Abdul Kalam

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A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

11th President of India

In office
July 25, 2002 – July 25, 2007
Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat
Preceded by K. R. Narayanan
Succeeded by Pratibha Patil
October 15, 1931 (age 77)[1]
Born
Rameshwaram, Tamil Nadu, India
Political party Not affiliated
Spouse Single; Bachelor
Religion Islam

Bharat Ratna Dr. Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam born October 15, 1931,
Tamil Nadu, India, usually referred to as Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam^, was the eleventh
President of India, serving from 2002 to 2007.[2] During his term as The President, he was
popularly known as the People's President[3][4]. Before his term as India's president, he
worked as an engineer with DRDO and ISRO and was awarded India's highest civilian
honor Bharat Ratna in 1997 for his work with ISRO and DRDO and his role as a
scientific advisor to the Indian government. He is popularly known as the Missile Man of
India for his work on development of ballistic missile and space rocket technology[5]. In
India he is highly respected as a Statist and as an Engineer.
Kalam played a pivotal organizational, technical and political role in India's Pokhran-II
nuclear test in 1998, the first since the original nuclear test by India in 1974[6]. He is a
professor at Anna University (Chennai) and adjunct/visiting faculty at many other
academic and research institutions across India. Although he is an engineer he has
received many honorary doctorate degrees.

With the death of R. Venkataraman on January 27, 2009, Kalam became the only
surviving former President of India.[7]

Contents
[show]

[edit] Political views

APJ Abdul Kalam's probable 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. Kalam 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.

Kalam 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.

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. In this, he finds a lot of support among India's
new business leaders like the founders of Infosys and Wipro, (leading Indian IT
corporations) who began their careers as technology professionals much in the same way
Kalam did.

His views on issues of peace and weapons are controversial. He is quoted as follows:

In the 3,000-year history of India, barring 600 years, the country has been ruled by
others. If you need development, the country should witness peace and peace is ensured
by strength. Missiles were developed to strengthen the country.

[edit] Personal life

Father a devout Muslim, 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.

Kalam observes strict personal discipline, vegetarianism, teetotalism and celibacy. Kalam
is a scholar of Thirukkural; in most of his speeches, he quotes at least one kural. Kalam
has written several inspirational books, most notably his autobiography Wings of Fire,
aimed at motivating Indian youth. Another of his books, Guiding Souls: Dialogues on the
Purpose of Life reveals his spiritual side. He has written poems in Tamil as well. It has
been reported that there is considerable demand in South Korea for translated versions of
books authored by him. [8].

Dr. Kalam received an honorary doctorate from Carnegie Mellon University.

[edit] Kalam as an engineer

Abdul Kalam graduated from Madras Institute of Technology majoring in Aeronautical
Engineering. As the Project Director, He was heavily involved in the development of
India's first indigenous Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-III). As Chief Executive of
Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP), he also played a major
part in developing many missiles of India including Agni and Prithvi. Although the entire
project has been criticized for being overrun and mismanaged.[9]. He was the Chief
Scientific Adviser to Defence Minister and Secretary, Department of Defence Research
& Development from July 1992 to December 1999. Pokhran-II nuclear tests were
conducted during this period, led by him.

[edit] Honours
He has received honorary doctorates from as many as thirty universities .[10] The
Government of India has honoured him with the nation's highest civilian honours: the
Padma Bhushan in 1981; Padma Vibhushan in 1990; and the Bharat Ratna in 1997.

Kalam is the Third President of India to have been honoured with a Bharat Ratna before
being elected to the highest office, the other two being Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and
Zakir Hussain. He is also the first scientist and first bachelor to occupy Rashtrapati
Bhavan.
Referred to as the "People's President", Kalam is often considered amongst India's
greatest presidents, going on to win a poll conducted by news channel CNN-IBN for
India's Best President. Dr. Abdul Kalam is not only popular in India, but he is widely
known in adjacent country such as Pakistan.

