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Delivered by His Excellency President of India Dr. APJ Abdul
Kalam
At the India International Centre, New Delhi on 3rd
January 2005
Nation and its development profile
I am delighted to participate in the First Prof M.L. Sondhi
Memorial Lecture being organized by the memorial committee.
My greetings to the organizers, social scientists, political
scientists, development planners, parliamentarians,
bureaucrats other distinguished participants in this event
and Smt. Madhuri Sondhi.
Prof Sondhi was born in Punjab, educated in Punjab
University, Delhi School of Economics, London School of
Economics and elected as Rhodes Scholar at Oxford
University. He topped the Union Public Service Commission
examinations and elected to join the Indian Foreign Service.
He resigned from the Foreign Service and became the Member
of Parliament in the fourth Lok Sabha in 1967. During 1972
to 1990 he was teaching international relations in
Jawaharlal Nehru University and later he served as Chairman
of Indian Council of Social Science Research. Prof Sondhi’s
life and work was unified by a single passion that India
live up to the promise of its freedom movement and emerge as
a strong but benign force in the family of nations. When he
talked of Nuclear Weapons and India’s National Security or
when he talked of global terrorism he was clearly aware of
the necessity of interlinking of science, technology and
social behaviour of nations. He was a multi-dimensional
personality. He understood science, he understood
philosophy, he understood culture and above all he
understood politics. He was a great Indian and a great human
being. His association with bureaucracy, politics,
scientific community and culture elevated him to be with
visionary politicians in the national and international
arena. He advocated that India should become a economically
strong nation through the application of science and
technology. In view of his passion on this subject, I would
like to talk on the topic, ‘Nation and its development
profile’
Economic Growth in different societies
During the last century, the world has undergone a change
from being an agricultural society where manual labour was
important, to an industrial society where management of
technology, capital and labour have acquired importance.
Now, in the 21st century, we are into the knowledge society
where knowledge is the primary resource rather than capital
and labour. Efficient utilization of knowledge can create a
comprehensive pool of wealth for the nation and improve the
existing quality of life. In such a society, the integration
and effective use of IT in various sectors like industry,
healthcare, education etc. will be key in achieving
prosperity.
260 million people profile
Our nation is going through a major challenge of uplifting
of 260 million people who are below the poverty line. They
need habitat, they need food, they need health care, and
they need education and employment finally resulting in a
good life. As of now our GDP is growing at 6% per annum.
Whereas, the economists suggest that to uplift the people
below poverty line, our economy has to grow at the rate of
10% per annum consistently, for over a decade.
Integrated Action for Development
To meet the needs of one billion people whose number will
further increase, we have a mission of transforming India
into a developed nation. We have identified five areas where
India has core competencies for integrated action: (1)
Agriculture and food processing (2) Education and Healthcare
(3) Reliable and Quality Electric power, Surface transport
and Infrastructure for all parts of the country. (4)
Information and Communication Technology (5) Strategic
sectors. These five areas are closely inter-related and when
effectively implemented, would lead to food, economic and
energy security and national security. In all these areas
Science and Technology plays an important role in the
development process. I would like to discuss the application
with reference to the above five areas in some detail.
Second Green Revolution
To meet the needs of increasing population by the year 2020,
we have to embark upon the Second Green Revolution which
will enable us to increase the agricultural productivity.
The production of cereals needs to increase from the present
200 million tonnes to over 400 million tonnes by 2020. But
the requirement of land for the increasing population as
well as for greater aforestation and environmental
preservation activities would demand that the present 170
million hectares of land under agriculture will have to be
brought down to 100 million hectares by 2020. Still we have
to produce double than we do now. Therefore, all our
agricultural scientists and technologists have to work for
doubling the productivity of the available land to meet this
challenge. The type of technologies needed would be in the
areas of biotechnology, modernization of agricultural
equipments and improved storage and preservation techniques
etc. Also technology will be needed to convert the grains,
vegetables and fruits into processed food. In addition the
same land has to produce other useful natural products like
herbs, flowers etc. Also waste lands have to be put to
productive use.
