The President of IndiaDR. A. P. J. Abdul Kalaam's Speech in Hyderabad
"I have three visions for India.In 3000 years of our history, people from all over the world have come andinvaded us, captured our lands, conquered our minds. From Alexanderonwards. The Greeks, the Turks, the Moguls, the Portuguese, the British,the French, the Dutch, all of them came and looted us, took over what wasours. Yet we have not done this to any other nation. We have not conqueredanyone. We have not grabbed their land, their culture, their history andtried to enforce our way of life on them. Why? Because we respect thefreedom of others. That is why my first vision is that of FREEDOM. Ibelieve that India got its first vision of this in 1857, when we startedthe war of independence. It is this freedom that we must protect andnurture 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 adeveloping nation. It is time we see ourselves as a developed nation. Weare among top 5 nations of the world in terms of GDP. We have 10 percentgrowth rate in most areas. Our poverty levels are falling. Our achievementsare being globally recognized today. Yet we lack the self-confidence to seeourselves as a developed nation, self-reliant and self-assured. Isn't thisincorrect?I have a THIRD vision. India must stand up to the world. Because I believethat, unless India stands up to the world, no one will respect us. OnlySTRENGTH respects strength. We must be strong not only as a military powerbut also as an economic power. Both must go hand-in-hand. My good fortunewas 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 ofthem 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 projectdirector for India's first satellite launch vehicle, SLV3. The one thatlaunched Rohini. These years played a very important role in my life ofScientist. After my ISRO years, I joined DRDO and got a chance to be thepart of India's guided missile program. It was my second bliss when Agnimet its mission requirements in 1994. The Dept. of Atomic Energy and DRDOhad this tremendous partnership in the recent nuclear tests, on May 11 and13. This was the third bliss. The joy of participating with my team inthese nuclear tests and proving to the world that India can make it, thatwe are no longer a developing nation but one of them. It made me feel veryproud as an Indian. The fact that we have now developed for Agni a re-entrystructure, for which we have developed this new material. A very lightmaterial called carbon-carbon.One day an orthopedic surgeon from Nizam Institute of Medical Sciencesvisited my laboratory. He lifted the material and found it so light! thathe took me to his hospital and showed me his patients.There were these little girls and boys with heavy metallic calipersweighing over three Kg. each, dragging their feet around.He said to me: Please remove the pain of my patients. In three weeks, wemade these Floor reaction Orthosis 300-gram calipers and took them to theorthopedic centre. The children didn't believe their eyes. From draggingaround a three kg. load on their legs, they could now move around! Theirparents had tears in their eyes. That was my fourth bliss!Why is the media here so negative? Why are we in India so embarrassed torecognize our own strengths, our achievements? We are such a great nation.We have so many amazing success stories but we refuse to acknowledgethem.Why? We are the first in milk production. We are number one in Remotesensing satellites. We are the second largest producer of wheat. We are thesecond largest producer of rice. Look at Dr. Sudarshan, he has transferredthe tribal village into a self-sustaining, self-driving unit.There are millions of such achievements but our media is only obsessed inthe bad news and failures and disasters. I was in Tel Aviv once and I wasreading the Israeli newspaper. It was the day after a lot of attacks andbombardments and deaths had taken place. The Hamas had struck. But thefront page of the newspaper had the picture of a Jewish gentleman who infive years had transformed his desert land into an orchid and a granary. Itwas this inspiring picture that everyone woke up to. The gory details ofkillings, bombardments, deaths, were inside in the newspaper, buried amongother news.In India we only read about death, sickness, terrorism, crime. Why are weso NEGATIVE?Another question: Why are we, as a nation so obsessed with foreign things?We want foreign T.Vs, we want foreign shirts. We want foreign technology.Why this obsession with everything imported. Do we not realize thatself-respect comes with self-reliance?I was in Hyderabad giving this lecture, when a 14 year old girl asked mefor my autograph. I asked her what her goal in life is. She replied: I wantto live in a developed India. For her, you and I will have to build thisdeveloped 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 10minutes 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 isthe 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 aface - YOURS.YOU walk out of the airport and you are at your International best. InSingapore you don't throw cigarette butts on the roads or eat in thestores.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 Causewayor Pedder Road) between 5 PM and 8 PM.YOU come back to the parking lot to punch your parking ticket if you haveover stayed in a restaurant or a shopping mall irrespective of your statusidentity. .In Singapore you don't say anything, DO YOU? YOU wouldn't dare to eat inpublic during Ramadan, in Dubai. YOU would not dare to go out without yourhead covered in Jeddah. YOU would not dare to buy an employee of thetelephone exchange in London at 10 pounds ( Rs.650) a month to, "see to itthat 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 thentell 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 garbagepail 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 butcannot in your own. You who will throw papers and cigarettes on the roadthe moment you touch Indian ground. If you can be an involved andappreciative citizen in an alien country, why cannot you be the same herein 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 thestreets to leave their affluent droppings all over the place," he said."And then the same people turn around to criticize and blame theauthorities for inefficiency and dirty pavements. What do they expect theofficers 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 tothe polls to choose a government and after that forfeit all responsibility.We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect the government to doeverything for us whilst our contribution is totally negative. We expectthe Government to clean up but we are not going to stop chucking garbageall over the place nor are we going to stop to pick up a stray piece ofpaper and throw it in the bin. We expect the railways to provide cleanbathrooms 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 andtoiletries 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 tothe public. When it comes to burning social issues like those related towomen, dowry, girl child! and others, we make loud drawing roomprotestations and continue to do the reverse at home. Our excuse? "It's thewhole system which has to change, how will it matter if I alone forego mysons' 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 ourneighbours, other households, other cities, other communities and thegovernment. But definitely not me and YOU. When it comes to us actuallymaking a positive contribution to the system we lock ourselves along withour families into a safe cocoon and look into the distance at countries faraway and wait for a Mr. Clean to come along & work miracles for us with amajestic 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 theirglory and praise their system. When New York becomes insecure we run toEngland. When England experiences unemployment, we take the next flight outto the Gulf. When the Gulf is war struck, we demand to be rescued andbrought home by the Indian government. Everybody is out to abuse and rapethe country. Nobody thinks of feeding the system. Our conscience ismortgaged to money.Dear Indians, The article is highly thought inductive, calls for a greatdeal of introspection and pricks one's conscience too.... I am echoingJ.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 WHATAMERICA AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES ARE TODAY"Lets do what India needs from us.Forward this mail to each Indian for a change instead of sending Jokes orjunk mails.Thank you,Dr. Abdul Kalaam (PRESIDENT OF INDIA)