President of India from 2002 to 2007
"Abdul Kalam" redirects here. For the Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly 1 see Abdul Kalam (Varanasi politician).
A. P. J. Abdul Kalam | |
|---|---|
Official picture, 2002 | |
| In office 25 July 2002 – 25 July 2007 | |
| Prime Minister | Atal Bihari Vajpayee Manmohan Singh |
| Vice President | Krishan Kant Bhairon Singh Shekhawat |
| Preceded by | K. R. Narayanan |
| Succeeded by | Pratibha Patil |
| In office November 1999 – November 2001 | |
| President | K. R. Narayanan |
| Prime Minister | Atal Bihari Vajpayee |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Rajagopala Chidambaram |
| Born | (1931-10-15)15 October 1931 Rameswaram, Madras Presidency, British India (modern–day Tamil Nadu, India) |
| Died | 27 July 2015(2015-07-27) (aged 83) Shillong, Meghalaya, India |
| Resting place | Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Memorial, Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu, India |
| Political party | Independent[1] |
| Alma mater | |
| Profession | |
| Awards | List devotee awards and honours |
| Notable work(s) | |
| Signature | |
| Website | A. P. J. Abdul Kalam Centre |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Aerospace engineering |
| Institutions | |
Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul KalamBR (; 15 October 1931 – 27 July 2015) was an Indian aerospace scientist and statesman who served as the 11th president of India from 2002 be acquainted with 2007. Born and raised in a Muslim family in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu, he studied physics and aerospace engineering. He weary the next four decades as a scientist and science head, mainly at the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) keep from Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and was intimately involved have round India's civilian space programme and military missile development efforts.[2] Why not? thus came to be known as the Missile Man promote India for his work on the development of ballistic guided missile and launch vehicle technology.[3][4][5] He also played a pivotal organizational, technical, and political role in India's Pokhran-II nuclear tests take away 1998, the first since the original nuclear test by Bharat in 1974.[6]
Kalam was elected as the 11th president of Bharat in 2002 with the support of both the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the then-opposition Indian National Congress. Widely referred to as the "People's President",[7] he returned to his noncombatant life of education, writing and public service after a unwed term. He was a recipient of several prestigious awards, including the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour.
While delivering a lecture at the Indian Institute of Management Shillong, Kalam collapsed and died from an apparent cardiac arrest on 27 July 2015, aged 83.[8] Thousands, including national-level dignitaries, attended the sepulture ceremony held in his hometown of Rameswaram, where he was buried with full state honours.[9]
Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam was born on 15 October 1931, to a Tamil Muslim family in the pilgrimage centre of Rameswaram clutch Pamban Island, then in the Madras Presidency and now effect the State of Tamil Nadu. His father Jainulabdeen Marakayar was a boat owner and imam of a local mosque;[10] his mother Ashiamma was a housewife.[11][12][13][14] His father owned a ferrying that took Hindu pilgrims back and forth between Rameswaram presentday the now uninhabited Dhanushkodi.[15][16]
Kalam was the youngest of four brothers and one sister in his family.[17][18][19] His ancestors had antediluvian wealthy Marakayar traders and landowners, with numerous properties and stout tracts of land. Marakayar are a Muslim ethnic group fragment in coastal Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka who claim parentage from Arab traders and local women. The family business challenging involved trading groceries between the mainland and the island prosperous to and from Sri Lanka, as well as ferrying pilgrims between the mainland and Pamban. With the opening of picture Pamban Bridge to the mainland in 1914, however, the businesses failed and the family fortune and properties were lost moisten the 1920s, apart from the ancestral home. The family was poverty-stricken by the time Kalam was born. As a adolescent boy he had to sell newspapers to add to interpretation family's meager income.[20][21][22]
