>>"I have three visions for India. In 3000 years of our history, people
>>from all over the world have come and invaded us, captured our lands,
>>conquered our minds. From Alexander onwards. The Greeks, the Turks,
>>the Moguls, the Portuguese, the British, the French, the Dutch, all
>>of them came and looted us, took over what was ours. Yet we have not
>>done this to any other nation. We have not conquered anyone.
>>
>>We have not grabbed their land, their culture, their history and
>>tried to enforce our way of life on them. Why? Because we respect the
>>freedom of others. That is why my first vision is that of FREEDOM. I
>>believe that India got its first vision of this in 1857, when we
>>started the war of independence. It is this freedom that we must
>>protect and nurture 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 a developing nation. It is time we see ourselves as a developed
>>nation.
>>
>>We are among top 5 nations of the world in terms of GDP. We have 10
>>percent growth rate in most areas. Our poverty levels are falling.
>>Our achievements are being globally recognized today. Yet we lack the
>>self-confidence to see ourselves as a developed nation, self- reliant
>>and self-assured. Isn't this incorrect?
>>
>>I have a THIRD vision. India must stand up to the world. Because I
>>believe that, unless India stands up to the world, no one will
>>respect us. Only strength respects strength. We must be strong not
>>only as a military power but also as an economic power. Both must go
>>hand-in-hand. My good fortune was 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 of them 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 project director for India's
>>first satellite launch vehicle, SLV3. The one that launched Rohini.
>>These years played a very important role in my life of Scientist.
>>After my ISRO years, I joined DRDO and got a chance to be the part of
>>India's guided missile program.
>>
>>It was my second bliss when Agni met its mission requirements in
>>1994. The Dept. of Atomic Energy and DRDO had this tremendous
>>partnership in the recent nuclear tests, on May 11 and 13. This was
>>the third bliss. The joy of participating with my team in these
>>nuclear tests and proving to the world that India can make it, that
>>we are no longer a developing nation but one of them. It made me feel
>>very proud as an Indian. The fact that we have now developed for Agni
>>a re-entry structure, for which we have developed this new material.
>>A Very light material called carbon-carbon. One day an orthopedic
>>surgeon from Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences visited my
>>laboratory. He lifted the material and found it so light that he took
>>me to his hospital and showed me his patients. There were these
>>little girls and boys with heavy metallic calipers weighing over
>>three Kg. each, dragging their feet around. He said to me: Please
>>remove the pain of my patients. In three weeks, we made these Floor
>>reaction Orthosis 300-gram calipers and took them to the orthopedic
>>center. The children didn't believe their eyes.
>>
>> >From dragging around a three kg. load on their legs, they could now
>>move around! Their parents had tears in their eyes. That was my
>>fourth bliss! Why is the media here so negative? Why are we in India
>>so embarrassed to recognize our own strengths, our achievements? We
>>are such a great nation. We have so many amazing success stories but
>>we refuse to acknowledge them. Why?
>>
>>We are the first in milk production.
>>We are number one in Remote sensing satellites.
>>We are the second largest producer of wheat.
>>We are the second largest producer of rice.
>>
>>Look at Dr. Sudarshan, he has transferred the tribal village into a
>>self-sustaining, self driving unit. There are millions of such
>>achievements but our media is only obsessed in the bad news and
>>failures and disasters. I was in Tel Aviv once and I was
>>reading the Israeli newspaper. It was the day after a lot of attacks
>>and bombardments and deaths had taken place. The Hamas had struck.
>>But the front page of the newspaper had the picture of a Jewish
>>gentleman who in five years had transformed his desert land into an
>>orchid and a granary. It was this inspiring picture that everyone
>>woke up to. The gory details of killings, bombardments, deaths, were
>>inside in the newspaper, buried among other news. In India we only
>>read about death, sickness, terrorism, crime.
>>
>>Why are we so NEGATIVE?
>>Another question: Why are we, as a nation so obsessed with foreign
>>things? We want foreign TVs, we want foreign shirts. We want foreign
>>technology. Why this obsession with everything imported. Do we not
>>realize that self-respect comes with self-reliance?
>>
>>I was in Hyderabad giving this lecture, when a 14 year old girl asked
>>me for my autograph. I asked her what her goal in life is. She
>>replied: I want to live in a developed India. For her, you and I will
>>have to build this developed 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 10
>>minutes 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 is the 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 a face - YOURS. YOU walk out of the
>>airport and you are at your International best. In Singapore you
>>don't throw cigarette butts on the roads or eat in the stores.
>>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
>>Causeway or Pedder Road) between 5 PM and 8 PM.
>>
>>YOU comeback to the parking lot to punch your parking ticket if you
>>have over stayed in a restaurant or a shopping mall irrespective of
>>your status identity. In Singapore you don't say anything, DO YOU?
>>YOU wouldn't dare to eat in public during Ramadan, in Dubai.
>>YOU would not dare to go out without your head covered in Jeddah.
>>YOU would not dare to buy an employee of the telephone exchange in
>>London at 10 pounds (Rs.650) a month to, "see to it
>>that 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
>>then tell 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
>>garbage pail 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 but cannot in your own. You
>>who will throw papers and cigarettes on the road the moment you touch
>>Indian ground. If you can be an involved and appreciative citizen in
>>an alien country, why cannot you be the same here in 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
>>the streets to leave their affluent droppings all over the place," he
>>said.
>>"And then the same people turn around to criticize and blame the
>>authorities for inefficiency and dirty pavements. What do they expect
>>the officers 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 to the polls to choose a government and after that forfeit all
>>responsibility. We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect the
>>government to do everything for us whilst
>>our contribution is totally negative. We expect the government to
>>clean up but we are not going to stop chucking garbage all over the
>>place nor are we going to stop to pick a up a stray piece of paper
>>and throw it in the bin. We expect the railways to provide clean
>>bathrooms 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 and
>>toiletries 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 to the public. When it comes to burning social issues like
>>those related to women, dowry, girl child and others, we make loud
>>drawing room protestations and continue to do the reverse at home.
>>Our excuse? "It's the whole system which has to change, how will it
>>matter if I alone forego my sons' 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 our neighbors, other households, other cities, other communities
>>and the government. But definitely not me and YOU. When it comes to
>>us actually making a positive contribution to the system we lock
>>ourselves along
>>with our families into a safe cocoon and look into the distance at
>>countries far away and wait for a Mr. Clean to come along & work
>>miracles for us with a majestic 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 their glory and praise their system. When New
>>York becomes insecure we run to
>>England. When England experiences unemployment, we take the next
>>flight out to the Gulf. When the Gulf is war struck, we demand to be
>>rescued and brought home by the Indian government. Everybody is out
>>to abuse and rape the country. Nobody thinks of feeding the system.
>>Our conscience is
>>mortgaged to money.
>>Dear Indians,
>>The article is highly thought inductive, calls for a great deal of
>>introspection and pricks one's conscience too....I am echoing
>>J.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
>>WHAT AMERICA AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES ARE TODAY"
>>Lets do what India needs from us.
.
>>Thank you,

>>Dr. Abdul Kalaam
>>PRESIDENT OF INDIA
>>
>>
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