8/14/2019 The Great Need

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-great-need 1/5

The great needA.P.J. Abdul Kalam

SPIRIT OF INDIA — A TRANSFORMATION INTHINKING

So What is the Spirit of India? While Celebrating this intrinsicnature of India, I reflected on the History of the country andextended my voyage to the future.

 As a nation, we are proud of our civilisational heritage, our family-orientedsociety, our unity amidst cultural diversity, our innovative method of ahimsa dharma that liberated us from foreign rule and our well-tested andstable democracy with its all-round growth in different sectors of economy.

India is now a country that exudes confidence and gives rise to hopes to

deal with the challenges. I see the spirit of India in the capacity of its peopleto do their work and lead a contented life.

There are so many aspects that I find it difficult to sum up this spirit. Can Ishare with you how India graduated within a decade from a country aboutto be forced to pledge gold to meet its foreign exchange needs to a nationthat is now growing at an average annual rate of 9 per cent GDP?

Or how the farmers in partnership with scientists and technologistssucceeded in producing over 200 million tonne of foodgrain and made the

nation almost self-sufficient?Or should I tell you the story of how India succeeded in launching 10satellites through a single launch and is about to embark on a mission tothe moon?

Shall I mention with pride the capability of our nuclearscientists in reprocessing the high burn-up carbide fuelusing sodium-cooled fast reactors?Or share my experience of how India became a nuclear

  weapon state? Shall I write about the recent

achievements of our defence scientists in testing strategicmissile systems?

There is so much more: shall I describe the growth inproduction of generic drugs by our pharmaceuticalindustry through advanced research?

8/14/2019 The Great Need

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-great-need 2/5

Shall I elaborate on the growth of small and medium industry whichcontributes to large-scale exports and provides employment to a largenumber of our youth?

Shall I dwell on our experience of creating PURA (Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas) complexes by some educational institutions andindustries and transforming them into economic hubs?

Shall I talk about the excellent action taken by the judiciary in severalcases? Shall I describe how our IT industries are contributing to over 25 percent of our exports through software and services?

Shall I express my happiness that one in every two Indians will have amobile phone before 2010? Shall I concentrate on describing the happinessof the youth due to the birth of a large number of IITs, IIMs, IISERs, andIIITs? Should I express my happiness about the active participation of ourmedia, both print and electronic, in attempting to connect a billion people?

Can I share how 23 million Indians living in various parts of the world areenriching those nations and India through knowledge centres and bringingglory to our motherland? Can I share the pride of our democracy beingstrengthened during the last six decades in spite of our multiple politicalsystems?

No. While each of them are great accomplishments in their own way what isstriking is the spirit of India that gives rise to such enthusiasm. In the1990s, the youth always used to ask me, “When can I sing the Song of 

India?”Today, the youth are asking me, “What can I give to India?” This, in my opinion, represents the New Spirit of this New India. This change in thepattern of questions is representative of the transformation of the country over the years. I receive many e-mails and letters expressing the samesentiment.

 When I study them and also the personal interactions with people, I canclearly see the responsibility that we owe to this spirit of India. How do wedo that? We need to focus on futuristic priorities in a mission mode.

National leadership, irrespective of its political spectrum, should inspireconfidence among our people and boldly formulate and implementdevelopment missions in a cooperative and competitive mode with specifictime-bound goals, with the sole purpose of meeting the aspirations of theSpirit of India.

8/14/2019 The Great Need

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-great-need 3/5

To keep that spirit vibrant and self-rejuvenating, as a nation, we have toevolve a vision for India for the year 2020. The India of 2020 should be:

•  A nation where the rural and urban divide is reduced to a very thin line.

•  A nation where there is an equitable distribution of and adequate accessto energy and quality water.

•  A nation where agriculture, industry and the service sector work togetherin symphony.

•   A nation where education with a value system is not denied to any meritorious candidates because of societal or economic discrimination.

•  A nation which is the best destination for the most talented scholars,scientists, and investors.

