ABDUL KALAM

Abdul kalam is the first scientist to head the world's largest democracy. Widely known as the Missile Man, Abdul Kalam is acknowledged as the driving force behind India's leap in the defence technology that brought India in the league of nuclear nations. From Rameshwaram to Rashtrapati Bhawan at Delhi, abdul kalam life is literally a story of success trough sheer hardwork and determination, specially considering that he started life as a boat owner's son, who sold newspaper as a child. Abdul kalam, "The nation requires role models in leadership who can inspire youngsters. There is no dearth of resources and talent in this country but what we need is more creativity." His dream is to make India a developed nation by 2020.

Abdul Kalam Biography

In his biography abdul kalam observes strict discipline, practicing vegetarianism, teetotalism and celibacy. abdul kalam has written many non-fiction books like his biography Wings of Fire as well as several volumes of Tamil poetry.The secret is in positive thinking, for according to abdul kalam, "Thinking should become your capital asset, no matter whatever ups and downs you come across in your life." Unlike other political leaders, he retains his humility and accessibility. For abdul kalam, India's true assets are its youth and he continues to try and motivate them.Abdul kalam, "The nation requires role models in leadership who can inspire youngsters.abdul kalam observes strict discipline, practicing vegetarianism, teetotalism and celibacy. abdul kalam has written many non-fiction books like his biography Wings of Fire as well as several volumes of Tamil poetry.Abdul kalam is popularly known as the missile man of India for his work on development of ballistic missile and space rocket technology.

Abdul kalam played a pivotal organisational, technical and political role in India's Pokhran-II nuclear test in 1998.A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, was the eleventh President of India, serving from 2002 to 2007. Abdul kalam strongly advocates an action plan to develop India into a knowledge superpower and into a developed nation by the year 2020 in his book India 2020. Abdul kalam is credited with the view that India ought to take a more assertive stance in international relations; he regards his work on India's nuclear weapons program as a way to assert India's place as a future superpower.

Abdul Kalam Personal Life

Abdul kalam personal life was full of struggles and hard work. Kalam's father was a devout Muslim, who owned boats which he rented out to local fishermen and was a good friend of Hindu religious leaders and the school teachers at Rameshwaram. APJ Abdul Kalam mentions in his biography that to support his studies, he started his career as a newspaper vendor.On Wednesday April 29, 2009, Abdul kalam became the first Asian to be bestowed the Hoover Medal, America's top engineering prize, for his outstanding contribution to public service.Abdul Kalam is the Third President of India to have been honoured with a Bharat Ratna before being elected to the highest office, the other two being Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Zakir Hussain.

Abdul Kalam Quotes

Abdul kalam quotes will gives the strength the best among the abdul kalam quotes are1) “You have to dream before your dreams can come true.”

2) “Be more dedicated to making solid achievements than in running after swift

but synthetic happiness.”

3) “Climbing to the top demands strength, whether it is to the top of Mount Everest or to the top of your career.”

Abdul Kalam

Abdul kalam is the first scientist to head the world's largest democracy. Widely known as the Missile Man, Abdul Kalam is acknowledged as the driving force behind India's leap in the defence technology that brought India in the league of nuclear nations. From Rameshwaram to Rashtrapati Bhawan at Delhi, abdul kalam life is literally a story of success trough sheer hardwork and determination, specially considering that he started life as a boat owner's son, who sold newspaper as a child.

The secret is in positive thinking, for according to abdul kalam, "Thinking should become your capital asset, no matter whatever ups and downs you come across in your life." Unlike other political leaders, he retains his humility and accessibility. For abdul kalam, India's true assets are its youth and he continues to try and motivate them.

Abdul kalam, "The nation requires role models in leadership who can inspire youngsters. There is no dearth of resources and talent in this country but what we need is more creativity." His dream is to make India a developed nation by 2020. In his personal life, abdul kalam observes strict discipline, practicing vegetarianism, teetotalism and celibacy. abdul kalam has written many non-fiction books like his biography Wings of Fire as well as several volumes of Tamil poetry.

Abdul kalm is popularly known as the missile man of India for his work on development of ballistic missile and space rocket technology. In India he is highly respected as a scientist and as an engineer. he missile man lacks such experience or orientation. He is an engineer who became a manager of cloistered defence-related programmes, with little exposure to the broader process of governance.

Abdul kalm played a pivotal organizational, technical and political role in India's Pokhran-II nuclear test in 1998, the first since the original nuclear test by India in 1974. abdul kalam is a professor at Anna University and adjunct/visiting faculty at many other academic and research institutions across India.

Fly Ash BricksThe book Wings of Fire, the autobiography of abdul kalam constitutes an extraordinary reading for the young and old, for a common man and a professional including management pundits, and for the uninitiated and the technically trained alike. There is something that everybody can extract from this book. Only the very young readers of Resonance may find it beyond.

