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Posted by:
deepa
Article
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President’s speech - Amazing
|
Dr. APJ Abdul Kalaam s speech in Hyderabad...
A must read for every Indian.
"I have three visions for India.
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.
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?
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
have
worked with three great minds. Dr. Vikram Sarabhai of the Dept. of
space,Professor Satish Dhawan, who succeeded him and Dr.Brahm
Prakash,
father of nuclear material. I was lucky to have worked with all three
of
them closely and consider this the great opportunity of my life.
I see four milestones in my career:
Twenty years I spent in ISRO. I 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 my life
of
Scientist.
After my ISRO years, I joined DRDO and got a chance to be the part of
India s guided missile program. It was my second bliss when Agni met
its
mission requirements in 1994.
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 my 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 me feel very proud as an Indian. The fact that 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.
One day an orthopedic surgeon from Nizam Institute of Medical
Sciences
visited my laboratory. He lifted the material and found it so light
that he
took me to his hospital and showed me his patients. There were these
little
girls and boys with heavy metallic calipers weighing over three Kg.
each,
dragging their feet around.
He said to me: Please remove the pain of my patients.
In three weeks, we made these Floor reaction Orthosis 300-gram
calipers and
took them to the orthopedic center. 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 my 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.
I was in Tel Aviv once and 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, deaths, 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?
I was in Hyderabad giving this lecture, when a 14 year old girl asked
me for my autograph. I 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.
Do you have 10 minutes? Allow me to come back with a vengeance.
Got 10 minutes for your country? If yes, then read; otherwise, choice
is
yours.
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 km/h) in Washington and then tell the traffic cop, "Jaanta hai
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 pail 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 appreciative 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 the
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 neighbors, 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.
Thank you,
Dr. Abdul Kalaam
(PRESIDENT OF INDIA)
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e=mc2 103 years later, Einstein's proven right