a seed specialist. He said, all these scientists had contributed for India’s and Asia’s agricultural science. Dr. Borlaug introduced them to the audience by asking them to stand and ensured that the audience cheered and greeted the scientists with great enthusiasm. This action of Dr. Norman Borlaug, I call it as “Scientific Magnanimity”. Friends, if we aspire to achieve great things in life, we need scientific magnanimity to focus the young achievers. It is my experience that great mind and great heart go together. This scientific magnanimity will motivate the scientific community and nurture the spirit of achievement among the young towards science.
1 I will have a goal and work hard to achieve that goal. I realize that small aim is a crime.
to know the value of science ,Let me start with an incident about Sir CV Raman – a Nobel Laureate in Physics for discovering Raman Effect. Raman gives the view that the color of sky is blue due to molecular diffraction, which determines the observed luminosity and in great measures also its color. This led to the birth of the Raman Effect. Raman was in the first group of Bharat Ratna Award winners. Bharat Ratna is the highest civilian honour given by the Government of India to the best of human accomplishment. The award ceremony was to take place in the last week of January, soon after the Republic Day celebrations of 1954. The then President Dr. Rajendra Prasad wrote to Sir CV Raman inviting him to be the personal guest in the Rashtrapati Bhavan (the President’s House) at New Delhi, to receive the award. Sir CV Raman wrote a polite letter, regretting his inability to go to Delhi to receive the award. Raman had a noble reason for his inability to attend the investiture ceremony. He explained to the President that he was guiding a Ph.D. student and that the thesis was positively due by the last day of January. The student was valiantly trying to wrap it all up and Raman felt, he had to be by the side of the research student and see that the thesis was finished, sign the thesis as the guide and then have it submitted. Here was a scientist who gave up the pomp of a glittering ceremony associated with the highest honour, because he felt that his duty required him to be by the side of the student. It is this unique trait of giving value to science that builds science.
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1. Science is a life time mission. I will work, work and work and succeed.
The status of environmental cleanliness is one of the indicators of development of a nation. As a nation, we have to keep our environment clean and tidy and it has to start from the home. This is essential for better health conditions of all the citizens and also for presenting a wholesome and aesthetic atmosphere for us. It is essential that we keep all our places of worship and rivers clean and tidy to preserve their innate divinity. Students can promote a clean habitat movement in their home and surroundings and participate in imparting the awareness amongst the rural and urban population leading to a clean nation. Clean homes lead to clean villages, clean villages will lead to clean districts, clean districts will lead to clean states, and clean states make a clean nation.
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Today our challenge is to bring inclusive and sustainable growth of the nation especially under the present global economic turbulence and the threat of terrorism which is the greatest impediment for growth. Certainly we need innovative ideas in every sphere of our activity to overcome the challenges faced by the nation. What we need is integrated thinking, innovative ideas, integrated action and unity of minds. Let us first see what is meant by “integrated development of the nation”. It means the development of 6,00,000 villages of the nation. It means the development of the tier-two cities. It means that the infrastructure of the metro and large cities is in tune with the requirements of the time. We have to uplift the 220 million people living below the poverty line. We need to provide quality of life to all the citizens. We need to integrate the science and technology with the development process. We need to ensure that political vision, democratic process, legislation, executive actions at all levels, judiciary, media, e-governance and citizen feedback are all focused on a single goal of development of the nation. We need to gear up doubling of food production, energy independence, interlinking of rivers and nano technology revolution. In brief we all have to work in an integrated manner for sustained development. For that, what is needed today are the out-of-the-box ideas? For generating the ideas towards realizing the vision 2020, let me give my visualization of India before the year 2020.
1. A Nation where the rural and urban divide has reduced to a thin line.
Friends, I would like to share with you an inspirational experience, which I came across. At a Special Olympics, nine contestants, all physically or mentally disabled, assembled at the starting line for the 100 mtr race. At the starting signal, they all started out, not exactly in a dash, but with a relish to run the race to the finish and win. All, others except one little boy who stumbled on the asphalt, tumbled over a couple of times, and began to cry. The other eight heard the boy cry. They slowed down and looked back. Then they all turned around and went back......every one of them. One girl with Down's syndrome bent down and kissed him and said, "This will make it better" Then all nine linked their arms together and walked together and finally reached the destination. Everyone in the stadium stood, and the cheering went on for several minutes. People who were there are still telling the story. Why? Because deep down we know this one thing: What matters in this life is more than winning for ourselves. What matters in this life is helping others win, even if it means slowing down and changing our course. I would say that, you do not have to slow down. Rather by helping difficult areas, the feed back will make you go faster. If you pass this on, we may be able to change our hearts as well as someone else's. "A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle".
kALAM: While I was in college, I remember the lectures given by highest authority of the Jesuit institution Rev Father Rector Kalathil of St. Joshep’s college, Trichirappalli, Tamilnadu. Every week on Monday, he will take class for an hour. He used to talk about good human beings, present and past, and what makes a good human being. In this class he used to give lectures on personalities such as Buddha, Confucius, St. Augustine, Califa Omar, Mahatma Gandhi, Einstein, Abraham Lincoln including some scientific personalities and moral stories linked to our civilizational heritage. He also used to talk about great personalities living in the father’s lodge and who had made contribution with values in the service of the people. It is essential in the secondary schools and colleges to arrange a lecture by a great teacher of the institution once in a week for one hour. This class can be called as a Moral Science Class. That will elevate the young minds to love the country, to love the other human beings and elevate the young to higher planes.
While inaugurating the Symposium on “Vision for professional India and Corporate India by the year 2020” at New Delhi on 9 January 2008 and participating in the valedictory function of National Summit of Foundation for Restoration of National Values on 10 November 2008, I put forth a thought that Profit with integrity leads to sustained growth. How is it possible? We need to have National ethics for sustained growth and peace. Wherefrom it starts?
I have seen three dreams which have taken shape as vision, mission and realization. Firstly, space programme of ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation), AGNI programme of DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) and PURA (Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas) becoming the National Mission. Of course these three programmes succeeded in the midst of many challenges and problems. I have worked in these areas. I want to convey to you what I have learnt from these three programmes based on my personal experience.
a) The disciplinary mind: mastery of mind in different schools of thought including science mathematics and history and proficiency in at least one professional craft.