Abdul Kalam Personal Life

Kalam's father was a devout Muslim, who owned boats which he rented out to local fishermen and was a good friend of Hindu religious leaders and the school teachers at Rameshwaram. APJ Abdul Kalam mentions in his biography that to support his studies, he started his career as a newspaper vendor. This was also told in the book, A Boy and His Dream: Three Stories from the Childhood of Abdul Kalam by Vinita Krishna. The house Kalam was born in can still be found on the Mosque street in Rameshwaram, and his brother's curio shop abuts it. This has become a point-of-call for tourists who seek out the place. Kalam grew up in an intimate relationship with nature, and he says in Wings of Fire that he never could imagine that water could be so powerful a destroying force as that he witnessed when he was thirty three. That was in 1964 when a cyclonic storm swept away the Pamban bridge and a trainload of passengers with it and also Kalam's native village, Dhanushkodi.He is a scholar of Thirukkural; in most of his speeches, he quotes at least one kural. Kalam has written several inspirational books, most notably his autobiography Wings of Fire, aimed at motivating Indian youth. Another of his books, Guiding Souls: Dialogues on the Purpose of Life reveals his spiritual side. He has written poems in Tamil as well. It has been reported that there is considerable demand in South Korea for translated versions of books authored by him.

Kalam Honours

Tamil family in the island town of Rameshwaram, his early schooling at Schwartz High School, Ramanathapuram, his undergraduate education at St. Joseph College, Trichy, then continue a degree course in aeronautic engineering from Madras Institute of Technology, and ends with him moving to the United States for a six month training program at NASA.On Wednesday April 29, 2009, he became the first Asian to be bestowed the Hoover Medal, America's top engineering prize, for his outstanding contribution to public service. Kalam has received honorary doctorates from as many as thirty universities, including the Carnegie Mellon University and the Nanyang Technological University of Singapore.The Government of India has honoured him with the nation's highest civilian honours: the Padma Bhushan in 1981; Padma Vibhushan in 1990; and the Bharat Ratna in 1997 for his work with ISRO and DRDO and his role as a scientific advisor to the Indian government.Kalam is the Third President of India to have been honoured with a Bharat Ratna before being elected to the highest office, the other two being Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Zakir Hussain. He is also the first scientist and first bachelor to occupy Rashtrapati Bhavan.Kalam has been chosen to receive prestigious 2008 Hoover Medal for his outstanding public service. The citation said that he is being recognised for making state-of-the-art healthcare available to the common man at affordable prices, bringing quality medical care to rural areas by establishing a link between doctors and technocrats, using spin-offs of defence technology to create state-of-the-art medical equipment and launching tele-medicine projects connecting remote rural-based hospitals to the super-specialty hospital. A pre eminent scientist, a gifted engineer, and a true visionary, he is also a humble humanitarian in every sense of the word, it added.

Ignited mind of the youth

I would like to put forth that the ignited mind of the youth is the most powerful resource on the earth, above the earth and under the earth. I am convinced that the youth power, if properly directed and controlled, could bring about transformational changes in humanity for its progress, meeting its challenges and bring peace and prosperity.

Let us now consider two major problems the world faces: one is, out of 6.6 billion people, two thirds of the population lives below poverty line, 50% of the population do not have access to safe drinking water, above all many do not have access to quality education. What can the youth of today contribute to face the situation? Can every one of the educated spread literacy at least to five in their life? Can the youth spread the message of water conservation? Can the youth come with “out of box solutions” for solving water scarcity?

I have started a movement called “Lead India 2020 movement”. It is indeed a youth movement, with the mission for young students based on the 10 point oath which I have specially designed.

The ten point oath given to the youth by me conveys that the youth can make difference to the society where they are living in the areas of literacy, environment, social justice, minimizing rural urban divide, and work for the national development, while working hard for an individual goal. I insist that small aim is a crime. I see the youth development has multiple dimensions: The youth working hard improving his knowledge with a career goal, can serve the family, can serve the society, can serve the nation to which he or she belongs and can serve the humanity as a whole. All are uniquely connected.

Knowledge makes you great

While I am with you, I would like to talk about knowledge. Knowledge has four components, creativity, righteousness, courage and indomitable spirit. That the combination of these characteristics can generate enlightened citizens. Let us look at the first component Creativity:

“Learning gives creativityCreativity leads to thinkingThinking provides knowledgeKnowledge makes you great”

he next component of knowledge is righteousness. The power of Righteousness is described in a divine hymn, which is as follows:

"Where there is righteousness in the heartThere is beauty in the character.When there is beauty in the character,

There is harmony in the home.When there is harmony in the home.There is order in the nation.When there is order in the nation,There is peace in the world."

