DR. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam born 15 October 1931 usually referred to as A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, is an Indian scientist and administrator who served as the 11th President of India.
Kalam was born and raised in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu, and completed his studies in aerospace engineering at Madras Institute of Technology (MIT – Chennai). He joined Aeronautical Development Establishment of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), India and is known for his contributions to the aeronautical and missile technology of India.
A. P. J. Abdul Kalam was elected president of India in 2002, defeating Lakshmi Sahgal, and was supported by both National Democratic Alliance(NDA) and BJP, then major political party of India. After serving office as a president till 2007 he is now a visiting professor at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and Indian
| Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Abdul Kalam at the 12th Wharton India Economic Forum, 2008 | |
| President of India | |
| In office 26 July 2002 – 24 July 2007 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 15 October 1931 Rameswaram, British India(present day Tamil Nadu, India) |
| Political party | Independent |
| Alma mater | St. Joseph's College, Tiruchirappalli Madras Institute of Technology |
| Profession | Professor, Author, scientist Aerospace engineer |
| Religion | Islam |
| Website | abdulkalam.com |
Many critics, however, regard him as lacking in scientific credentials, an administrator rather than a scientist, who has mostly carried forward the works initiated by Homi Bhabha and Vikram Sarabhai. He has also been accused of exaggerating his achievements and claiming credit, in both India's nuclear and missile programmes, for work done by others.
Career as scientist
This was my first stage, in which I learnt leadership from three great teachers—Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, Prof. Satish Dhawan and Dr. Brahm Prakash. This was the time of learning and acquisition of knowledge for me.
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A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
After graduating from Madras Institute of Technology (MIT – Chennai) in 1960, Kalam joined Aeronautical Development Establishment of Defense Research and Development Organization as a chief scientist. There, Kalam started his career by designing a small helicopter for the Indian Army, but remained unconvinced with the choice of his job.Kalam was also part of the INCOSPAR committee working underVikram Sarabhai. In 1969, Kalam was transferred to the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) where he was the project director of India's first indigenous Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-III) which successfully deployed the Rohini satellite in near earth orbit in July 1980. Joining ISRO was one of Kalam's biggest achievements in life and he is said to have found himself when he started to work on the SLVproject. Kalam first started work on an expandable rocket project independently at DRDO in 1965. In 1969, Kalam received the government's approval and expanded the program to include more engineers.
In 1963–64, he visited Nasa's Langley Research Center in Poquoson, Virginia, Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland and Wallops Flight Facility situated at Eastern Shore of Virginia. From the 1970s and 1990s, Kalam made an effort to develop the Polar SLV and SLV-III project which proved to be a success. In 1974, Kalam was shifted to the Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory (TBRL), a subsidiary of DRDO.
Kalam was invited by Raja Ramanna to witness the country's first nuclear test, Smiling Buddha as the representative of TBRL, even though he had not participated in developing or even taken part in the test site preparations or weapon designing. In the 1970s, a landmark was passed when ISRO first launched into space the locally built Rohini-1, using the SLV rocket. In the 1970s, Kalam also directed Project Devil and Project Valiant – which sought to develop ballistic missiles from the technology of Kalam's successful SLV programme. Despite the disapproval of Union Cabinet, PremierIndira Gandhi allotted secret funds for these aerospace projects through her discretionary powers under Kalam's directorship. Kalam played an integral role convincing the Union Cabinet to conceal the true nature of these classified aerospace projects. His research and educational leadership brought him great laurels and prestige in 1980s, which prompted the government to initiate an advanced missile program under his directorship. As Chief Executive of the Integrated Guided Missile Development Program (I.G.M.D.P), he played a major part in developing many missiles in India including Agni and Prithvi, although the projects have been criticised for mismanagement and cost and time overruns. He was the Chief Scientific Adviser to the Prime Minister and the Secretary of Defence Research and Development Organisation from July 1992 to December 1999. The Pokhran-II nuclear tests were conducted during this period where he played an intensive political and technological role. Kalam served as the Chief Project Coordinator, along with R. Chidambaram during the testing phase. Photos and snapshots of him taken by the media elevated Kalam as the country's top nuclear scientist although Kalam was not directly involved with the nuclear program at the time.
In the year 1998, with cardiologist Dr.SomaRaju, Kalam developed a low cost Coronary stent. It was named as "Kalam-Raju Stent" honouring them In 2012, the duo, designed a rugged tablet PC for health care in rural areas. It is named as "Kalam-Raju Tablet".
