BANGALORE: President of India, Dr Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam today turned 73, celebrating his birthday outside the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Ever since Dr Kalam became the 11th President of India, his focus has been on transforming India into a "Developed Nation by 2020," igniting young minds, advocating techno entrepreneurs and calling on scientists' and intellectual fraternities for national development.
Open call to OpenSource
In a major boost to openSource software, the President called for his country's military to use the nonproprietary technology to ward off cybersecurity threats. "Software maintenance and software upgrade is an important issue for defense," Kalam said recently at a meeting of Indian Navy's Weapons and Electronic System Engineering Establishment in New Delhi.
The President has asked defense engineers to develop and implement applications on open platforms. "Even though the required software for the equipment could be developed by the private industry, it is essential that the technical know-how and the architecture is fully available with these services for ensuring provision of lifetime support for the software which may or may not be forthcoming from the trade."
The thrust of Kalam's speech was that the nation should achieve self-reliance in software needed for critical weapon system development. Past restrictions on so-called dual-purpose hardware and software imports from the United States have led to local development of systems. Technology embargoes were imposed following the testing of nuclear devices by India, under Kalam's leadership, in 1998.
In his 54th Republic day address, the president urges the creation of a Knowledge society saying, "Ability to create and maintain the knowledge infrastructure, develop knowledge workers and enhance their productivity through creation, growth and exploitation of new knowledge will be the key factors in deciding the prosperity of this Knowledge Society. Whether a nation has arrived at the state of knowledge society is judged by the way the country effectively deals with knowledge creation and knowledge deployment in all sectors like IT, Industries, Agriculture, Health Care etc."
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An Aeronautical engineer from Madras Institute of Technology, Dr Kalam made significant contribution as Project Director to develop India's first indigenous Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-III), which successfully injected the Rohini satellite in the near earth orbit in July 1980 and made India an exclusive member of Space Club. He was responsible for the evolution of ISRO's launch vehicle program, particularly the PSLV configuration.
After working for two decades in ISRO and mastering launch vehicle technologies, Dr Kalam took up the responsibility of developing Indigenous Guided Missiles at Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) as the Chief Executive of Integrated Guided Missile Development Program (IGMDP). He was responsible for the development and operationalisation of AGNI and PRITHVI Missiles and for building indigenous capability in critical technologies through networking of multiple institutions.
He was the Scientific Adviser to Defence Minister and Secretary, Department of Defence Research & Development from July 1992 to December 1999. During this period he led to the weaponisation of strategic missile systems and the Pokhran-II nuclear tests in collaboration with Department of Atomic Energy, which made India a nuclear weapon State. He also gave thrust to self-reliance in defence systems by progressing multiple development tasks and mission projects such as Light Combat Aircraft (LCA).
Tech Missions for Social Welfare As Chairman, Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC), he generated the Technology Vision 2020 documents – a road map for transforming India from Developing India to Developed India. He provided overall guidance to a number of Homegrown Technology Projects and major technology missions such as Sugar, Advanced Composites and Fly Ash utilization.
Dr Kalam has served as the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India, in the rank of Cabinet Minister for two years from November 1999-November 2001. He was primarily responsible for evolving policies, strategies and missions for generation of innovations and support systems for multiple applications. Also, generating science and technology task in strategic, economic and social sectors in partnership with Government departments, institutions and industry. Dr Kalam was also the Chairman, Ex-officio, of the Scientific Advisory Committee to the Cabinet (SAC-C).
Teaching & Research: Tasks Dr Kalam took up academic pursuit as Professor, Technology & Societal Transformation at Anna University, Chennai and involved in teaching and research tasks. Above all he is on his mission to ignite the young minds for national development by meeting high school students across the country. In his literary pursuit four of Dr. Kalam's books - "Wings of Fire", "India 2020 - A Vision for the New Millennium", "My journey" and "Ignited Minds - Unleashing the power within India" have become household names in India and among the Indian nationals abroad. These books have been translated in many Indian languages.
Felicitations: Totally dedicated to the development of the nation, he has been felicitated with many national awards. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1981, the Padma Vibhushan in 1990 and the HK Firodia Award for excellence in science and technology in 1996. More he was honoured with the Bharat Ratna in 1997, the highest civilian award in India. He is also the recipient of the Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration in the same year.
Dr Kalam dreams of a strong India. "We must think and act like a nation of a billion people." He is on a mission to ignite the young minds of India and regularly meets students of all ages and backgrounds all over the country, urging them to pursue their dreams and make the nation proud. Dr Kalam was conferred with the Degree of Doctor of Science (D.Sc. Honoris Causa) by 30 universities/academic institutions. He is recipient of several awards, including the Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration 1997.
