Dr Kalam mingles with guests at the Consulate
CHICAGO: The Indian Consulate Chicago hosted a dinner in honor of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, the former president of India and an acclaimed scientist on April 25 at the Consulate office in Chicago.
At 8.45 pm, Dr Kalam arrived at the consulate and was welcomed by Consulate General along with her staff and prominent members of Indian community who were invited at the occasion.
After a brief introduction, Dr Kalam was requested to address the audience. The former president gave detailed information on how the Government of India was trying to uplift the rural areas and the people below the poverty line through PURA (Providing Urban amenities in Rural Areas). He also threw light on how science and technology is adding to these projects. He was keen to specify to the people of Chicago about the role of the Indian Government in PURA. He urged the people to be part of it and support it to help the country of their origin.
In an answer to one of the questions he advised that NRIs must first contribute to the country where they reside. Their first priority should be the land where their dreams and promises were fulfilled. There were many questions about corruption, black money, the dangerous use of pesticides, and his best and worst moments at Rashtrapati Bhawan etc. One of the questions well taken by the President was about the common market in South Asia to defuse the mounting tension in the region. The President quickly replied that he was once confronted by a Pakistani student while speaking about India’s development through science and technology by asking if Dr Kalam’s efforts will benefit both the countries or only India? Dr Kalam’s answer to the question of South Asian Common market was that the European countries have a history of fighting and hatred for thousands of years but now, since the formation of European common market they are happy and are helping each other. If they can do it why can’t we? Quite possible not impossible, he observed.
Dr Kalam took interest in all the questions especially science & technology and explained how this can help India’s progress in strengthening the common man and as a country itself. Dinner was followed by a photo session around 9.30 pm. Overall it was an event of lot of information about progress through science & technology in India.
Salient features of his speech:
Three important events:
First one is the successful launch of polar satellite launch vehicle on the 20th April 2011, placing three satellites in polar orbit – one is India’s high-tech remote sensing satellite, second-one is a scientific satellite from Singapore, and the third is a youth satellite developed jointly by India and Russia. All the satellites are doing very well.
The second event is, India has become world champion in limited over one-day cricket. The entire nation has proudly celebrated the unique position India has achieved. The country has achieved the top most position in the world in all three major dimensions of cricket – Tests, one day cricket and the 20:20 matches. The entire team needs appreciation.
Over the years, many veterans have contributed to this prominent position in world cricket. Of course, Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni comes out clearly with the leadership quality that “when a problem occurs, you become the captain of the problem, defeat the problem and succeed”.
The third event is, the GDP growth in India, coming back to over 8% due to the intensive progress made in automobile sector, pharmacy, IT and small-scale industries and even in agriculture. This year there is a record production of about 235 million tonnes of food-grains. Of course, we have associated problems, particularly in the area of corruption where a number of movements have started. These are just three examples from the huge development accomplishments of India. What is the message from these? They represent a vision followed by well-structured programs and missions and sustained through a chain of dedicated creative leaders.
Vision 2020
Based on various inputs from Technology Information Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC), the Indian government announced the vision statement that India will become a developed nation by 2020. Such a statement is very rare, since every government in India is elected only for a period of five years and thinking of over 20 years time frame by the Parliament and the government is a fresh breeze.
Dr Kalam said, “Now let me present the current ambience of India as a nation.
Indian economy was growing at an average of 9% per annum till 2008. Later, Indian economy was affected due to global economic turbulence, nevertheless it grew at 6.75% in 2009 (IMF figure) and is expected to grow at 8-8.5% in the current year. I was asking myself, what type of innovation is needed to enrich world economies in the present circumstances. I had discussions, on this subject, with many experts including those from the Indian Institute of Management. It came to light that the Indian economy was less affected due to the world financial crisis. This is due to:
i) The liberalization process in India has its checks and balances consistent with the unique social requirements of the country.
(ii) The Indian banking system has always been conservative which has prevented the crisis
(iii) The Indian psyche is generally savings-oriented and living within means is part of the mind set.
(iv) The purchasing power of 400 million people of Indians.
These four reasons have reduced the effect of global turbulence in the Indian economy. Now we have fully recovered. The industry is poised to grow at 9% and beyond from this year onwards.
India’s performance in automobile, IT sector, Pharma, small scale industries and the infrastructure has brought a new dimension to the Indian economy.
At the domestic level, India is focusing on bringing sustainable development through rural and urban infrastructure, quality education, healthcare, environmental up-gradation, bringing vibrancy in the public institutions for better and enhanced delivery of essential public services on time, reforming the financial system for better global integration. A proactive regulatory system is on the way for transforming India into a global player before 2020.
Jodh Singh Rawat & Ramesh Soparawala
