INTERVIEW QUESTIONS-part-2

QUESTION:Sir, you recently supported the India-US Nuclear Agreement, which many don't know if it is good or not for India. Could you explain why it is good and what will India get if this deal is passed?

ANSWERS:Passage of this deal will enable India to get uranium from many countries for the existing uranium-based power plants. It will also accelerate the pace of development of thorium-based reactors using the fast breeder system which will eventually make India self-reliant. It will definitely be useful in our energy independence mission.

QUESTION:How do you view the debate over the nuclear deal which you have endorsed? Does the deal have the potential to emasculate indigenous science and technology efforts, as some critics fear?

ANSWER:The deal has nothing to do with Indian science. Definitely, this deal will put pressure on nuclear scientists and India to become self-reliant in thorium-based nuclear reactors.

QUESTION:Indians recently saw bribe money being brandished in Parliament. All this takes hope away from the people and results in a lack of faith in government. Why has governance taken a backseat? Why has politics fallen to such depths?

ANSWER:People have the responsibility to elect the right type of members of legislative assemblies and Parliament. There is no point showing helplessness after electing the members. Always remember, elect the representative who will work for development politics -- that is national economic development with a value system as the primary goal.

QUESTION:2020, when you had said India will become a developed nation, is now not very far away. What do you see as hurdles in our path? How can they be overcome?

ANSWER:I believe it is essential that economic prosperity has to reach 700 million people who are in the rural areas.The solution is establishment of 7,000 PURAs (Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas) across the country and graduating our economic development measure from growth in GDP to growth in National Prosperity Index, NPI.

QUESTION:After your term as President has ended, you continue to criss-cross the nation. Do you find any change in the popular mood from the time you were Rashtrapati to now?

ANSWER:What I see is that the youth is restless. They want to contribute to make India great.
The time has come to launch a youth movement for national development. This, I am progressing.

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

Former President Dr.A P J Abdul Kalam kindly answered some questions for an exclusive interview.

QUESTION:What are the top most recent achievements that India has reason to be proud of?

ANSWER:The Indian economy is in an ascent phase. Particularly, our economy is growing at 8% to 9% per annum for the last four years. However, there is a need to control inflation by increasing productivity, particularly in the consumer sector.

There is a marked improvement in our infrastructure such as roads, particularly rural roads, tele-density, international airports, metro-rail connectivity.In the agricultural sector, our food production has increased to 237 million tonnes. It is essential to give highest priority for agro-food processing. This will enhance earning capacity of farmers.

In the automobile sector, India has become a leading manufacturer of cars, commercial vehicles and components. The Nano car is an important milestone in the small car segment. Work is also on to convert the automobile to run with emulsified fuel having 75% fuel and 25% water.
The PSLV C9 mission launching precisely ten satellites, including eight satellites for international customers.

QUESTION:And where have we failed? What have been our greatest failures and where have we failed our people?

ANSWER:While there has been all-round growth in many sectors during the last 60 years, the fact that there are still 220 million people living below the poverty line shows the failure of our system. Hence, connectivity and working with integrity are the immediate solutions. Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas (PURA) which gives physical connectivity, electronic connectivity and knowledge connectivity leading to economic connectivity in rural areas is the possible solution. We need 7000 PURA complexes for covering 600,000 villages in the country.

CHANCELLOR-IIST.

The former President and India’s rocket-missile technologist, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, has been appointed Chancellor of the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST), Thiruvananthapuram. The IIST was established by the Department of Space in 2007.

Mr. Kalam was the project director of the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) first two SLV-3 (Satellite Launch Vehicles) flights in 1979 and 1980 from Sriharikota. The SLV-3 flight in 1980 was a big success, with the rocket putting the Rohini satellite in orbit. He was also the architect of India’s Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme under which Agni, Prithvi, Akash, Trishul and Nag missiles were developed.

The IIST, a deemed university, is the world’s first space university to offer undergraduate programmes. It offers two four-year B.Tech programmes in Avionics and Aerospace, and a five-year integrated post-graduate programme in Applied Sciences.

About other heads:

G. Madhavan Nair, Chairman, ISRO and Secretary, Department of Space, said on Monday evening: “I just talked to Mr. Kalam on the phone and he told me that he would like to be a different kind of Chancellor. He will do research on futuristic space technologies.” Mr. Nair said he was “really excited” over the development because Mr. Kalam “is the country’s topmost rocket scientist and to have him as Chancellor of the IIST is a blessing.”

B.N. Suresh, Director, IIST, said: “I am sure with Mr. Kalam as the Chancellor, the IIST will scale great heights.”

A PROFESSOR IN IIM-A

AHMEDABAD: For the first time in the history of Indian Institute of Management , Ahmedabad (IIM-A ), a former President of India has agreed to take not just a session but a whole semester for the students. That too, not the students of one course, but across all courses.

Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, one of the architects of the country's space programme and ex-President, will take sessions for students of Post Graduate Programme (PGP), Post Graduate Programme - Agri Business Management (PGP-ABM ), Public Management and Policy (PMP) and Fellow Programme in Management (FPM) from the mid of September.

What is bringing Kalam to the IIM-A campus is the course offered by Professor Anil Gupta, called Globalising Resurgent India through Innovative Transformation (GRIT). The courses were traditionally offered to the PGP-II semester students in the fifth term. A total of 70 students have been selected for this course from across the batches. During the course, Kalam will visit IIM-A thrice and address eight of the 20 sessions in this course.

"The format of this course is somewhat different from the usual courses. Here, the students are going to work on 10 topics which will help us comprehend Vision 2020. These 10 topics are what Kalam calls - 10 pillars - and cover various issues that rural as well as urban India face today," said Srijan Pal Singh, the general secretary of the Student Council.

The students will work in teams on one topic and at the end of the semester, they will have to submit a project report as the course does not have an examination system of evaluation. Some foreign students, who are at IIM-A as a part of a student exchange programme, have opted for the course.

KASI VISWANATHAN - MOTIVATED FAN

"Dream is not the one we get during sleep, it is the one which destroys our sleep." - Abdul Kalam

I am Kasi viswanathan, studying in Mepco Schlenk Engineering college. An ardent fan of Dr.A.P.J. ABDUL KALAM.

I post lot of information regarding my mentor's ideas.

"Drive myself and drive others" - the objective of my blog.

Great thoughts create great men and great men create great thoughts.