The third component is Courage, which is defined as follows:

"Courage to think different,Courage to invent,Courage to travel into an unexplored path,Courage to discover the impossible,Courage to combat the problems

And Succeed, are the unique qualities of the youth.As a youth of my nation, I will work and work with courage to achieve success in all the missions."

The fourth component is Indomitable Spirit.

I would like to recall a great clarion call of indomitable spirit, which was given by Sir C V Raman, at the age of 82. The message is still reverberating in my mind: “I would like to tell the young men and women before me not to lose hope and courage. Success can only come to you by courageous devotion to the task lying in front of you. I can assert without fear of contradiction that the quality of the Indian mind is equal to the quality of any Teutonic, Nordic or Anglo-Saxon mind. What we lack is perhaps courage, what we lack is perhaps driving force, which takes one anywhere. We have, I think, developed an inferiority complex. I think what is needed in India today is the destruction of that defeatist spirit. We need a spirit of victory, a spirit that will carry us to our rightful place under the sun, a spirit, which will recognize that we, as inheritors of a proud civilization, are entitled to a rightful place on this planet. If that indomitable spirit were to arise, nothing can hold us from achieving our rightful destiny."

Hence friends, now you realize, knowledge is equal to the equation:

Knowledge = Creativity + Righteousness+ Courage+ Indomitable spirit.

Nothing is impossible

Human flight is nothing but creativity of human mind and it undergoes several struggles to achieve excellence. In 1895, a great well-known scientist Lord Kelvin, who was the President of Royal Society of London said, "any thing heavier than air cannot fly, and cannot be flown." Within a decade, Wright Brothers proved man could fly of course at heavy risk and cost.

On the successful completion of Moon Mission in 1969, Von Braun, a very famous

rocket designer, who built Saturn-V, to launch the capsule with astronauts and made moon walk a reality, in 1975 said "If I am authorized, I will remove the word impossible".

In ancient days, Ptolemaic astronomy is a widely used system in calculating the dynamics of various stars and planets. Assumption by then was that the earth is flat. What a scientific struggle had to take place to prove that the earth is spherical in shape orbiting around the sun. The three great astronomers Copernicus, Galileo and Kepler had to give a new dimension to the world of astronomy. Today we take it for granted that earth is a globe, orbiting around the sun, and the sun orbits in the Milky Way. All the technological advancements we have today are the outcome of scientific exploration of scientists of earlier centuries. At no time, man was beaten by problems. He strives continuously to subjugate impossibility and then succeeds.

According to the laws of aerodynamics the bumble bee should never be able to fly. Because of the size, weight, and shape of its body in relationship to the total wing span, flying is scientifically impossible. The bumble bee, being ignorant of scientific theory, goes ahead and flies anyway.

Political System towards Developed India

The youth should take up politics as their career in large numbers. Political Science should form part of the curriculum from secondary to college level for all students with development politics as the focus. Citizens should proactively cast their votes to select candidates of known performance with honesty as the focus. Legal personalities, experts and professionals should educate citizens about the political process, constitution, procedures and their rights and responsibilities.

Similarly there are many more important tasks like making education accessible to every citizen, uplifting citizens below the poverty level through a focused mission and accelerating agriculture reforms. In the same way, there can be a movement in the judiciary for time bound clearance of pending cases in District Courts and High Courts within the next 3 years. The Judiciary and Bar should ensure that the common citizen gets speedy justice with nobility. While citizens demand that our Police Force has to be transparent and action oriented, it is also essential that police stations are electronically connected and simultaneously they should be empowered with better quality of life, like proper housing, sanitary facilities, medical cover and children’s education. This will enable them to concentrate in their work with peace of mind and thereby output from the police would increase. Above all our women folk constitute fifty percent of our population. Their dignity should be protected and they should get proper representation in all decision making institutions like Panchayat systems. Our Panchayat Boards really represent the village citizens and they should ensure that all development funds allotted for rural development in their area are properly utilised for the intended purpose without dilution. Dear friends, there are many more areas in which citizens can participate towards the national development movement. Now let me focus on national security.

Employment and education

Presently our university education system is contributing 3 million graduates and post graduates every year. 7 Million Students after their secondary school education in 10th and 12th stop further education and seek employment every year. Thus nearly 10 million youth are injected into the society every year seeking employment.