[edit] Books and Documentaries

• India 2020: A Vision for the New Millennium by A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Y.S. Rajan
(Penguin Books India, 2003)
• India-my-dream by A.P.J. Abdul Kalam (Excel Books, 2004)
• Envisioning an Empowered Nation: Technology for Societal Transformation by
A.P.J.Abdul Kalam (TATA McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Ltd, 2004)
• Guiding Souls: Dialogues on the Purpose of Life by A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Arun K
Tiwari, (Ocean Books, 2005)
• Children Ask Kalam by A.P.J Abdul Kalam (Pearson Education) ISBN 81-7758-
245-3
• Biographies and Autobiographies
o Wings of Fire: An Autobiography of APJ Abdul Kalam by A.P.J Abdul
Kalam, Arun Tiwari (Orient Longman, 1999)
o Ignited Minds: Unleashing the Power Within India by A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
(Penguin Books, 2003)
o Scientist to President by Abdul A.P.J. Kalam (Gyan Publishing House,
2003)
o Eternal Quest: Life and Times of Dr. Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul
Kalam by S. Chandra (Pentagon Publishers, 2002)
o President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam by R. K. Pruthi (Anmol Publications, 2002)
o A. P. J. Abdul Kalam: The Visionary of India' by K. Bhushan, G. Katyal
(A.P.H. Pub. Corp, 2002)
o kalAM mEShTru, . : The Life sketch of Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam : A
Story of, President , Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, as told to the Children of
India, with interesting anecdotes, and Photos, in Kannada Language, By
Prof. Shri. H. R. Ramakrishna Rao, Published by the Kannada Pustaka
Pradhikara, Bengaluru,
o A little Dream - A 60-minute documentary film in English, capturing the
journey of former President of India, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam's life from
Rameswaram to Rastrapathi Bhavan [11]. It is scripted in the style of story-
in-story, and is produced by Minveli Media Works Private Limited, India.
It is scripted and directed by P. Dhanapal. 'Importance of Education', is the
theme of the film, which also contains sound and video footages of
important people associated with Dr Kalam[12]. A Little Dream is a spark
inducer for the younger generation towards the goal 'Importance of
Education'.Abdul kalam was an scientist.

[edit] Contact
APJ Abdulkalam has his own website and email address. The website is
www.abdulkalam.com and his email id as mentioned in the site is apj@abdulkalam.com.
He does read emails sent to him as is evident from the fact that he quotes emails sent to
him in his speeches.

[edit] References
1. ^ A Brief Biography of Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
2. ^ President of India : Rashtrapati Bhavan : Former Presidents
3. ^ http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/FullcoverageStoryPage.aspx?
id=d1dfada8-d9b3-4783-ad6a-44f56165dd9fWho%20will%20be%20India%27s
%20next
%20President_Special&MatchID1=4815&TeamID1=6&TeamID2=1&MatchTyp
e1=1&SeriesID1=1212&PrimaryID=4815&Headline=
%27Kalam+was+real+people%27s+President%27
4. ^ http://www.hindu.com/2007/04/14/stories/2007041411130100.htm
5. ^ R. K. Pruthi.President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.Anmol Publications, 2002. ISBN-
13: 978-8126113446; Ch. 4. Missile Man of Idia. pp. 61–76
6. ^ Amartya Sen. India and the Bomb. Prisoners of the Nuclear Dream. M. V.
Ramana and C. Rammanohar Reddy (editors), pp. 167–188. Sangam Book, 2003.
ISBN-13: 978-8125024774
7. ^ Everyone else has died as shown in brackets, here
8. ^ "Kalam, the author catching on in South Korea".
http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?id=354077.
9. ^ "Missile plan: Some hits, misses".
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Missile_plan_Some_hits_misses/articleshow/2
684641.cms.
10. ^ http://presidentofindia.nic.in/scripts/thepresident.jsp
11. ^ http://www.hindu.com/2008/01/25/stories/2008012550520200.htm
12. ^ http://www.poduniversal.com/2008/01/documentary-film-on-dr-abdul-
kalam.html

[edit] External links

• Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam - A Site for Inspiration and Nation Building
• Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam: Former President of India

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Abdul Kalam

Political offices

Preceded by President of India Succeeded by

K. R. Narayanan July 25, 2002 – July 25, 2007 Pratibha Patil
[show]
v•d•e
Presidents of
India

[show]
v•d•e
Bharat Ratna
laureates

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdul_Kalam"

Categories: 1931 births | Bharat Ratna recipients | Indian Muslims | Indian scientists |
Indian vegetarians | Indian Space Research Organisation people | Defence Research and
Development Organisation | Living people | Padma Bhushan recipients | Padma
Vibhushan recipients | Presidents of India | Tamil politicians | Tamil scientists | Tamil
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