PRESIDENT APJ ABDUL KALAM`S ADDRESS TO THE NATION ON THE EVE OF 55TH ANNIVERSARY OF INDEPENDENCE DAY.

PTITY OF MINDS "My dear citizens of India,

                                                           On the eve of the 55th anniversary of our Independence, I have great pleasure in offering you my best wishes for your well-being and happiness. My salutations to all of you both in India and abroad.

May I extend a special word of gratitude to the men of our defence who guard our frontiers on the land, on the sea and in the air and paramilitary forces. May I also convey my special appreciation to our farmers who toil on the fields, technicians who keep the wheels of our industry moving, teachers who create knowledge products to the society and doctors, engineers, scientists, technologists and other professionals and administrators who are the prime movers of national development. May I wish the youth of India whose purposeful hard work with sweat will be a major transforming force for prosperous India.

I met some of the freedom fighters a few days ago at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Each and every one of them was the live force for our freedom movement. On this day, I salute all men and women of India who fought for our freedom and sacrificed their lives to achieve our Independence. Seeding a great vision and an indomitable spirit to achieve India's freedom took place around 1857. For 90 years, there were a number of intensive struggles for freedom.

Many of our people and leaders were in jail and their sufferings got transformed into freedom movement, with national ethos under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi. I have tried to capture the essence of the freedom movement. Two aspects have come out: as a result of supreme sacrifices and dedicated and focused efforts, we got our Independence. The second aspect is that the vision driven movement itself created many leaders in different spheres of politics, economics, industry, science, arts and culture.

After Independence, India has made significant achievements in agriculture and food production, energy, healthcare, education and various fields of science and technology. Particularly we have made our mark in the international arena in the fields of pharmaceuticals, information technology, mass media and communication, space, defence and nuclear science.

Similar to the first vision, which created a movement to achieve freedom with unity of minds of our people and the unity of purpose in actions, we need a second vision, which will integrate people from all walks of our society towards a common purpose. The second vision of our nation is to transform it from the present developing status to a developed nation by integrated actions simultaneously in the areas of agriculture and food processing, education and healthcare, infrastructure development including power, information and communication technologies, and critical technologies.

This greater vision will aim to alleviate poverty, illiteracy and unemployment. When the minds of the people of our country are unified and fused towards this vision, the dormant potential will manifest as a mammoth power leading to a happy and prosperous life of a billion people. This vision of the nation will also remove the conflicts arising out of differences and small thinking.

 

Dear citizens, I would like to reiterate that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India. It is not an international issue. India is ready for bilateral dialogue once the cross border terrorism is brought to a complete end. Normal election process is on in Jammu and Kashmir. It is essential to ensure its successful completion and dawn of peace in Jammu and Kashmir.

We also have many challenges in front of us. We have to find a solution to the repeated droughts and floods; we have to eradicate communal and other divisive clashes sprouting in certain parts and remove the pains of our people whether it is in Jammu and Kashmir or in any other part of our country; we also have to find a permanent solution to combat terrorism.

Let us now look at a long-term problem. It is paradoxical to see floods in one part of our country while some other parts face drought. This drought-flood phenomenon is a recurring feature. The need of the hour is to have a water mission which will enable availability of water to the fields, villages, towns and industries throughout the year, even while maintaining environmental purity. One major part of the water mission would be networking of our rivers. Technological and project management capabilities of our country can rise to the occasion and make this river networking a reality with long term planning and proper investment.

In addition, the vast sea around us can help by providing potable water through desalination as a cost effective technology. There are of course short term techniques such as water harvesting by revitalizing rural ponds, water recycling to water conservation. Such programmes should have a large scale people paticipation even at the conceptual and project planning stages. The entire programme should revolve around economic viability leading to continued prosperity for our people with larger employment potential, environmental sustainability, grass root level motivation and benefit sharing.

I would now like to share with you friends, another crucial requirement and necessity for our country. We cannot sustain a second vision for the country without Unity of Minds of all our people. Our great strength is our pluralistic tradition and civilisational heritage of nearly 3000 years. I have always been asking myself what the strength of our heritage is. A unique fusion has taken place with multiple cultures, religions and the way of life of many parts of the world and that has become the foundation of the Indian life. One can trace from 1857 to date, the type of good experiences we have had and also the strife resulting out of the differences in thoughts.

