Happy b'day Prez!

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 11^th 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 54^th 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.