•  A nation where the best of healthcare is available to all.

•   A nation where governance is responsive, transparent and free of corruption.

•  A nation where poverty has been totally eradicated, illiteracy removedand crimes against women and children are absent.

•  A nation that is prosperous, healthy, secure, peaceful and happy, on asustainable growth path.

• A nation that is one of the best places to live in and is proud of itsleadership.

 We should convert this into a Mission India 2020 for a strong, prosperousand happy nation. With such a profile, as the leading driver for the politicalparties, they can perform in the environment of developmental politics,competing with each other in the political vision of national developmentand evolve strategies to realise it through their manifesto.

 As Edmond Burke told his electorate in 1774, “Parliament is not a congressof ambassadors from different and hostile interests but Parliament is adeliberative assembly of one nation, with one interest, that of the whole—

 you choose a member indeed but when you have chosen him, he is not

member of Bristol but he is a Member of Parliament.”These words hold true, centuries later and miles away in our land.Generally, citizens believe that the government has no shortage of programmes and funds. What needs improvement is the efficient andtransparent delivery system, with a proper methodology for assessment,feedback and timely corrective action for full realisation of mission goals.

8/14/2019 The Great Need

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-great-need 4/5

 A political will, spirit of working together backed by the enthusiasm of a“can-do” spirit can assure the success of mission. There are some examplesof people who have made the impossible possible through their spirit and

determination for uplifting society.M.R. Raju, a friend from Peddamiram, Andhra Pradesh, gave up hisscientific pursuit in Los Alamos Laboratory, USA, and undertook thetransformation of his village with the support of his family members.

In the past decade, he has brought about a major change for the people inthe village by providing treatment for cancer, eye care and also uplift of children in the age group of three to five. A confident young population isemerging in Peddamiram.

  Another example is that of Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal who hasrejuvenated the 175-km-long polluted and weed-choked Kali Bein river of Punjab within the last five years by deploying 3,000 volunteer pilgrims onan average despite severe opposition from many industries and vestedinterests.

Today one can feel the flow of fresh water in this rivulet and also theconsiderable rise of the water table in the adjoining fields.

 A third example is that of S.R. Krishnamurthy who entered my room in

Coimbatore in a wheelchair with cheerfulness radiating from him. I wasamazed to see a physically challenged person with no legs, no hands.

I asked him, please tell me, what I can do for you? He said, I do not wantanything from you, only I would like to sing in front of you, and he sangmelodiously Saint Thyagraja’s  pancha ratna kriti entharo mahanubavuluin Sriragam giving me a glimpse of his enormous talent.

I was touched. What is the message? Despite being physically challenged,the latent talent of music could blossom in this person with his positiveattitude and perseverance.

 When I see the youth of the nation, I see in them the eternal spirit of Mahatma Gandhi, Rajendra Prasad, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel,Subhash Chandra Bose, B. R. Ambedkar, Maulana Azad, Rajaji and many great visionary leaders of our nation.

8/14/2019 The Great Need

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-great-need 5/5

These leaders had unique leadership qualities. For them, nation was sacredand above any individual, organisation or political system.

Can our youth become such visionary leaders, putting the nation abovethemselves with determination and inspiration? For such a purposefulevent, we need the initiative of the political leadership at the top to ignitethe minds through a great vision of transforming India.

For such a mission to happen, India’s billion people have to work as oneentity. This is possible only through Parliament which is constituted by theelected representatives of the country.

Parliament should meet on August 15, 2008, to pledge that they will launchan action oriented movement to transform India into an economically 

developed nation with a strong value system before the year 2020.

Let us all work together in this mission of re-igniting the Spirit of India andmaintaining it. Let me conclude with a few verses from my poem:

Thoughts

Oh Almighty, Embed the thought ‘Nation is bigger than the Individual’ in

the minds of the leaders and people.

Oh Almighty, Bless my people to work with perseverance to transform thecountry into a peaceful and prosperous nation.

— The author is former President of India