I have just now returned from Gujarat after interactions with various cross sections of people, leaders, officials and rehabilitation workers in the areas affected by recent disturbances and earthquake. I also visited the Sabarmati Ashram which was established by Mahatma Gandhi for the purpose of our countrymen to carry on the search for truth and develop fearlessness. I sat in silence for a while in the Ashram and remembered the life of Gandhiji.

One dominant thought came to my mind. If we can go above our own personal hardships and see the problems of others and decide to work for a larger cause, then there is natural elevation of our minds. When we are lax in this, then our level of thinking goes down. I felt confident that all of us can be elevated to the level of noble minds, if we just decide to understand others and to practice tolerance. I realized that Gujarat has given the noble leader - Mahatma Gandhi, unifier of the nation - Vallabhbhai Patel and the great visionary in science and technology - Vikram Sarabhai and many more. Time has come for every one of us to put the thoughts of these greats souls into action for nation's welfare.

Non-violence, tolerance, acceptance of all religions and different ways of life, search for truth and fearlessness are the values the Mahatma taught us and they are the cornerstones of our civilisational heritage and, therefore, of Indian polity. Any act by anyone anywhere in India that runs counter to these eternal values would pose a threat to the fabric of free Indian nation which was born and nurtured by the supreme sacrifices of countless noble souls. We should all work together to achieve the mission for Unity of Minds to preserve what we so preciously earned and reach greater heights in the future.

When I interact with school children and youth, wherever I go, one question comes often. They ask me "who are our role models?" Parents and teachers have to show them by example to live as enlightened citizens. Children also look for role models at national level in different fields. I have described earlier the role models from Gujarat. Each state of our country has many such examples of the past. It is now time we create more role models from the present.

I suggest that members of our Parliament and Legislatures can shape the future of our children by becoming good role models. Parliament and Legislatures have a crucial role in giving the vision of developed India and value based polity. Our children should see the members of Parliament debating the vision of developed India, providing action plans and putting forth great thoughts and challenges to them. Looking at the national leaders, the children will find their role models for their development and growth.

Asserting that Jammu and Kashmir was not an international issue, President A P J Abdul Kalam today said India was ready for a dialogue with Pakistan once cross-border terrorism was brought to a complete end.
The President also stressed that a ''permanent solution'' must be found to combat the menace of terrorism.

''I would like to reiterate that J and K is an integral part of India. It is not an international issue,''Kalam said in his address on the eve of the 55th anniversary of independence.

''India is ready for bilateral dialogue once the cross border terrorism is brought to a complete end,'' he said.

Observing that normal election process is on in J and K, he said''it is essential to ensure its successful completion and dawn of peace in the State.''

I am sure, our leadership and our people can achieve the second vision of developed India. Let us take a vow on this Independence Day that the nation is more important compared to any individual, party or organisation.

I pray to the Almighty for Unity of Minds and our success in every aspect of life.

Jai Hind."

[ SIR. ABDUL KALAM`S SPEECH SATURDAY, MAY 04, 2002  5:10:27 PM ]

HYDERABAD: The science of cloning and test-tube baby was known to Indians of Mahabharata age (3000 BC), according to a scientist who told a conference on stem cell research here on Saturday that the Kauravas "were products of a technology that modern science has not ven developed yet".

The epic Mahabharata describes Gandhari as a mother of 100 sons who were called Kauravas, the eldest of them being Dhuryodhana.

"No woman can give birth to 100 children in her lifetime, that too all males and of the same age," B G Matapurkar, a surgeon with the Maulana Azad Medical College in New Delhi told the conference organised by the southern chapter of the All India Biotech Association.

Matapurkar, who holds a US patent on organ regeneration technique that he developed 10 years ago, said that he was thrilled when he stumbled on a verse in Mahabharata under the chapter Adiparva that actually describes how the Kauravas were created from a single embryo from Gandhari.

He said that according to the description in Mahabharata, the Kauravas were created by splitting the single embryo into 100 parts and growing each part in a separate kund or container.

"In other words," Matapurkar said, "they not only knew about test-tube babies and embryo spliting but also had the technology to grow human foetuses outside the body of a woman-someting that is not known to modern science," he aded.

BASED OF PAST SPEECHES

We have three visions for India.

1. In 3000 years of our history people  from all over the world have come and invaded us, captured our lands,  conquered our minds. From Alexander onwards. The Greeks, the Turks, the Moguls, the Portuguese, the British,the French, the Dutch, all of them came and looted us, took over what was ours. Yet we have not done this to any other nation. We have not conquered anyone. We have not grabbed their land, their culture,their history and tried to enforce our way of life on them. Why?