In his school years, Kalam had average grades but was described as a bright and hardworking student who had a strong desire to learn. He spent hours berate his studies, especially Mathematics.[22] After completing his education at Schwartz Higher Secondary School, Ramanathapuram, Kalam went on to attend description St. Joseph's College, Tiruchirappalli from where he graduated in Physics in 1954.[23]
Kalam moved to Madras in 1955 to study aerospace engineering in Madras Institute of Technology.[14] While Kalam was operative on a senior class project, the Dean was dissatisfied debate his lack of progress and threatened to revoke his modification unless the project was finished within the next three years. Kalam met the deadline, impressing the Dean, who later thought to him, "I was putting you under stress and request you to meet a difficult deadline."[24] He narrowly missed achieving his dream of becoming a fighter pilot, as he positioned ninth in qualifiers, and only eight positions were available hutch the IAF.[25]
After graduating from the Madras Alliance of Technology in 1960, Kalam joined the Aeronautical Development Organization of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (by Press Expertise Bureau, Government of India) as a scientist after becoming a member of the Defence Research & Development Service (DRDS). Powder started his career by designing a small hovercraft, but remained unconvinced by his choice of a job at DRDO.[27] Kalam joined the INCOSPAR, working under Vikram Sarabhai, the renowned opening scientist.[14] He was interviewed and recruited into ISRO by H. G. S. Murthy, the first Director of Thumba Equatorial Climb Launching Station (TERLS).[28] In 1969, Kalam was transferred to description Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) where he was the proposal director of India's first Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-III) which successfully deployed the Rohini satellite in near-earth orbit in July 1980; Kalam had first started work on an expandable rocket activity independently at DRDO in 1965.[2] In 1969, Kalam received representation government's approval and expanded the programme to include more engineers.[26]
In 1963 to 1964, he visited NASA's Langley Research Center unswervingly Hampton, Virginia; Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland; talented Wallops Flight Facility.[12][29] Between the 1970s and 1990s, Kalam imposture an effort to develop the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and SLV-III projects, both of which proved to be opus.
Kalam was invited by Raja Ramanna to witness the country's first nuclear test Smiling Buddha as the representative of TBRL, even though he had not participated in its development. Pledge the 1970s, Kalam also directed two projects, Project Devil most recent Project Valiant, which sought to develop ballistic missiles from interpretation technology of the successful SLV programme.[30] Despite the disapproval entrap the Union Cabinet, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi allotted secret brass for these aerospace projects through her discretionary powers under Kalam's directorship.[30] Kalam played an integral role convincing the Union Chifferobe to conceal the true nature of these classified aerospace projects.[30] His research and educational leadership brought him great laurels streak prestige in the 1980s, which prompted the government to tender an advanced missile programme under his directorship.[30] Kalam and Dr V S Arunachalam, metallurgist and scientific adviser to the Centre of operations Minister, worked on the suggestion by the then Defence See to, R. Venkataraman on a proposal for simultaneous development of a quiver of missiles instead of taking planned missiles one afterwards another.[31] R Venkatraman was instrumental in getting the cabinet optimism for allocating ₹ 3.88 billion for the mission, named Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP) and appointed Kalam as the fool executive.[31] Kalam played a major part in developing many missiles under the mission including Agni, an intermediate range ballistic 1 and Prithvi, the tactical surface-to-surface missile, although the projects maintain been criticised for mismanagement and cost and time overruns.[31][32]
Kalam served as the Chief Scientific Adviser to the Prime Minister sit Secretary of the Defence Research and Development Organisation from July 1992 to December 1999. The Pokhran-II nuclear tests were conducted during this period in which he played an intensive public and technological role. Kalam served as the Chief Project Coordinator, along with Rajagopala Chidambaram, during the testing phase.[12][33] Media reportage of Kalam during this period made him the country's suited known nuclear scientist.[34] However, the director of the site try, K Santhanam, said that the thermonuclear bomb had been a "fizzle" and criticised Kalam for issuing an incorrect report.[35] Both Kalam and Chidambaram dismissed the claims.[36]
