A P J ABDUL KALAM’S PERSONALITY

A P J ABDUL KALAM’S PERSONALITY

“Many of us know Kalam only as a visionary scientist who could inspire and motivate others. While being a great scientist, Kalam remained a firm believer in God. He had the ability to pardon people who had committed mistakes. He used to say that God would take care of those who committed crimes. Many people do not know this facet of Kalam’s personality,

 A P J Abdul Kalam and described him as a "visionary" and a "true son of India" whose life "will remain an inspiration to millions of youth in the country."In his condolence message, Ansari said Kalam's contributions to the nation, in his capacity as a man of technology, a teacher and a leader "will be deeply cherished by a grateful nation.""The guide of India's space and missile programs, Dr Kalam's efforts saw India become a front ranking power in these spheres," he said.

“Look at the sky. We are not alone. The whole universe is friendly to us and conspires only to give the best to those who dream and work.” —-Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam It has been 66 years since India became independent. Yet the tag that reads “developing country” simply remains unaltered. Why is it that we, as Indians, inevitably tend to emulate those from the West? Why is it that we consider them to be above us when the Indian potential is far greater than anything the West can ever achieve? Why do we undermine ourselves and give in to the feeling of inferiority? In this article I shall detail the importance of these questions and how Dr. Kalam answered them in his own model for future India.It is the remnants of British rule and the ashes of foreign policies and influences that have left us in an embarrassing race for development and a need for economic revolution. Of the many Indians who toiled for their country’s advancement, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam was a truly remarkable activist. He answered many of the questions stated above. Being an idealist, thinker, scientist and nation builder, Dr. Kalam served the country in every way he could. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1981 (the highest award that can be bestowed upon an Indian citizen). Popularly known as the Missile Man of India, he was part of many of India’s development ventures. This article, however, is not a detailing of his achievements. It is meant to share his vision in as condensed a form as possible.

In his book: “India 2020”, Dr. Kalam says; “A developed India by 2020, or even earlier, is not a dream. It need not be a mere vision in the minds of many Indians. It is a mission we can all take up – and succeed.” Dr. Kalam made it a goal to change the minds of the nations’ young population. He sternly believes that in these young minds lies the power to defeat corruption and reform the nation. Yet, there lies the more important query; what is the meaning of reformed India? Well, it certainly cannot be modeled on the United States or European countries simply because of three factors:

1.      The people of India are an unprecedentedly diverse race with 22 official languages and more than 1600 unofficial languages excluding those which are altogether unrecognized. With a country so diverse, common policies like those used in other countries would be extremely challenging to apply.

2.      The prevalent corruption would stop any attempt at changing the nation. The rupee-crisis, the incalculable scams and the India-Pakistan disputes are all a product of this system. There is no way to go through the political system head-on and start a revolution. Indirect means are the only possible answer. India is not a country based on capitalism so such a model would never work in a country that was already beyond this stage and culturally developed in the past. The triangle above (popularly known as the triangle of needs- proposed by psychologist Maslow) shows that we were past the fourth stage and so to downgrade ourselves is an unbearable form of change.

Dr. Kalam understood these problems. To find the answer, he looked into India’s past. He used the social ideas of ancient India, combined it with modern scientific progress and  gave it a finishing touch altogether his own to make the most beautiful and effective plan to reform the Nation. The following paragraph details Dr. Kalam’s plan for India and how we can strive to achieve it.

India is a nation of villages. Just as the biological cell is to the body, just as the atom is to every material existence around us, the village is to India. India’s villages can be looked upon as the basic building blocks of the country, unlike the USA, where cities are the representative units of the country. This is because of India’s amazing diversity. The only possible uniformity in problems exists only at the village level. Dr. Kalam felt the development of India lay in the development of villages. If each village was given the power to develop by itself and solve its own problems, India would grow at its unit-level thus ensuring all-round development. So how was this achievable? Education is the answer. Providing education to the masses and proper area-specific education systems modeled on Ancient methods. The building of the student-teacher relationship was the most essential part of this education system. Once everyone is educated, they will be able to develop their own local villages and choose the right leaders or better still, choose to become educated leaders themselves. The next step was to integrate groups of villages to an even bigger unit, interconnected by towns. These villages would be connected by efficient road systems and internet connectivity so that they could share their problems and the solutions that each one of them found. The towns would all be connected by the city. The city however would not become the centre for development and population concentration as it is now. Dr. Kalam suggested a 1:50 ratio of population distribution with only 2% of the population residing in cities. The cities would simply be coordinating and foreign trade related centres.