                      Because we respect the freedom of others. That is why my first vision is that of FREEDOM. I believe that India got its first vision of this in 1857, when we started the war of independence. It is this freedom that we must protect and nurture and build on. If we are not free, no one will respect us.

2. My second vision for India is DEVELOPMENT. For fifty years we have been a developing nation. It is time we see ourselves as a developed nation. We are among top 5 nations of the world in terms of GDP. We have 10 percent growth rate in most areas. Our poverty levels are falling. Our achievements are being globally recognized today. Yet we lack the self-confidence to see ourselves as a developed nation, self-reliant and self-assured. Isn't this incorrect?

3. I have a THIRD vision. India must stand up to the world. Because I believe that unless India stands up to the world, no one will respect us. Only strength respects strength. We must be strong not only as a military power but also as an economic power. Both must go hand-in-hand.

My good fortune was to to reading (Vasu) Mr. APJ Abdul Kalaam's speech delivered at Hyderabad. He Have Seen  four milestones in his  career:

ONE: Twenty years He  spent in ISRO. He  was given the opportunity to be the project director for India's first satellite launch vehicle, SLV3. The one that launched Rohini. These years played a very important role in his life of  Scientist.

TWO: After his  ISRO years, He joined DRDO and got a chance to be the part of India's missile program. It was my second bliss when Agni met its mission requirements in 1994.

THREE: The Dept. of Atomic Energy and DRDO had this tremendous partnership in the recent nuclear tests, on May 11 and 13. This was the third bliss. The joy of participating with his team in these nuclear tests and proving to the world that India can make it, that we are no longer a developing nation but one of them. It made him feel very proud as an Indian. The fact was we have now developed for Agni a re-entry structure, for which we have developed this new material. A Very light material called carbon-carbon.

FOUR: One day an orthopaedic surgeon from Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences visited his laboratory. He lifted the material and found it so light that he took him ( Vasu ) to his hospital and showed him his patients. There were these little girls and boys with heavy metallic callipers weighing over three Kg. each, dragging their feet around. He said to Vasu:- Please remove the pain of my patients. In three weeks, we made these Floor reaction Orthosis 300 gram callipers and took them to the orthopaedic  centre. The children didn't believe their eyes. From dragging around a three kg. load on their legs, they could now move around! Their parents had tears in their eyes. That was his fourth bliss!

Why is the media here so negative? Why are we in India so embarrassed to recognize our own strengths, our achievements? We are such a great nation.We have so many amazing success stories but we refuse to acknowledge them. Why? We are the first in milk production. We are number one in Remote sensing satellites. We are the second largest producer of wheat. We are the second largest producer of rice. Look at Dr. Sudarshan, he has transferred the tribal village into a self-sustaining, self-driving unit. There are millions of such achievements but our media is only obsessed in the bad news and failures and disasters. Once I was reading the Israeli newspaper. It was the day after a lot of attacks and bombardments and deaths had taken place. The Hamas had struck. But the front page of the newspaper had the picture of a Jewish gentleman who in five years had transformed his desert land into an orchid and a granary. It was this inspiring picture that everyone woke up to. The gory details of killings, bombardments, deas, were inside in the newspaper, buried among other news. In India we only read about death, sickness, terrorism, crime. Why are we so NEGATIVE?

Another question:

Why are we, as a nation so obsessed with foreign things? We want foreign TVs, we want foreign shirts. We want foreign technology. Why this obsession with everything imported. Do we not realize that self-respect comes with self-reliance? Once Mr. APJ Abdul Kalaam was in Hyderabad giving his lecture, when a 14 year old girl asked him for his autograph. He asked her what her goal in life is: She replied: I want to live in a developed India. For her, you and I will have to build this developed India. You must proclaim. India is not an under-developed nation; it is a highly developed nation. Allow me to come back with vengeance.YOU say that our government is inefficient.

YOU say that our laws are too old........YOU say that the municipality does not pick up the garbage......YOU say that the phones don't work, the railways are a joke, the airline is the worst in the world, mails never reach their destination.......YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is the absolute pits. YOU say, say and say...

