Jainulabdeen and Ashiamma didn’t know
that one day their son Kalam would grow up to be the first citizen of India. An
Indian scientist and administrator, scientist
turned reluctant politician Dr. Kalam served as the 11th President of India
from 2002 until 2007. One amongst the most respected people of the country who
came to be known as ‘People's President’, Dr. Kalam contributed his four
decades immensely both as a scientist and as a president. His contribution at
the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and Defense Research and
Development Organization (DRDO) was immense. He was responsible for numerous
projects such as Project Devil and Project Valiant and launch of the Rohini-1,
besides developing missiles under the missions Agni and Prithvi. He was
popularly tagged as the “Missile Man of India” for
his work on development of ballistic missile and space rocket technology. Dr. Kalam
was
honored with great laurels and awards for his work by both the Government of
India and other countries. Dr. Kalam
has received honorary doctorates from as many as forty Universities including
AMU. Aligarh
Muslim University awarded Doctor of Science
(Honoris Causa) to him in 2008. Dr. Kalam remained unmarried throughout his life and he
was vegetarian till his last breath. He
was professor at Anna University. He narrowly missed
achieving his dream of becoming a fighter pilot, as he placed ninth in
qualifiers, and only eight positions were available in the IAF but as the
President he become the supreme commander of Armed Forces. After completing his term as
President, Kalam served as a visiting professor in various esteemed Institutes
and Universities of India.
A.P.J. Abdul Kalam was born to Jainulabdeen and Ashiamma on October 15, 1931. He came from a family whose financial conditions weren’t sound enough. As a means to support his family’s meager income, Kalam distributed newspapers in his childhood but never gave up on his education. 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.
A.P.J. Abdul Kalam was born to Jainulabdeen and Ashiamma on October 15, 1931. He came from a family whose financial conditions weren’t sound enough. As a means to support his family’s meager income, Kalam distributed newspapers in his childhood but never gave up on his education. 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 graduated from Saint Joseph's
College, Tiruchirappalli in 1954 but not satisfied with his degree, he left for
Madras later next year to study aerospace engineering. He enrolled at the
Madras Institute of Technology (MIT). After graduating from MIT, Kalam took up
the position of chief scientist at the Aeronautical Development Establishment
of Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO). However, the profile
didn’t appeal Kalam much who shifted to the Indian Space Research Organization
(ISRO) where he was the project director of India's first indigenous Satellite
Launch Vehicle. His years at the ISRO were the most crucial ones, as they
left a lasting impact on him. While Kalam was working on a senior class
project, the Dean was dissatisfied with his lack of progress and threatened to
revoke his scholarship unless the project was finished within the next three
days. Kalam met the deadline, impressing the Dean, who later said to him,
"I was putting you under stress and asking you to meet a difficult
deadline".
Dr. Kalam lead many projects and
turned out to be successful each time. In the 1970s, Dr. Kalam directed
two projects, namely, Project Devil and Project Valiant, which sought to
develop ballistic missiles from the technology of the successful SLV
programme. A milestone was achieved when locally built Rohini-1 was
launched into space, using the SLV rocket. Upon watching the raving success of
Dr. Kalam, the government agreed for initiation of an advanced missile program
under his directorship. He played a pivotal role in developing missiles under
the missions Agni and Prithvi. Dr. Kalam was the Chief Executive of the
Integrated Guided Missile Development Program (IGMDP) which researched in
simultaneous development of a quiver of missiles instead of taking planned
missiles one by one. From 1992 until 1999, Dr. Kalam was appointed as the Chief
Scientific Adviser to the Prime Minister and the Secretary of Defence Research
and Development Organisation. It was during this time that Dr. Kalam served as
the Chief Project Coordinator for Pokhran II nuclear tests, after which he was
fondly called the “Missile Man of India”.
