dr A.P.J Abdul Kalam sir's speech in hyd

 

           I have three visions for India. In 3000 years of our history, people from all over the world have come and invaded us,capture Our lands conquered our minds. From Alexander onwards. The Greeks, the Turks, the Moguls, the Portuguese, the British, the FrenchThe Dutch, all 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’s got this first vision in 1857,when we started the first 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. We are among the top five nations of the world in terms of GDP. We have ten percent growth 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 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. I have worked with all three of them closely and consider this the great opportunity to the project director for India’s first satellite launch vehicle, SLV3.the one that launched rohini.these years I joined DRDO and its mission requirements in 1994.the department of atomic energy and DRDO had this tremendous partnership in the recent nuclear tests on may11 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 and 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 metal 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 floor reaction or thosis 800 grams 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 move around! Their parents had tears in their eyes. This was my fourth bliss! Why is our media 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 first in milk production.  Look at dr sudershan, he has transformed the tribal village in to a self-sustaining unit. There are millions of such achievements but our media is only obsessed with bad news and failures and disasters. I was in tel Aviv once and I was reading and Israeli newspaper. It was a day after a lot of attacks and bombardments and deaths had taken place. The hamas were struck. But the front page of the newspaper had a picture of a Jewish gentleman who in five years has transformed his desert land into an orchid and a granary. It was an 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 so NEGATIVE? Anther question: why are we so obsessed with foreign things? We want Foreign TV’s, we want foreign shirts. We want foreign technology. Why this obsession with everything imported. Do we realize that self-respect comes with self-reliance .I was in Hyderabad giving this lecture, when a 14 year old girl asked 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 highly developed nation.

 

       Do you have 10 minutes? Allow me to come back with vengeance. Got ten minutes for your country? If yes, then read: 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, and the airlines is the worst in the world, mails never reached their destination. YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is in 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 the international best. In Singapore you don’t throw cigarette butts on the road or eat in the stores. YOU are as proud of their underground links as they are. You pay $5(approx Rs250) to drive through orchard road (equivalent to maim causeway or pedal road) between 5 pm and 8 pm. You come back to the parking lot to punch your parking ticket if you have overstayed in a restaurant or a shopping mall irrespective of your 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 that my STD and ISD calls are billed your someone else.’ YOU would not dare to speed beyond 55mph(88km/hr) in Washington and then tell the traffic cop,”jaanta hai sala 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 a coconut shell anywhere other than the garbage pail on the beaches in Australia and New Zealand. 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 and shit all over the road the same rich people turn and complain that road are dirty and unclean what do they expect the officers to do walk behind them and clean whenever their dog feels pressure in its 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 g

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

neighbours, 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.