The final step would be to bring science, technology and moral value to each and every doorstep in the country. The improvement and ultra-modernization of agricultural methods are of crucial importance. This will all result from improving the education systems all over the country. Free and compulsory education should obviously be enforced.

Dr. Kalam also talked about modernization of the military and space departments of India. In his own words: “The possession of nuclear weapons does not necessarily mean we will use them to destroy. It is simply a tool to be used to ensure national peace and security. Strength respects strength. The nuclear weapons will be deterrents to war. After all, who in their right mind would wish to start a nuclear holocaust?” The economic system would also have to be reformed. The brain-drain to other countries need to be instantly ended and these resources must be used for boosting national economy.

The vision of Dr. Kalam is a truly brilliant one. Provided it works as it is meant to, we would certainly look upon a developed India in the future. All that is left is to put this plan into actions. Those of us who are privy to this information must work to make it an absolute success.

Union Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar said to the media that he prefers ex-President Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam as the President of India again. Well, Dr. Kalam, a true visionary in his own right is actually the best person to become the first citizen of Indian union. He has been in that post earlier and we all are witness that he is and shall remain as a charismatic figure in the Hall of fame of Indian politics. Here are the five main reasons why we need him as our President:-

Non-Political Image: Mr. Sharad Pawar also backed him for his apolitical outlook towards his nation. Dr. Kalam has contributed the most to the Indian nuclear science and is a pioneer of education and progress. He seldom talks about unreal development plans. His speeches are a testimony of his vision of a better India.Advocacy of Secularism: Dr. Kalam is a man of reality. He is equally well versed in Bhagawat Gita, Koran, The Bible, etc. Whenever he speaks, he speaks to every culture, every religious community of India. He is the perfect example of a Gandhian soldier.

Youth Icon: He is a scientist, educationist, philosopher, and true leader. His visions and speeches encourages the youth. He understands the problems faced by the 21st century speed-loving generations. He visits colleges and schools regularly to interact with the youth and understand the future of our nation.The People’s President: The Indian Presidential system respects the President as the first citizen of India. Dr. Kalam in his last tenure proved his position. He did his job a true leader. Within one year of his election, he visited almost every state of the country and met with the people. He is not among those who once elected take a 5-year-long vacation in the VIP quarters.

A Nation Builder: We all know about his three visions, to protect and nurture the freedom we earned, to gain self-confidence as a great nation, and to stand up to the world and answer the Americans, the French, the Russian, the Chinese and the whole world that we are 60-years-old now, old enough to make a shift of generations.

His visions directly appeal the next generations to come up for the country. If he is re-elected as the President of Indian Union again, then Bharat Ratna Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam can really change the image of our country before the world. One of India's most visionary leaders had something truly inspiring to say about everything.

1. On the youth: My message, especially to young people is to have courage to think differently, courage to invent, to travel the unexplored path, courage to discover the impossible and to conquer the problems and succeed. These are great qualities that they must work towards.

2. On leadership: Let me define a leader. He must have vision and passion and not be afraid of any problem. Instead, he should know how to defeat it. Most importantly, he must work with integrity.

3. On religion: For great men, religion is a way of making friends; small people make religion a fighting tool.

4. On corruption: If a country is to be corruption free and become a nation of beautiful minds, I strongly feel there are three key societal members who can make a difference. They are the father, the mother and the teacher.

5. On scientific development: English is necessary as at present original works of science are in English. I believe that in two decades times original works of science will start coming out in our languages. Then we can move over like the Japanese.

6. On hardship: Man needs his difficulties because they are necessary to enjoy success.

7. On students: One of the very important characteristics of a student is to question. Let the students ask questions.

8. On freedom: If we are not free, no one will respect us.

9. On poetry: Poetry comes from the highest happiness or the deepest sorrow.

10. On children: While children are studying to be unique, the world around them is trying by all means to make them like everybody else.

11. On science: Science is global. Einstein's equation E=mc2 has to reach everywhere. Science is a beautiful gift to humanity. We should not distort it. Science does not discriminate between multiple races.

12. On life: Life is a difficult game. You can win it only by retaining your birthright to be a person.

13. On the death penalty: One of the more difficult tasks for me as president was to decide on the issue of confirming capital punishment awarded by courts… to my surprise… almost all cases which were pending had a social and economic bias. This gave me an impression that we were punishing the person who was least involved in the enmity and who did not have a direct motive for committing the crime.

14. On dreaming: Dream, dream, dream. Dream transforms in to thoughts. And thoughts result in action.

15. On beauty: I'm not a handsome guy, but I can give my hand to someone who needs help. Beauty is in the heart, not in the face

Prof. John Kurakar