          
What do YOU do about it? Take a person on his way to Singapore. Give him a name - YOURS. Give him a face - YOURS. YOU walk out of the airport and you are at your International best. In Singapore you don't throw cigarette butts on the roads or eat in the stores. YOU are as proud of their Underground Links as they are. You pay $5 (approx. Rs.60) to drive through Orchard Road (equivalent of Mahim Causeway or Pedder Road) between 5 PM and 8 PM YOU comeback to the parking lot to punch your parking ticket if you have over stayed in a restaurant or a shopping mall irrespective of your status identity.

In Singapore you don't say anything, DO YOU? YOU wouldn't dare to eat in public during Ramadan, in Dubai. YOU would not dare to go out without your head covered in Jeddah. YOU would not dare to buy an employee of the telephone exchange in London at 10 pounds (Rs.650) a month to, "see to it that my STD and ISD calls are billed to someone else." YOU would not dare to speed beyond 55 mph (88 kmph) in Washington and then tell the traffic cop,  "Jaanta hai sala main kaun hoon (Do you know who I am?). I am so and so's son. Take your two bucks and get lost." YOU wouldn't chuck an empty coconut shell anywhere other than the garbage ail on the beaches in Australia and New Zealand. Why don't YOU spit Paan on the streets of Tokyo? Why don't YOU use examination jockeys or buy fake certificates in Boston?

We are still talking of the same YOU. YOU who can respect and conform to a foreign system in other countries but cannot in your own. You who will throw papers and cigarettes on the road the  moment you touch Indian ground. If you can be an involved and ppreciative citizen in an alien country why cannot you be the same here in India.

 

Once in an interview, the famous Ex-municipal commissioner of Bombay Mr. Tinaikar had a point to make. "Rich people's dogs are walked on the streets to leave their affluent droppings all over the place," he said. "And then the same people turn around to criticize and blame  the authorities for inefficiency and dirty pavements. What do they expect the officers to do?Go down with a broom every time their dog feels he pressure in his bowels? In America every dog owner has to clean up after his pet has done the job. Same in Japan. Will the Indian citizen do that here?"

He's right. We go to the polls to choose a government and after that forfeit all responsibility. We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect the government to do everything for us whilst our contribution is totally negative. We expect the government to clean up but we are not going to stop chucking garbage all over the place nor are we going to stop to pick a up a  stray piece of paper and throw it in the bin. We expect the railways to provide clean bathrooms but we are not going to learn the proper use of  bathrooms. We want Indian Airlines and Air India to provide the best of food and toiletries but we are not going to stop pilfering at the least  opportunity. This applies even to the staff who is known not to pass on the service to the public. When it comes to burning social issues like those related to women, dowry, girl child and others, we make loud drawing room protestations and continue to do the reverse at home. Our excuse?

"It's the whole system, which has to change, how will it matter if I alone forego my sons' rights to a dowry." So who's going to change the system? What does a system consist of? Very conveniently for us it consists of our neighbours,  other households, other cities, other communities and the government. But definitely not me and YOU. When it comes to us actually making a positive contribution to the system we lock ourselves along with our families into a  safe cocoon and look into the distance at countries far away and wait for a Mr. Clean to come along & work miracles for us with a majestic sweep of his hand. Or we leave the country and run away. Like lazy cowards hounded by our fears we run to America to bask in their glory and praise their system.

When New York becomes insecure we run to England. When England experiences unemployment, we take the next flight out to the Gulf. When the Gulf is war struck, we demand to be rescued and brought home by the Indian government. Everybody is out to abuse and rape the country. Nobody thinks of feeding the system our conscience is mortgaged to money.

Dear Indians, The article is highly thought inductive, calls for a great deal of introspection and pricks one's conscience too....I am echoing J. F. Kennedy's words to his fellow  Americans to relate to Indians..... "ASK WHAT WE CAN DO FOR INDIA AND DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE TO MAKE INDIA WHAT AMERICA AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES  ARE TODAY" Lets do what India needs from us. India is great...it will be ever...But, only when we will make it Great...

 

NOTE:- THIS PAGE IS INSPIRED BY SIR. ABDUL KALAM AZAD`S SPEECH AND DEDICATED TO EVERY INDIAN. SOME THOUGHTS ARE TAKEN FROM WEB SITES. MY SINCERE APOLOGY FOR ANY PROBLEM CAN OCCUR BECAUSE OF THIS PAGE.

 

A MESSEGE FOR ALL: - Be a Good Indian. Forward this to each Indian for a change instead of forwarding jokes or junk mails. That’s all. God Bless You.

 

 

 

THANKING YOU,

SANTOSH KUMAR JHA