However, there is a large gap in the availability of employable skill. For example, as per the NASSCOM and Mc. Kinsey Report 2005, it is estimated that the IT, ITES and BPO sector alone will need 9 million direct jobs and 6 million indirect jobs in construction, retail and transportation by 2010, whereas we do not have such a capacity in the country to generate this number which will be acceptable to the three sectors of economy. Similarly, in the case of nursing professional, India is in the process of improving the healthcare services which will need additional 0.5 million nurses and paramedical staff. As per the latest report, worldwide requirements for nurses are estimated to be around 1 million from now to 2012. Presently, in India about 50,000 nurses qualify every year. In the small scale sector, presently 12 million units are employing around twenty eight million people. Many of them are unregistered units. There is a need to bring all the units under the registered category so that all the people can be provided benefits accordingly. At present, the small scale industries contribute to an export of over 20 billion dollars a year, which is expected to increase to over 40 billion dollars within the next five years. This will require addition of nearly 28 million people within 5 years with variety of skills in garments, processed foods, pharmaceutical, electronics, precision engineering and cosmetic products.

How to bridge this gap between availability and requirement in the globalized economy. To bridge the gap, an interface is needed between the education system and the needs of the three sectors of the economy. At present India has five hundred and forty million youth under the age of 25 which will continuously be growing till the year 2050.

During this period, India needs large number of talented youth with higher education for the task of knowledge acquisition, knowledge imparting, knowledge creation and knowledge sharing.

 Challenges of 21st Century

Based on my visits to all the States and Union Territories in the country and 16 countries in Asia, Europe and Africa as the President and meeting over 1.5 million youth, I realize that all the youth irrespective of which country they belong to, aspire to live in a peaceful, happy, prosperous and safe nation. What does it mean? It means that economic prosperity alone is not sufficient. It has to be complimented with the value systems and our five thousand years old Civilizational heritage which has genetically shaped the Indian people.

I personally believe, when the nation is progressing towards economic development, it is also essential to build education with value system drawn from our Civilization heritage. The good human life comes out of the way we live; we may have series of problems. But the billion people have the connectivity which gives us the united strength.

Power of the Youth

was touched by the variety of Indian panorama, emotional content of the tune, cultural diversity and unity of minds in the vast land of ours. I have cited these examples just to give a glimpse of the richness of our tradition and effort being taken by different agencies to preserve it. There are also many new adventures by institutions and individuals. I have experienced many of them and learnt a lot about my country and our people. Even while pursuing our economic growth, we need to do a lot to preserve the rich and diverse treasures of our culture and civilization. It is our duty for our future generations. This has to be done in a much larger scale through countrywide participation of multiple institutions.

Our country is blessed with natural resources, has shown considerable progress in the last sixty years, and above all we have hard working people particularly the power of the 540 million youth of the country. Every sector of our country has given me the confidence that India can become a developed nation well before 2020. Whomsoever, I met they constantly ask what they can give to the nation. We should constantly strive to empower such members of the society. With this spirit, I am extremely happy that we are on the right path. Here I am reminded of a famous poem:

"When you wish upon a star,Makes no difference who you are,Anything your heart desires,

Will come to you?

This poem is true to all of us, and particularly for our youth and if they aim great, I am sure they will reach close to the target or the target.

Youth movement for Developed India 2020

Recently, in Hyderabad, I met a group of citizens who are putting into practice the motto of transforming of our youth into enlightened citizen. The Lead India 2020 Foundation created by Dr. N.B. Sudershan at Hyderabad is training thousands of students in many districts of Andhra Pradesh in partnership with the District Administration. Particularly, I happened to know the transformation which has taken place among the students of Medak district. As per the district authorities the impact of the training on the students is visible in terms of self-discipline, love for their parents and teachers shedding of stage fear and recognition of their duties towards the nation. I talked to Ms. Padma, a student leader from Andhra Pradesh Tribal Welfare School, Nalgonda who related how she weaned her father away from smoking after imbibing the spirit of the 10 point oath from the Lead India Training Camp.

This gives me an assurance that the youth of our country are on the right path through this mission oriented programme. With the ignited minds of the 540 million youth below the age of 25, which I consider is the most powerful resource on the earth, under the earth and above the earth, we have to empower the youth through value based education and leadership.

Defeat the problems and succeed

On the evening of February 24, 2007, at Coimbatore, I had a very beautiful experience. As I got ready for meeting the first person out of twenty appointments, a wheel chair was in sight with a smiling person probably in his late fifties; unfortunately he has no hands and legs. His radiant face was revealing his happy state of mind. He introduced himself as Vidwan Coimbatore SR Krishna Murthy. I greeted him and asked him how this had happened. He smilingly said that it was from by birth. He thanked God, his parents, teachers and many others for giving

him confidence, training and help.

I asked him, what I could do for him? He said, I don't need anything from you. I would like to sing in front of you?. I readily agreed. He sang melodiously the Saint Thyagraja's Pancha ratna kriti entharo mahanubavulu in Sriragam giving me a glimpse of his talent. I was quite touched. What is the message? Despite being physically challenged, the latent talent of music could blossom in this person with his positive attitude and perseverance, encouraged by the parents, teachers, academics and rasikas. Now he wants to give, give and give his art to inspire others. Of course, by his merit of music, in July 2007, he performed in the Rashtrapati Bhavan art theatre.

