Dr APJ Abdul Kalam was one of the most futuristic leaders which is apparent through the Vision 2020 which he formulated," is one of the first thoughts that Srijan Pal Singh, author, speaker and more importantly, former advisor (Technology and Policy) to the former president Dr APJ Abdul Kalam and his close aid, shares with us. "He predicted IT boom and digital evolution," says the Lucknow-born Singh. In the realm of electricity, defense, and space too, a lot of progress has been made, but as always, there is a flipside. "I was in Chennai recently and the water crisis there is dismal," he says. Then there is the urban-rural divide, the gap between private and government institutions and a few other aspects leave much to be desired. "Even the National Education Policy is a little too late, I wish it had happened earlier. We are running behind when it comes to education," he says and adds, "Dr Kalam wanted to be remembered as a teacher and after his presidency, devoted a huge chunk of his time to educational institutions. That is the kind of importance he attached to youth and education. Three out of five of his events were at a school or college. He used to always say that people of great stature need to devote time to students and he did the same," recalls Singh, CEO of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Centre.
Dr Kalam and Singh had famously co-authored the book Reignited which explored different developments and career paths that students could take up. This April, Singh wrote Reignited 2 which takes the cause further ahead and talks about the emerging technologies of tomorrow. "This second volume is similar in format and targetted towards the same kind of reader," informs Singh, who is an IIM Ahmedabad alumnus. Singh is treating both the books as teaching modules and is taking them to schools, especially government schools, so that more and more people can benefit from them.
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Would Dr Kalam be proud of the today's youth, which he considered the most powerful resource, we wonder out loud. "The youth today no longer feels inferior to anybody and is proud of their identity and India. But on the other side, Dr Kalam had also said that the youth is impatient and are quick to judge things. Youth needs to develop patience, which is an extremely important trait. Critical thinking is the need of the hour which can curb these knee-jerk opinions. One should evaluate things based on reason," offers Singh. And as Dr Kalam wished, he too wishes to see the youth take the country to places.
Smaller things
We all know about Vision 2020, but what are the smaller things that Dr Kalam focused on? Singh shares them with us
- What can I give?: Everyone wants to take and that is the basis of all problems. We need to think about what we can give
- Make mother's smile: Through everything that you do, make your mother's smile so that the home smiles and as a result, the nation smiles and the world is a happier place
For more on them, check out kalamcentre.org
