KALAM'S VISION OF DEVELOPED INDIA

In 2015 Sri Jai Narain Postgraduate College organized a two-day National seminar on 15 and 16 October on A P J Abdul Kalam's Vision of Developed India. Before I come to the sub-themes of the seminar and share my ideas and thoughts about the selected research papers, that have been included in this collection, it is only right that I say a few things about A P J Abdul Kalam. From a small boy growing up in Rameswaram, to becoming the country's eleventh president, A P J Abdul Kalam's life was a tale of extraordinary determination, courage, perseverance and the desire to excel. When the nation decided to send AP J Abdul Kalam to the Rashtrapati Bhawan, it chose to send a man there who was unlike most people who had graced this high office in the past. Extremely down-to-earth and always available to anyone who wanted to reach him - especially children - Kalam was rightly christened as 'People's President'. His singular contribution in the field of indigenous missile technology, which made it possible for India to make first-rate missiles at a lower cost and without the pressures of the Western powers, who shared missile technology with India at a heavy economic and diplomatic cost to us, is now a part of India's missile history. Plato, the great Greek philosopher, had envisioned some 2500 hundred years ago of a 'philosopher-king' who would head a country in the capacity of a statesman. A P J Abdul Kalam fits into Plato's vision every single bit. He was a voracious reader, a prolific writer and a spell-binding speaker at various forums. He used these forums and his many books to disseminate his vision of a future for India. I cannot do better than quote the following couplet to pay tribute to this great son of India: "Hazaron saal nargis apni benoori pe roti hai / Badi mushkil se hota hai chaman me deedawar paida." The paper by Prof N L Sharma, titled 'Kalam's Vision of Developed India' is the first paper in this collection. Using his signature style, which uses the first letters in the name of Kalam, Prof Sharma outlines a broad overview of the ideas and thoughts of Kalam that he expressed in his books and lectures about converting a developing country like India into a developed country like the countries of the west. Professor Sharma's paper is a comprehensive look at the ramifications of Kalam's vision that aimed at transforming a struggling economy with its concomitant problems and its unhealthy consequences for the majority of Indians. Kalam was no exclusivist thinker. He was aware that development can't be simply technological or (i) industrial. According to Kalam, development, in order to be a reality and to sustain, must touch all the aspects of human life, viz, bridging the urban- rural gap, equitable distributive justice, academic excellence and use of advanced scientific innovations and technology. He was quick to realize that in the absence of administrative excellence the goals dreamt of by an aspirational society like India were bound to remain a chimera. Kalam didn't exclude politics from his gaze as he knew that politics is an instrument that can deliver the fruits of sensible policies to the poor masses of a country and therefore the politician of a country like India needs to embrace developmental politics that is capable of giving the right kind of leadership and sees to it that the govt policies are honestly implemented. Kalam insisted that the twentieth century society was a knowledge-based society in which the various new technical resources of knowledge should be marshaled by the people of India to emerge into an affluent society. Education obviously was bound to play a very important role in enabling the acquisition of knowledge. Professor Sharma's paper informatively engages with all these aspects of Kalam's vision for a developed society. The paper by Professor J K Sharma and Doa Naqvi covers all the different aspects of Kalam's vision for a truly developed nation but the special attraction of this paper is the insistence on and elaboration of Kalam's concept of 'value creation' as an indispensable factor in making the other aspects of developmental policies realizable. Prof Sharma takes pains to explain that the concept of 'value creation' as understood and advanced by Kalam is not the creation of profit and wealth by industry. Kalam's cocept of a 'value-driven' industrial society encompasses all the ethical and moral values that have been the hallmark of ancient Indian society. Kalam was of a clear view that in the absence of ethical values all development will fail in its chosen objective of pushing India into a superpower status. Ethical values, like integrity, commitment, welfare of the marginalized, a genuine concern for our environment etc is that keystone on which the building of the future of India can rest. That's why he insisted on the introduction of ethical values in all walks of life, viz, education, administration, industry and politics. The paper quotes from several sources to support the sensibleness of the thesis of Kalam. Research papers and books written in the west have delineated the necessity of introducing ethical values in business organizations to enable an organization to deliver to all the stakeholders in that organization. One is reminded of the views of Shri Narain Murthy, the (ii) founder of the IT giant Infosys, who has pleaded for 'compassionate capitalism'. Also, the recent example of the collapse of an IT giant 'Satyam' is before us. 