Accelerate Development: Aspiration of the youth

While there were many significant events during my tenure, a question from a little girl Anukriti of Sri Sathya Sai Jagriti Vidya Mandir School, of Darwa village from Haryana, during children?s visit to Rashtrapati Bhavan on May 22, 2006, rings in my mind ever after.

Anukriti asked me : Why India cannot become a developed nation before the year 2020?. I appreciated the question and said it was indeed a thoughtful question and assured her that that her dream would be taken to the highest institution of the nation and we would work for it to achieve before 2020. This question reflects how the desire to live in developed India has entered into the minds of the youth. The same feelings are echoed by over fifteen lakh youth, whom I have met so far and who represent the dream of the 540 million youth of the nation. The aspirations of the young to live in a prosperous, safe and proud India should be the guiding factor in whatever profession we contribute.

Profile of a globally competitive nation

Kalam's 10-point vision for a competitive India

Global competitiveness for any nation is indeed a big challenge. For achieving such a competitive edge for a nation, it is essential to have a vision. I would like to share with you my visualisation of such a nation.

1. A nation where the rural and urban divide has reduced to a thin line.2. A nation where there is an equitable distribution and access to energy and quality water.3. A nation where agriculture, industry and service sector work together in symphony, absorbing technology thereby resulting in sustained wealth-generation leading to greater high value employment opportunities.4. A nation where education is not denied to any meritorious candidates because of societal or economic discrimination or because of constraints of rules.5. A nation which is the best destination for the most talented scholars, scientists, and investors from all over the world.6. A nation where the best of healthcare is available to all and the communicable diseases like AIDS/TB, water and vector borne diseases and other stress diseases, cardiac diseases, cancer and diabetes are brought down.7. A nation where the governance uses the best of the technologies to be responsive, transparent, fully connected in a high bandwidth e-governance grid, easily accessible and also simple in rules, thereby corruption free.8. A nation where poverty has been totally eradicated, illiteracy removed and crimes against women are absent and none in the society feels unalienated.9. A nation that is prosperous, healthy, secure, peaceful and happy and continues with a sustainable growth path.10. A nation that is one of the best places to live in on the earth and brings smiles on the one billion-plus faces.

Societal grid

To maximise the synergy between the various components of education, healthcare, e-governance, rural development we need to establish connectivities

among them. These connectivities will certainly bring seamless access and information flow among the various domains leading to maximisation of GDP and productivity; hence, there is need for establishing the grids, namely knowledge

grid, healthcare grid, e-governance grid and the PURA knowledge grid.

This interconnecting grid will be known as societal grid. Knowledge sharing, knowledge utilisation and knowledge re-use is very vital by all constituents of the

society for promoting non-linear growth. The societal grid consists of:

Knowledge grid: Interconnecting universities with socio-economic institutions, industries and R&D organisations.

Healthcare grid: Interconnecting the healthcare institutions of the government, corporate and superspeciality hospitals. Research institutions, educational

institutions and ultimately, pharma R&D institutions.

E-governance grid: Interconnecting the central government and state governments and district and block level offices for G2G and G2C connectivity.

PURA knowledge grid: Connecting the PURA nodal centers with the village knowledge centres and domain service providers. Since this is the backbone for

rural development, all other grids will infuse the knowledge into this grid for sustainable development, healthcare and good governance.

For example, five of the Periyar PURA villages have now connected using Wi-Max connectivity. Integrated village knowledge centers will act as an inter-connected delivery mechanism for tele-education, tele-medicine and e-governance services

apart from individual access by the people, within and between the village knowledge centres through the PURA grid.

We have, so far discussed all the four connectivities required for the societal transformation. These connectivities can form the basis for providing platform for

societal transformation leading to empowerment. This will blossom with the enabling environment of trust and confidence in the overall system.

Five minds for the future

I happened to see in the book stall, “Five Minds for the Future” written by Howard Gardner. Let us remember, this book is being published, 25 centuries after Lord Buddha’s enlightenment. My curiosity and desire increased to go into the details of this book; particularly in the today’s world environment of social conflicts, political violence and impact of globalization and above all the youth of the world have a question where their lives’ are heading. I am convinced with the multi-religious background of our nation, the future definitely needs these capacities to be built in the minds of the youth. I studied the five minds of the future, let me describe based on my understanding:

1. Disciplinary mind: Disciplinary minds require the mastery of major schools of thought that may include science, mathematics, history and religion. Apart from this the disciplinary mind has to be enriched with expertise in at least one professional field. Research confirms that it takes up to 10 years to master a discipline. This mind also knows how to work steadily overtime to improve skill and understand.

