The Hindu : National : 30,000 answers to Kalam poser

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Wednesday, Jul 25, 2007
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30,000 answers to Kalam poser

Anand Parthasarathy

Query on terrorism elicited responses from 15,000 children

Bangalore: A.P.J. Abdul Kalam’s last day as President was marked by final proof of the charismatic hold he has on ordinary Indians, especially children. He announced the best answer he received to a question he had posed six months ago on “Yahoo! India Answers,” a service of the Indian edition of the Web portal where any one can ask a question and seek answers from other surfers.

The President’s poser was: What should we do to free our planet from terrorism? The answers kept pouring in from concerned Indians for weeks on end... totalling over 30,000 from India and many from countries such as Brazil and Spain, where the question was featured after translation. It was one of the highest responses Yahoo received to the Answers service.

A Yahoo team drew up a list of a few dozens, from among the responses. Mr. Kalam went through them in the last few days to select two as providing, in combination, the best solution “based on their thinking and action-oriented suggestions.” The two persons were Sugato Mitra and Karthik Durairajan in that order.

Interestingly, the Kalam query elicited responses from over 15,000 children — and he selected the 10 best. Rishi Behal, director, Yahoo India, told The Hindu on Tuesday that the children would be flown to the U.S. for an educa tional tour of the original Silicon Valley in California.

Answers came from people of all walks of life and included thoughtful responses from top police official Kiran Bedi, sportsperson Leander Paes and spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. The President was also keen on posing another question to fellow Indians — on fossil fuels. He might ask that question after demitting office... and continue his dialogue with ordinary Indians.

The Kalam questions and the answers can be seen at http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Ap7jG4P9i2_swTncJCClrK6rRhV.?qid=20070112135510AAD7SB8

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