The Hindu : Peace vital for attaining growth, says Kalam

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jan 26, 2004

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Peace vital for attaining growth, says Kalam

By Neena Vyas

NEW DELHI, JAN. 25. The President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, today detailed the profile of India as a developed nation by 2020 while emphasising that peace was a "paramount ingredient" to achieve this, as wars and proxy wars were "expensive detractors" from the goal of development.

It is only when "the guns are silent that flowers blossom on the earth," he said, reciting four lines from a poem, even as he added that the nation will always be grateful to "successful peacemakers."

Although there were no direct references to the recent thaw in India-Pakistan relations and the prospect of a bilateral dialogue between the two countries, his emphasis on peace left little doubt of his wholehearted approval of any process leading to lasting peace.

Mr. Kalam made a pointed reference to the need to "protect the brand image of higher education" as he spoke of the Indian Institutes of Technology, the Indian Institutes of Management and the Indian Institute of Science at Bangalore as "world class brand institutions" whose "characteristics must be preserved and nurtured." His comments were seen as an indirect reference to the allegations by academics and alumni that the Government was trying to interfere in their functioning.

Mr. Kalam was addressing the nation on the eve of the 55th Republic Day. He covered a wide range of issues while enumerating 10 points in a profile of a developed and competitive India. Reduction of the urban-rural divide to a "thin line"; equitable distribution of energy and water; best of health care and education for all; transparent and corruption-free governance; and, finally, elimination of poverty, illiteracy and crimes against women were points in this profile.

A second green revolution was needed to increase foodgrains production to 400 million tonnes a year, power generation needed to be tripled in the next 16 years and India should aggressively enter the global market with its space programme, the President said.

Citizens needed to be proactive to ensure that the Government responds, the bureaucracy should be fearless in its service to the people, and scientists and teachers, he said, should come out of their campuses and laboratories to engage the community around them and ask themselves how best they could use their knowledge to impact the lives of ordinary people.

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