2.Synthesizing mind: What is needed is the ability to integrate ideas from different disciplines or spheres into an integrated system and communicate the synthesized thoughts. With the increasing volume of information in the present day world, capacity to synthesize assumes great importance.

3. Creating mind: It is essential to build capacity to uncover and create solutions to new problems, questions and phenomena. For examples on creativity, in general we look for leaders, rather than managers.

It puts forth new ideas, poses, familiar questions and arrives at unprecedented answers. The creating mind seeks to remain at least one step ahead of even the most sophisticated computers and robots. I understand that most of the computers of the future and accessories will be micro sized, wearable and will have wireless communication with each other. Moderately priced PCs capable of performing about a billion calculations per second today will be able to perform about a trillion calculations per second within next 10 years. It is predicted that by 2019, the computational ability of an ordinary PC would exceed the capability of human brain. By 2029, the capability of a normal PC would be around 1000 times that of the human brain. My view is that definitely the creating mind of the human being will

always be superior to the most powerful computers in the horizon.

4.Respectful mind: It is a uniquely developed mind, a mature mind that has awareness and appreciation for differences among human beings. The capacity built in the respectful mind, leads to understand other persons on their own terms with mutual trust. In the world where we are, all interlinked and need to maintain working relationship, intolerance is no longer a viable option.

5. Ethical mind: It is indeed a built-in-capacity for fulfilling once responsibility as a worker and as a citizen simultaneously, It will essentially lead to “work with integrity and succeed with integrity”.

The mind conceptualizes how workers can serve purpose beyond self interest and how citizens can work unselfishly to improve the lot of all. The ethical mind then acts on the basis of these analyses. In the present scenario, the need for respecting mind and ethical mind is very important, because many of the societal problems today are arising out of lack of consideration for others and overwhelming selfishness of the individual. The education system has to cultivate these minds among the youth, so that they learn to respect others, are tolerant and perseverant for realizing their goals in life.

With these five types of minds, a person will be well equipped to deal with what is expected as well as what cannot be anticipated. Without these minds, a person will be at the mercy of forces that he or she can’t understand. Our educational, political, managerial and spiritual system should nurture these five kinds of minds for cultivating positive human potentials. Disciplines, syntheses and creativity can be put to all kinds of ends if we do not cultivate the sense of respect and ethical orientation. Hence, the five kinds of minds should be made to work synergistically.

When I visualize these five minds of the future, I have a message for all of you. Nurturing all the five minds is possible, if you build the following five capacities among the youth. What are those five capacities?

The five capacities are: research and inquiry, creativity and innovation, use of high technology, entrepreneurial and moral leadership are the five capacities required to be built through the education process.

If we develop in all our students these five capacities, we will produce “Autonomous Learner” a self-directed, self controlled, lifelong learner who will have the capacity to both, respect authority and at the same time is capable of questioning authority, in an appropriate manner. These are the leaders who would work together as a “Self-organizing Network” and transform any nation into a prosperous nation. The most important part of the education is to imbibe the confidence among the student is the spirit of “we can do it”.

Scientific Magnanimity

I would like to narrate an incident which took place during a function conferring Nobel Laureate Prof. Norman E Borlaug, a well known agricultural scientist and a partner in India’s first Green revolution, with Dr. M S Swaminathan Award, at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi on the 15th of March 2005. Prof. Borlaug, at the age of 91, was in the midst of all the praise showered on him from everybody gathered there.When his turn came, he got up and highlighted India’s advancement in the agricultural science and production and said that the political visionary Shri C. Subramaniam and Dr. M S Swaminathan, pioneer in agricultural science were the prime architects of First Green Revolution in India. Even though Prof Norman

Borlaug was himself a partner in the first green revolution, he did not make a point on this. He recalled with pride, Dr. Verghese Kurien who ushered White Revolution in India. Then the surprise came. He turned to scientists sitting in the third row, fifth row and eighth row of the audience. He identified Dr. Raja Ram, a wheat specialist, Dr S K Vasal, a maize specialist, Dr. B. R. Barwale, a seed specialist. He said, all these scientists had contributed for India’s and Asia’s agricultural science. Dr. Borlaug introduced them to the audience by asking them to stand and ensured that the audience cheered and greeted the scientists with great enthusiasm. This action of Dr. Norman Borlaug, I call it as “Scientific Magnanimity”.

Friends, if we aspire to achieve great things in life, we need Scientific Magnanimity to focus the young achievers. It is my experience that great mind and great heart go together. This Scientific Magnanimity will motivate the scientific community and nurture team spirit.