Criticisms and controversies
The controversy that surrounds Kalam's role as a nuclear scientist, is the lack of reliable and factual reporting of the yield of Pokhran-II tests. The director of the site test, K. Santhanam, publicly admitted that the thermonuclear bomb was a "fizzle" test, criticising Kalam for issuing the wrong report. However, Kalam dismissed the claims, and R. Chidambaram, a key associated withPokhran-II, had also described these claims as incorrect. In spite of his leading role in the development of Indian nuclear programme, Kalam has received criticism from many of his peers who claimed that Kalam had "no authority" over nuclear science. Homi Sethna, a chemical engineer criticised Kalam claiming that Kalam had no background in publishing articles in nuclear science, even in nuclear physics. Sethna maintained that Kalam received his doctorate in aerospace engineering which is a completely different discipline from nuclear engineering, and what various universities awarded him for his achievements had nothing to do with nuclear physics. Sethna, in his last interview, maintained that in the 1950s, Kalam had failed advanced physics courses during his college life, and quoted "What does he know (about [nuclear] physics)....?", on national television. Homi Sethna also accused Kalam of using his presidency to gain a national stature of nuclear scientist. Others felt that Kalam had never worked in any of the Indian nuclear power plants and had no role in developing the nuclear weapon which was completed underRaja Ramanna. Kalam worked as an aerospace engineer in a SLV project in the 1970s and from the 1980s onwards as a project director before he was shifted to Defence Research and Development Organisation, Sethna concluded. The prestigious Indian Institute of Science Bangalore rejected Kalam's application as they felt that he lacked scientific credentials.
In 2008, Indian media questioned his claims about his personal contributions to missile inventions while working in a classified missile programme. Kalam had taken credit of inventing theAgni, Prithvi, and Aakash missile system. All of these were developed, researched and designed by other scientists whereas Kalam was involved in getting the funds and other logistic tasks.As a director of DRDO, a lot of credit had gone to Kalam. R. N. Agarwal, former director, Advanced System Laboratory and former Program Director of Agni missile was considered to be the real architect behind the successful design of Agni Missile. In his own biography, Kalam credited the development of "Agni" to Dr Ram Narayan Agarwal, an alumnus of MIT. For the Prithvi missile project, he named Col VJ Sundaram as the brain behind this project and for the Trishul missile, he gave credit to Cmdr SR Mohan. In 2006, senior media correspondent Praful Bidwai, in the The Daily Star, wrote that two aerospace projects, Project Valiant and Project Devil, which were authorised by former Premier Indira Gandhi under the directorship of Abdul Kalam, resulted in "total failure". In the 1980s, these projects were ultimately cancelled by the government under pressure by the Indian Army.
Kalam was also criticised by civil groups over his stand on the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant, where he supported setting up of the nuclear power plant and never spoke with the local people.
- Frisking by American security authorities
Abdul Kalam was frisked at JFK Airport in New York, while boarding a plane on 29 September 2011 as a part of "private screening" as he does not come under the category of dignitaries exempt from security screening procedures under stringent American guidelines. However, he was frisked again after boarding the Air India aircraft with US security officials came and asked for his jacket and shoes, claiming that these items were not checked according to prescribed procedure during the "private screening". The incident was not reported until 13 November that year. India threatened retaliatory action as there was a "general sense of outrage" around the country. The Indian Ministry of External Affairs protested over this incident, and a statement by the ministry said that the US Government had written a letter to Kalam, expressing its deep regret for the inconvenience.
Kalam was previously frisked by the ground staff of the Continental Airlines at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi in July 2009 and was treated like an ordinary passenger, despite the fact that he is on the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security's list of people exempted from security screening in India.
Future India: 2020
In his book India 2020, Kalam strongly advocates an action plan to develop India into a knowledge superpower and a developed nation by the year 2020. He regards his work on India's nuclear weapons program as a way to assert India's place as a future superpower.
It has been reported that there is a considerable demand in South Korea for translated versions of books authored by him
Kalam continues to take an active interest in other developments in the field of science and technology. He has proposed a research program for developing bio-implants. He is a supporter of Open Source over proprietary solutions and believes that the use of free software on a large scale will bring the benefits of information technology to more people.
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