Education and Healthcare
In the area of education we have to address three problems.
Firstly we have to ensure that all children in school going
age get an opportunity to have quality education. Assent has
been accorded for the 86th Constitution Amendment Act- Right
to Education Bill for children between the age group of 5
and 14 years. Secondly we have to provide literacy to the
10% people in the age group of 18-35 who cannot read and
write. Thirdly, we have to provide skills which will enable
them to get gainful employment. Since the magnitude of the
problem is large and the people are located in widely
dispersed area, our education programme should take the
benefit of universal tele-education backed by EDUSAT for
realizing this goal. Beyond that we have to reach people to
convert them to skilful people through actual work. They
have to learn skills through hands on experience based on
the core competence of the rural area.
Universal Tele-Education
Now with the successful launch of Educational Satellite (EDUSAT)
on 20th September 2004, it is possible to work on a viable
distance education programme for many parts of the nation. A
three-pronged approach is essential to make distance
education programme viable and a successful proposition
through the universal tele-education system to all remote
parts of the country. The three components may be the
Connectivity, Tele-Education System and the Quality Content
Generation and deployment.
a. Connectivity: EDUSAT is expected to provide one-lakh
fifty thousand ground terminals in its full capacity. The
other parts of the country have to be covered by providing
Broadband and Wireless communication network in an
integrated fashion. Terrestrial optical communication is
becoming cost effective and can complement the space
communication with its low cost, high bandwidth and
networking capability. An integrated networked system
comprising EDUSAT, Broadband and Wireless networks should
provide a highway for reaching quality education to all
parts of the country.
b. Tele-Education System: Once we have the
connectivity, then there should be a universal tele-education
system in place for making full utilization of the
connectivity to bring virtual classrooms in a multi class
environment with seamless two-way interaction between the
teachers and students in a collaborative environment. This
system should not only enable the lecture delivered from the
Studio at the university to reach any remote corner but also
enable a good teacher in the remote area to provide
multicast information to other participants of the programme.
c. Quality Content Generation:
There are three components for education: lectures,
laboratory and library. The content includes all the above
three. Content can be generated in many ways. The first one
is the assimilation of the subject by an expert teacher
through research study of many books and articles leading to
the generation of quality and creative content in a
presentable format. The teacher presents in a unique and
innovative way to make the content appealing and easily
understandable to the students. The second form of content
could be on a self-learning method by breaking down the
content into a series of question answer models. Third may
be from various books, which can be extracted through a
digital library and presented just-in time to all the remote
students.
On similar lines tele-medicine can provide quality
healthcare to the remote villages and ensure that all the
members of rural community have access to modern medicare.
The greatest challenge for content is to use it for average
non-skilled people to learn skills. This will require
animations to impart equivalence of actual ‘hand on’
experience. It is to be imparted in people’s languages.
Power
It has been estimated that the soaring demand for power will
necessitate a tripling of the installed generation capacity
from 1,00,000 to 3,00,000 MW over the next two decades.
Besides increasing investment in conventional power
generation routes like thermal and hydro, greater emphasis
needs to be placed on generation of power using nuclear
energy and renewable energy. In this respect, India is
already the world’s fifth largest producer of wind power
with more than 95% of the investment coming from the private
sector. Other renewable energy technologies like solar
photovoltaic, solar thermal, small hydro and biomass power
etc. also need to be augmented. An important aspect which
needs attention is power distribution. For instance, the
rural electrification programme launched in 1951 has
succeeded in bringing electricity to more than 5 lakh
villages. However, 80,000 villages are yet to get
electricity connections and quite a few of them are in
remote areas where the conventional electricity grid may not
be feasible. Therefore, in rural areas, non-conventional
energy sources like biomass, wind, or solar power can be
used for the generation of power.
Solar Energy
CNT based Photo-voltaic Cell: Presently silicon based
photo-voltaic cell have only an efficiency of 13 to 15%.