Converting challenges into opportunities

Prof. Paul Crutzen (Chemistry, 1995) got Nobel Price for chemistry for demonstrating that the chemical compounds of Nitrogen Oxide accelerate the destruction of Stratospheric Ozone, which protects the Earth from the Sun’s ultraviolet radiation. From the young age, Paul Crutzen was challenged by war, family conditions, and his atmospheric research interest was shining despite different types of work environment. He is indeed an example of how a strong mind can defeat the problem and succeed.

In his younger days itself, Paul Crutzen was fond of Physics and Mathematics and also he was a good chess player. For many years, Crutzen longed for an academic career and accidentally joined Meteorology Department of Stockholm University as a programmer. There he programmed a model of tropical cyclone. Also, he attended some of the lecture courses and fulfilled the requirement of Master of Science degree taking the combination of Mathematics, Mathematical Statistics and Meteorology. Time constraints did not permit him to pursue Physics or Chemistry which needed large amount laboratory work. With this background, he took up Ph.D. thesis on a meteorological topic using his experience in the development of numerical model of a tropical cyclone. Simultaneously, he was given a task of helping a scientist from US to develop a numerical model of the oxygen allotrope distribution in the stratosphere, mesosphere and thermosphere. He got interested in this project leading to the study of photochemistry of atmospheric ocean and started an intensive study of the scientific literature which provided him the initial conditions for his scientific career. With this experience, he also changed the research topic to stratospheric chemistry.

It is extraordinary that even though his earlier circumstances did not permit him to take up the pure science studies, his inherent passion enabled him to achieve at the highest level on the pure science related to atmospheric science. Here is a scientist who coverted all the challenges into opportunities in pursuit of his life time mission.

Science is Borderless

Prof. Bert Sakmann - a German medical doctor and a research scientist who in 1991, together with German Physicist won the Nobel Prize for medicine for research into basic cell function and for their development of the patch-clamp technique. This technique conclusively established the existence of characteristic set of ion (+ve and –ve) channels in cell membranes, that in turn established the role it plays in diseases like diabetes, cardiac, epilepsy and certain neuromuscular disorder.

Prof Bert Sakmann who did his elementary education in a rural background had a passion for Physics and Engineering in school days. He got interested in Cybernetics in the final year school, since he realized that living organisms could be understood in engineering terms. Thus, the seed of inter-disciplinary research was firmly rooted in him in a very young age. He enrolled himself for medical education. After foundation courses in bio-chemistry and physiology, he did his doctoral thesis in electro physiology. He attended medical schools in Freiburg, Berlin and Paris. As a doctoral student, he worked on electro-physiological basis of pattern recognition. For this, he closely worked with electrical and computer scientists. He learnt the basic mechanism of vision. Later, he ran his own laboratory in physiology in close collaboration with physio-chemical and bio-chemical departments. In his own words, he enjoyed working with fellow scientists on scientific adventures.

Now, here we can find a doctor and a researcher with the capability of working in multiple laboratories simultaneously and becoming a team scientist, sharing the research, sharing the work and sharing the rewards too. He is the real example for “Science is borderless”.

Science as a Life time mission

Chandrasekhar Subramanyan’s most famous discovery was the astrophysical Chandrasekhar limit. The limit describes the maximum mass (~1.44 solar masses) of a white dwarf star, or equivalently, the minimum mass for which a star will ultimately collapse into a neutron star or black hole following a supernova. The limit was first calculated by Chandrasekhar while on a ship from India to Cambridge, England. The Chandrasekhar Limit led to the determination of how long a star of particular mass will shine. In 1983, Chandrasekhar Subramanyan got the Nobel Price for this discovery.

Two of Chandrasekhar's students in 1947 were the doctoral candidates Tsung-Dao Lee and Chen Ning Yang in Particle Physics research. Even though Chandrasekhar Subramanyan maintained his office at the Yerkes Observatory in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, he would regularly drive the one hundred miles to Chicago to guide and teach Lee and Yang and others many a times in difficult weather conditions. In 1957, these two of his students won the Nobel Prize in Physics for their work in particle physics research. This also brings out Chandrasekhar Subramanyan’s commitment to science and thereby to his students. Science indeed is a life time mission for Chandrasekhar. It is this characteristic which makes youth to become passionate towards science.

Value to Science

I thought of sharing with you an incident about Sir CV Raman –a Nobel Laureate in Physics for discovering Raman Effect. Raman gives the view that the color of sky is blue due to molecular diffraction, which determines the observed luminosity, and in great measures also its color. This led to the birth of the Raman Effect. Raman was in the first batch of Bharat Ratna Award winners. The award ceremony was to take place in the last week of January, soon after the Republic Day celebrations of 1954. The then President Dr. Rajendra Prasad wrote to Raman inviting him to be the personal guest in the Rashtrapati Bhavan, when Raman came to Delhi for the award ceremony. Sir CV Raman wrote a polite letter, regretting his inability to go. Raman had a noble reason for his inability to attend the investiture ceremony. He explained to the President that he was guiding a Ph.D. student and that thesis was positively due by the last day of January. The student was valiantly trying to wrap it all up and Raman felt, he had to be by the side of the research student, see that the thesis was finished, sign the thesis as the guide and then have it submitted.

