Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam - India's Missile Man

Born - 15 October 1931
Died -  27 July 2015

Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam, popularly known as Dr.A P J Abdul Kalam, the son of a little educated boat-owner in Rameswaram, Tamil Naidu, has become the 11th President of the Republic of India. It is very significant that he is the first scientist to occupy the Rashtrapati Bhavan. He is the man, who has taken up to himself, the task of changing the destiny of India. He is a man with a vision. His vision is to make India a developed country. He has given his plan of action and a road map for realizing his vision. He has articulated his thoughts in his three books:India 2020:A vision for the New Millennium, Wings of Fire:An Autobiography of APJ Abdul Kalam & Ignited Minds:Unleashing the Power within India.India has already started looking to Dr. Kalam for inspiration and guidance. Dr. Kalam's contribution to India's defense capabilities is very significant.

Dr. Kalam's parents, Jainulabdeen(father) & Ashiamma(mother) commanded a high respect as a religious family. Dr. Kalam has acknowledged that his scientific accomplishment and his views are very much influenced by his parents and other well-wishers. To quote him from his autobiography:"Every child is born, with some characteristics, into a specific socio economic and emotional environment, and trained along the way, in certain ways by figures of authority. I inherited honesty and self-discipline from my father; from my mother,I inherited faith in goodness and deep kindness.

After studying in a primary school in Ramaeswaran, Dr. Kalam went to Schwartz High School at Ramanathpuram from where he went to Tiruchchirapali for his higher studies. After completing his B.Sc from St. Joseph's college he joined the Madras Institute of Technology (MIT), for studying Aeronautical Engineering.
From MIT, he went to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) at Bangalore as a trainee. Dr. Kalam joined the Technical Centre (Civil Aviation) as Senior Scientific Assistant on a basic salary of Rs.250/-. While working at the Air force Directorate, he got a chance to realize his dream. He joined the Indian Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR), the predecessor of the Indian Space Research Organisation(ISRO). And thus Kalam started his much talked about career in rocket and missile technology. Before he became President of the country, Dr. Kalam had divided his career in four phases.

In the first phase (1963-82) he worked with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). At ISRO he served in various capacities. Commenting on the first phase of his career Dr. Kalam wrote:"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 acquistion of knowledge for me."

The second Phase of his career started when he joined the Defense Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in 1982. As Director of DRDO, Dr. Kalam as entrusted with the Integreated Guided Missile Development Program (IGMDP). Under his leadership India has been able to develop strategic missiles. Like Nag (an anti-tank guided missile), Prithvi (a surface to surface battelfield missile, Akash(a swift, medium-range surface-to-air missile), Trishul(a quick-reaction surface-to-air missile), and Agni(an intermediate range ballistic missile).About this phase Dr. Kalam wrote:"During this stage, I have gone through many successes & failures. I learnt from failures and hardened myself with courage to face them.This was my second stage, which taught me the crucial lesson of managing failures."

Dr. Kalam identifies his third phase with his participation with India's mission to become a nuclear weapon state, jointly undertaken by DRDO and Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) with the active support of the armed forces. During this phase he, as chairman of the Technology Information,Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC), also got involved with the creation of Technology Vision 2020 and the India Millennium Missions (IMM 2020, which is an integrated version of technology vision and Indian's security concerns. In November 1999, Dr. Kalam was appointed as Principle Scientific Adviser to the Government of India.

His fourth phase started after he left the post of Principle Scientific Adviser. He joined the Anna University at Chennai as Professor of Technology and Societal Transformation. As part of realizing his mission, he decided to ignite the minds of the young.For this he met students in different parts of the country. His fourth phase took a sudden turn, which he himself perhaps did not visualize. He became the President of India.
In 1997, Dr. Kalam was given the highest civilian award of India, the Bharat Ratna.

While delivering a lecture at the Indian Institute of Management Shillong, Dr. Kalam collapsed and died from an apparent cardiac arrest on 27 July 2015, aged 83.

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