The great need

A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

SPIRIT OF INDIA — A TRANSFORMATION IN

THINKING
So What is the Spirit of India? While Celebrating this intrinsic
nature of India, I reflected on the History of the country and
extended my voyage to the future.
As a nation, we are proud of our civilisational heritage, our family-oriented
society, our unity amidst cultural diversity, our innovative method of
ahimsa dharma that liberated us from foreign rule and our well-tested and
stable 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 people
to do their work and lead a contented life.
There are so many aspects that I find it difficult to sum up this spirit. Can I
share with you how India graduated within a decade from a country about
to be forced to pledge gold to meet its foreign exchange needs to a nation
that is now growing at an average annual rate of 9 per cent GDP?
Or how the farmers in partnership with scientists and technologists
succeeded 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 10
satellites through a single launch and is about to embark on a mission to
the moon?
Shall I mention with pride the capability of our nuclear
scientists in reprocessing the high burn-up carbide fuel
using 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 strategic
missile systems?
There is so much more: shall I describe the growth in
production of generic drugs by our pharmaceutical
industry through advanced research?
Shall I elaborate on the growth of small and medium industry which
contributes to large-scale exports and provides employment to a large
number of our youth?
Shall I dwell on our experience of creating PURA (Providing Urban
Amenities in Rural Areas) complexes by some educational institutions and
industries and transforming them into economic hubs?
Shall I talk about the excellent action taken by the judiciary in several
cases? Shall I describe how our IT industries are contributing to over 25 per
cent of our exports through software and services?
Shall I express my happiness that one in every two Indians will have a
mobile phone before 2010? Shall I concentrate on describing the happiness
of the youth due to the birth of a large number of IITs, IIMs, IISERs, and
IIITs? Should I express my happiness about the active participation of our
media, 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 are
enriching those nations and India through knowledge centres and bringing
glory to our motherland? Can I share the pride of our democracy being
strengthened during the last six decades in spite of our multiple political
systems?
No. While each of them are great accomplishments in their own way what is
striking is the spirit of India that gives rise to such enthusiasm. In the
1990s, 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 the
pattern of questions is representative of the transformation of the country
over the years. I receive many e-mails and letters expressing the same
sentiment.
When I study them and also the personal interactions with people, I can
clearly see the responsibility that we owe to this spirit of India. How do we
do that? We need to focus on futuristic priorities in a mission mode.
National leadership, irrespective of its political spectrum, should inspire
confidence among our people and boldly formulate and implement
development missions in a cooperative and competitive mode with specific
time-bound goals, with the sole purpose of meeting the aspirations of the
Spirit of India.
 To keep that spirit vibrant and self-rejuvenating, as a nation, we have to
evolve 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 access
to energy and quality water.
• A nation where agriculture, industry and the service sector work together
in 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 removed
and crimes against women and children are absent.
• A nation that is prosperous, healthy, secure, peaceful and happy, on a
sustainable growth path.
• A nation that is one of the best places to live in and is proud of its
leadership.
We should convert this into a Mission India 2020 for a strong, prosperous
and happy nation. With such a profile, as the leading driver for the political
parties, they can perform in the environment of developmental politics,
competing with each other in the political vision of national development
and evolve strategies to realise it through their manifesto.
As Edmond Burke told his electorate in 1774, “Parliament is not a congress
of ambassadors from different and hostile interests but Parliament is a
deliberative 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 and
transparent delivery system, with a proper methodology for assessment,
feedback and timely corrective action for full realisation of mission goals.
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 examples
of 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 his
scientific pursuit in Los Alamos Laboratory, USA, and undertook the
transformation of his village with the support of his family members.
In the past decade, he has brought about a major change for the people in
the 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 is
emerging in Peddamiram.
Another example is that of Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal who has
rejuvenated the 175-km-long polluted and weed-choked Kali Bein river of
Punjab within the last five years by deploying 3,000 volunteer pilgrims on
an average despite severe opposition from many industries and vested
interests.
Today one can feel the flow of fresh water in this rivulet and also the
considerable 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 was
amazed 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 want
anything from you, only I would like to sing in front of you, and he sang
melodiously Saint Thyagraja’s pancha ratna kriti entharo mahanubavulu
in 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 positive
attitude 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.
These leaders had unique leadership qualities. For them, nation was sacred
and above any individual, organisation or political system.

Can our youth become such visionary leaders, putting the nation above
themselves with determination and inspiration? For such a purposeful
event, we need the initiative of the political leadership at the top to ignite
the minds through a great vision of transforming India.
For such a mission to happen, India’s billion people have to work as one
entity. This is possible only through Parliament which is constituted by the
elected representatives of the country.
Parliament should meet on August 15, 2008, to pledge that they will launch
an 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 and
maintaining 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 the

country into a peaceful and prosperous nation.

— The author is former President of India