This has become a big challenge for converting solar energy
into power. Research has shown promise of increasing the
efficiency of the photo-voltaic cell to 40 to 50% using CNT.
This will enable us to have highly efficient 100 MW solar
energy plants in different regions of the country which will
have virtually zero recurring cost. In addition we can also
use solar energy to create hydrogen to be used as a source
of clean energy.
Nuclear Energy
We have to fall back on thorium resource (about one third of
world's total thorium resource is available in India) for
our energy security. For this we have to introduce, thorium
in the blanket zone of second stage FBR's at an appropriate
growth level of installed nuclear capacity. This would
enable us to build inventory of U-233 (from thorium) for use
in the third stage of our nuclear power programme based on
yet another type of fast breeder reactor using (Th-U233) MOX
fuel in the core.
Water: Networking of Rivers
Networking of rivers is essential for flood and drought
control, to make drinking water available to all regions,
navigation and transportation facilities, increased power
generation and cultivation of land. This mission will also
provide employment opportunities to the rural population.
Science and technology can surely help in executing such a
mission. A dedicated satellite constellation for our
networked river systems may be required for remote sensing
to survey and evolve optimum water routes, environmental
mapping and aforestation requirements, and continuous
monitoring of the networked water flow through all seasons
and at all times. Above all, the networking will lead to
enhancement of the environment and of national connectivity.
(a) Desalination process
Regions like India need new processes and new solution like
use of reverse osmosis using solar energy and MSF using
nuclear energy. It is essential to setup the desalination
plants next to the nuclear and thermal power stations to
reuse the waste energy effectively.
(b) Water and Energy through consortium
It is imperative that the water requirements of many of the
states need to be addressed immediately though sea water
desalination process. The industries like BHEL, NPC should
provide solutions to the state governments. I suggest
forming of a consortium between BARC, BHEL, NPC, private
sector institutions and the concerned State and Central
governments to tackle this issue in a mission mode. These
technologies have also to be deployed to make water
recycling a perfect system with about 95% to 99% water being
continuously recycled and used for all daily human
activities so that water is not thrown away as water, as it
is the scarcest of the resource.
Surface Transport
The present form of surface transport using diesel and
petrol engine is polluting the environment. There is a need
to address this problem technologically and build rapid
transport system like metro system under construction in
Delhi. This will reduce the pollution to a large extent.
However, it will not be able to reach all the points. Feeder
transport system is needed to reach different interior parts
of the city. This Feeder transport can use 10% Jatropha
based bio-fuel which is Carbon mono-oxide emission free.
Also, it may be possible to use 100% bio-fuel in the engines
of heavy vehicles after testing their performance capability
for being run on bio-fuel alone. It could be the right step
in environmental pollution control. In addition technology
of mixing hydrogen to diesel through water injecting
technologies will further reduce pollution and save fuel. I
am happy to learn that many institutions and industries in
India are working in this front.
ICT - Knowledge products
I visualize very soon, I will sit in front of my computer, I
will give a talk and I will also give voice commands for the
operations and navigating through my computers. My talk
should be digitized and converted into the text without
having to train the computer for voice recognition of my
voice. We in India, have to venture into developing our own
operating systems, language independent software so as to
achieve self reliance in the software sector. We also could
do better in the development of knowledge products and
tools, using which many domain specific applications can be
developed and deployed for the services sector.
For effective competitiveness, the fusion between research,
innovation and astute marketing should occur. This is best
done by forming an effective triangle of industries,
researchers from academia/R&D and the student community.
With this collaboration and combined commitment it is
possible to develop innovative products in .many areas
including:
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Localized Indian operating systems that seamlessly apply
across General purpose environments, real time applications,
embedded systems including smart cards, utilities ranging
from Microwave Ovens, washing machines, cameras, cell phones
to small form factor palms and PDAs.
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Scientific applications software in the areas such as CFD,
Structural Mechanics, Bio Informatics and drug design, and
Computational Chemistry and Physics.