'Satyam' was for a long time synonymous with success in the field of Internet technology and bright young people sought a job in it as their destination. The fudging of books by the company led to its fall. The concept of 'Corporate Social responsibility' as mentioned in this paper is also an example of the ethical responsibility of big industries towards society. The paper by Professor Raina examines the Indian economy in the light of the developmental concerns of Kalam. It rightly points out that the first wave of economic reforms was introduced when Dr Man Mohan singh, the then finance minister of India, liberalized the Indian economy and paved the way for private investment. The paper argues that although India advanced by leaps and bounds as a consequence of the Man Mohan era reforms, there is now a strong need for introducing the second wave of reforms. The writers maintain that the present govt has introduced some reform policies which aim at facing the challenges of jobless growth, persistent poverty and rising inequality. Other challenges before India today are poor occupational structure, low human development and regional disparity. A worrisome concern according to this paper is the declining participation of women in the workforce. When it comes to the Human development Index, we have to face the fact of poor health and educational opportunities for a large number of Indians. The paper argues that the Modi govt has introduced several reforms, viz, Make in India, Skill India, Digital India, Ease of doing Business, Clean energy, liberalized FDI policy, introduction of GST etc. The paper points to the fact that there is a Demographic Dividend in terms of a large number of youth being available in the country and this human resource needs to be made useful so that they can contribute to the advance of the economy. However, the paper takes a critical look at the implementation side of the new economic reforms introduced by the govt and pleads for a more earnest and dedicated approach towards implementing the Modi govt reforms. Professor S.D. Sharma's paper titled 'Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam's concept for 'Value-based Education for Developed India' focuses on the role of education in creating a truly developed India. Dr. Kalam was a man of ideas and he had a clearly developed concept of the nature and role of education in taking India forward and making India into a leader. Dr. Kalam understood it clearly that mere instruction could not be of any lasting value to a learner. (iii) To be of lasting value instruction must be complemented with moral and spiritual education. Professor Sharma's paper goes into the details of the various facets of education as envisioned by Dr. Kalam. The paper titled 'Kalam's Vision 2020 -- Myth or Reality' addresses the burning issues facing the country. The slide of the rupee is a source of concern. Low growth in the agricultural sector as compared with growth in other sectors of the economy is another source of concern. Jobless growth, infrastructure hurdles continue to haunt Indian economy. This paper takes a comprehensive look at the ideas of Kalam with respect to the problems of the Indian economy mentioned above. The Volume contains several other equally good papers but paucity of space doesn't allow me to comment on all of them in detail. However, I shall briefly refer to them. Dr Pandeya's paper has selected a very significant component of Kalam's vision for the holistic development of India. For the sustainable economic development of rural India several factors need to be addressed. A total transformation vis-à-vis our understanding of environment is the need of the hour. Besides, the villages will have to be connected to the cities through the development of infrastructure. This will lead to better economic transaction between villages and cities. Electronic and digital connectivity is equally important. Besides, a more stringent implementation of MGNREGA scheme is a must to empower the marginalized sections of India's villages. The paper by Gagandeep also draws attention to the necessity of rural-urban connectivity. The paper by Natasha also falls into this category. More than one writer has written about the significant role of education in pushing India into the comity of developed nations. The papers by Alka Sharma, Perveen Kumar, Surendra Chauhan and Vivek and Amit Sharma draw our attention to the role of education and the educator in this regards. Dr Deepak Kumar's paper explores the role of A P J Abdul Kalam as a motivational icon for the youth of India. He highlights the strategies and goals that motivated Kalam in his own struggle as a poor boy to overcome his obstacles to reach the very top in both science and society. Dr Deepak uses several books of Kalam to illustrate the trajectory of his career. Preeti Prabhat has contributed a paper on Kalam's views on how women could be empowered. The paper by Kalyani Dixit is a poetic tribute to the versatile personality of Kalam. The paper by Vivek Tewari and Neha emphasize the role of technical planning in the development of India as envisaged by Kalam. (Prof. S D Sharma)