Dr. Kalam’s belief in the power
of science to resolve society's problems and his views of these problems as a
result of inefficient distribution of resources is modernistic. He also sees
science and technology as ideology-free areas and emphasizes the cultivation of
scientific temper and entrepreneurial drive. Dr. Kalam’s continues to take an
active interest in other developments in the field of science and technology as
well. He has proposed a research programme for developing bio-implants. He is a
supporter of open source software over proprietary solutions and believes that
the use of open source software on a large scale will bring more people the
benefits of information technology. His views on certain issues have been
espoused by him in his book India 2020 where he strongly advocates an action
plan to develop India into a knowledge superpower and into a developed nation
by the year 2020. He 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.
Dr. Kalam succeeded K. R.
Narayan to serve as the 11th President of India from 2002 to 2007. It was a
highly one-sided contest. With his appointment, Dr. Kalam became the first
scientist and first ever bachelor to occupy the Rastrapati Bhawan. During
his tenure as a President, Dr. Kalam was both appreciated and criticized. The
latter was mostly due to his inaction in deciding the fate of 20 mercy
petitioners because he didn’t believe in death penalties. In addition to all
the profiles that Dr Kalam held, he authored numerous influential and
inspirational books. Amongst all his books, “India 2020” was the widely read
and appreciated one. It forecast an action plan which advocated India turning
into a knowledge superpower and as one of the developed nations of the world by
the year 2020. His other books include, “Ignited Minds”, “Mission India”,
“Inspiring Thoughts” and “The Luminous Sparks”. In 2011, he launched his
mission for the youth of the nation called the “What Can I Give Movement” with
the main aim to defeat corruption in India. After completing his term as President,
Dr Kalam served as visiting professor in various esteemed institutes and
universities of India, such as Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad and
Indore. He also served as Chancellor of Indian Institute of Space Science and
Technology Thiruvananthapuram, Aerospace Engineering at Anna University
(Chennai), JSS University (Mysore)
Dr. Kalam was the proud
recipient of Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan and Bharat Ratna awards from the
Government of India. He received the same in the years 1981, 1990 and 1997,
respectively. Dr. Kalam was the Third President of India to have been honoured
with a Bharat Ratna before being elected to the highest office, the other two
being Dr.Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Dr. Zakir Hussain. In 1997, he was
honored by the Government of India with the Indira Gandhi Award for National
Integration. Later, the next year, he was awarded the Veer Savarkar Award by
the Government of India. The Alwars Research Centre, Chennai, bestowed Kalam
with Ramanujan Award in the year 2000. Dr. Kalam was honored with the King
Charles II Medal by the Royal Society, U.K in 2007. Dr. 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. The California Institute of Technology,
U.S.A, presented Dr. Kalam with the International von Karman Wings Award in the
year 2009. The same year, he won the Hoover Medal by ASME Foundation, USA. The
IEEE honored Dr. Kalam with IEEE Honorary Membership in 2011. Dr. Kalam was the
proud recipient of honorary doctorates from 40 universities. In addition to
this, Kalam's 79th birthday was recognized as World Students' Day by United
Nations. He was nominated for the MTV Youth Icon of the Year award in 2003 and
in 2006. Switzerland in 2005, declared May 26 as Science Day to commemorate Dr.
Kalam’s visit to the country.
Dr. Kalam, who would have turned
84 in October, wheeled into the ICU of Bethany hospital in a critical condition
following the collapse at around 6.30 pm. According to reports, Kalam suffered
a massive cardiac arrest during the lecture at IIM, Shillong. Meghalaya
Governor V Shanmughanathan, who rushed to the hospital on hearing the news of
his admission, said Dr Kalam died at 7.45 pm. Despite medical team best efforts,
he could not be revived. Doctors from the army hospital and North Eastern
Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS)
rushed to Bethany hospital but their efforts proved to be of no avail.
Dr. Kalam passed away on 27th July 2015.
Nation mourns the loss of a great human being. India lost his real Bharat Ratna
and this is the greatest lost for nation. RIP great soul.
~
-
Naiyar Imam
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