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Educational Courseware design and deployment
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Application Servers framework for middle tier business
applications
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Information Security products based on our indigenous
knowledge and languages such as Sanskrit, Hindi, Tamil and
others which have unique encryption capabilities.
Core competencies that can be used in information security,
scientific software development, entertainment, education,
and hardware - software co-design, IC Design and wireless
can also spearhead a strong domestic market, and make our IT
industry more robust and strong.
Knowledge-powered PURA (Providing Urban Amenities in Rural
Areas)
Development of rural infrastructure cannot be viewed in
isolation. An integrated strategy is required for the
purpose. In the future, the development of urban
infrastructure will further widen the urban-rural divide.
Therefore, villages have to be connected suitably to form
urban areas. An example of this is PURA that seeks to bring
rural wealth and prosperity. This model envisages a habitat
designed to improve the quality of life in rural places and
also makes special suggestions to remove urban congestion.
Naturally our most demanding urban problem is that of
congestion removal. Also, efficient supply of water and
effective waste disposal in every locality are the paramount
civic needs. There is a minimum size below which a habitat
is not viable and not competitive with the existing
congested city. At the same time, the existing congested
city is not economical compared to a new town once a minimum
size of expansion is crossed.
Self reliance in Critical technologies
I still remember in 1998, when India became a nuclear weapon
state, the developed countries put an economic and
technological sanctions on India. Foreign companies had
terminated the contracts such as the joint development of
flight control systems for LCA. How did we overcome the
challenges of technological denial regime? We formed
national teams for Wings, and for the flight control laws.
With time bound mission mode project management system,
experts drawn from multiple organizations positioned as one
single development team, we have achieved a remarkable
development success. This type of technological denial
sometimes inspires our scientific productivity and opens the
door for faster and complete development.
Peoples’ responsibilities
When the nation is in development mode, the most important
need of the country is an integrated developmental plan and
empowered management structures in the areas of education
and healthcare, agriculture and food processing, ICT,
strategic sectors and infrastructure industries. In
addition, I would like to suggest various missions for our
people. For example, the student community can take up the
task, during their holidays, to make a certain number of
people literate in their area where their school or house is
situated. For, only a burning candle lights another.
Teachers and parents can assist the students in this task.
The government and R & D labs can bring in technological
upgradation in the small-scale industries so that production
and productivity can be increased and the units can become
competitive. The large-scale industries must increase their
contribution to economic growth, particularly in terms of
GDP growth. Towards this, the industries can concentrate on
maximizing output and producing cost effective products, so
that the demand for the product will increase. They can aim
to become multinational companies, for example in sugar,
power, cement and engineering industries and in knowledge
institutions. The farming community, who are engaged in
cultivation in dry lands, need to increase their
productivity with the help of the available new scientific
method. The personnel and knowledge experts in the field of
information technology have a tremendous responsibility to
shoulder by way of contributing in the areas of tele-medicine,
tele-education and e-governance for the rural areas aside
from their business role. In this vision period, the entire
government establishment, must strive to build a name for
itself, through prompt decision making and transparent
administration. Politicians must consider that the nation is
bigger than any individual or organisation. Media has to
become a partner and promoter in national development. Such
a motivated and charged up environment will indeed be a
great foundation for our vision of transforming India into a
Developed Nation.
Conclusion
We should realize that science and engineering is a force
absolutely fundamental to our well being and our societal
transformation. Science and Society are inter-dependent. We
are coming to the recognition that science must seriously
concern with the many and great unsolved problems of human
kind. It has been frequently pointed out that when we are
able to do increasingly good science, at the same time that
many societal disparities and problems are also increasing.
Although, professional goals of teaching and research are
significant they are not enough rather a further goal must
be to understand the physical, moral and social problems
that hold our civilization in the grip of numerous
contradictions.
In the 21st century right application of Science and
Technology is the most effective route to societal
transformation.
My New Year greetings and best wishes to all. May God bless
you. |