Here was a scientist who gave up the pomp of a glittering ceremony associated with the highest honour, because he felt that his duty required him to be by the side of the student. It is this unique trait of giving value to science that builds science.

Teaching is a life time mission

To enable development of youth first and foremost, the teacher’s love for teaching is essential, with teaching as the soul of the teacher. The teacher must realize that they are responsible for shaping not just students but ignited youth who are the most powerful resource under the earth, on the earth and above the earth. With their full commitment to the great mission of teaching, the teacher transforms himself or herself as a great teacher only when he or she is capable of elevating the average student to high performance. The teacher conducting himself or herself in a noble way itself is a lifetime message for students. They should encourage the students and children to ask questions and develop the spirit of enquiry, so that they blossom into creative enlightened citizens. They should treat all the students equally and should not support any differentiation on account of

religion, community or language and continuously upgrade the capacities in teaching so that they can impart quality education to the students. They should realize by being a teacher, they are making an important contribution to the efforts of national development. The teachers must constantly endeavour to fill their mind, with great thoughts and spread the nobility in thinking and action among the students. Teacher should celebrate the success of the students.

Capacity Building

When I visualize the five minds of the future(1. Disciplinary mind, 2. Synthesizing mind, 3. Creative mind, 4. Respectful mind, 5. Ethical mind), I have a message for the all the teachers and students. Nurturing all the five minds is possible, if you build the following five capacities among the youth. What are those five capacities? The five capacities are: research and inquiry, creativity and innovation, use of high technology, entrepreneurial and moral leadership are the five capacities required to be built through the education process.

Research and enquiry: The 21st century is about the management of all the knowledge and information we have generated and the value addition we bring to it. We must give our students the skills with which they find a way through the sea of knowledge that we have created and continue with life long learning. Today, we have the ability, through technology, to really and truly teach ourselves to become the life-long learners. This is required for sustained economic development

Creativity and innovation: The management of knowledge in the 21st century is beyond the capacity of a single individual. The amount of information that we have around is overwhelming. The management of knowledge therefore must move out of the realm of the individual and shift into the realm of the networked groups. The students must learn how to manage knowledge collectively. When the information is networked the power and utility of the information grows as square as stated by Metcalfe's law. Information that is static does not grow. In the new digital economy information that is circulated creates innovation and contributes to national wealth.

Capacity to use high technology: Every student in our colleges should learn to know how to use the latest technologies for aiding their learning process. Colleges should equip themselves with adequate computing equipment, laboratory equipment, and Internet facilities and provide an environment for the students to enhance their learning ability. In the midst of all of the technological innovations and revolutions we cannot think that the role of the teachers will be diminished. In fact the teacher will become even more important and the whole world of education will become teacher assisted and would help in “tele-porting” the best teacher to every nook and corner of the country and propagate the knowledge. There is a great opportunity and need for content generation in many fields of education which can be used all over the country.

Entrepreneurship: The aptitude for entrepreneurship should be cultivated right from the beginning and in the University environment. We must teach our students to take calculated risks for the sake of larger gain, but within the ethos of good

business. They should also cultivate a disposition to do things right. This capacity will enable them to take up challenging tasks later.

Moral leadership: Moral leadership involves two aspects. First it requires the ability to have compelling and powerful dreams or visions of human betterment. Moral leadership requires a disposition to do the right thing and influence others also to do right things. In sum, inquiry, creativity, technology, entrepreneurial and moral leadership are the five capacities required to be built through the education process. I would suggest, all the educational institutions to consider carving out a six months programme from the overall time available for the graduate and post-graduate programme. In this period the students should be equipped with knowledge on subjects like leadership, finance, marketing, inter-personal relationship, negotiation, entrepreneurship and ethical values. The students should be provided a certificate or a diploma along with the professional degree. This type of education will equip the youth with employable skills needed by the industry and also give the confidence to the youth to take up entrepreneurship as an independent venture.

If we develop in all our students these five capacities, we will produce “Autonomous Learner” a self-directed, self controlled, lifelong learner who will have the capacity to both, respect authority and at the same time is capable of questioning authority, in an appropriate manner. These are the leaders who would work together as a “Self-organizing Network” and transform any nation into a prosperous nation. The most important part of the education is to imbibe the confidence among the student is the spirit of “we can do it”.