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."
The journey...
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.