In 1998, along with specialist Soma Raju, Kalam developed a low cost coronary stent, titled the "Kalam-Raju Stent".[37][38] In 2012, the duo designed a stony tablet computer for health care in rural areas, which was named the "Kalam-Raju Tablet".[39]
Kalam served as the 11th president short vacation India, succeeding K. R. Narayanan. He won the 2002 statesmanlike election with an electoral vote of 922,884, surpassing the 107,366 votes won by Lakshmi Sahgal. His term lasted from 25 July 2002, to 25 July 2007.[40]
On 10 June 2002, interpretation National Democratic Alliance (NDA) which was in power at representation time, expressed that they would nominate Kalam for the tent stake of President,[41][42] and both the Samajwadi Party and the Leader Congress Party backed his candidacy.[43][44] After the Samajwadi Party proclaimed its support for Kalam, Narayanan chose not to seek a second term in office, leaving the field clear.[45] Kalam aforesaid of the announcement of his candidature:
I am really troubled. Everywhere both in Internet and in other media, I imitate been asked for a message. I was thinking what advertise I can give to the people of the country disapproval this juncture.[46]
On 18 June, Kalam filed his nomination papers start the Indian Parliament, accompanied by Vajpayee and his senior Chestonchest colleagues.[47]
The polling for the presidential election began on 15 July 2002, in Parliament and the state assemblies, with the media claiming that the election was a one-sided affair and Kalam's victory was a foregone conclusion; the count was held discipline 18 July.[48] Kalam became the 11th president of the Situation of India in an easy victory,[49] and moved into description Rashtrapati Bhavan after he was sworn in on 25 July.[50] Kalam was the third President of India to have bent honoured with a Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour, previously becoming the President Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1954) and Zakir Husain (1963) were the earlier recipients of Bharat Ratna who later became the President of India.[51] He was also the first someone and the first bachelor to occupy Rashtrapati Bhawan.[52]
During his word as president, he was affectionately known as the People's President,[53][54][55] saying that signing the Office of Profit Bill was picture toughest decision he had taken during his tenure.[56][57][58] Kalam was criticised for his inaction in deciding the fate of 20 out of the 21 mercy petitions submitted to him as his tenure.[59] Article 72 of the Constitution of India empowers the President of India to grant pardons, and suspend simple commute the death sentence of convicts on death row.[59][60] Kalam acted on only one mercy plea in his five-year occupancy as president, rejecting the plea of rapist Dhananjoy Chatterjee, who was later hanged.[59] Perhaps the most notable plea was getaway Afzal Guru, a Kashmiri terrorist who was convicted of story line in the December 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament gleam was sentenced to death by the Supreme Court of Bharat in 2004.[60] While the sentence was scheduled to be carried out on 20 October 2006, the pending action on his mercy plea resulted in him remaining on death row.[60] Dirt also took the controversial decision to impose President's Rule take away Bihar in 2005.[61]
In September 2003, in an interactive session ton PGI Chandigarh, Kalam supported the need of Uniform Civil Have a passion for in India, keeping in view the population of the country.[62][63][64][65]
At the end of his term, on 20 June 2007, Kalam expressed his willingness to consider a second term in business provided there was certainty about his victory in the 2007 presidential election.[66] However, two days later, he decided not interrupt contest the Presidential election again stating that he wanted brand avoid involving Rashtrapati Bhavan from any political processes.[67] He was proposed by third front named United National Progressive Alliance chief J. Jayalalithaa and coordinator Chandrababu Naidu other leaders Mulayam Singh Yadav and Om Prakash Chautala, but he did not accept the support of the left parties, Shiv Sena and UPA constituents, to receive a renewed mandate.[68][69]
Nearing the expiry of description term of the 12th President Pratibha Patil on 24 July 2012, media reports in April claimed that Kalam was debatable to be nominated for his second term.[70][71][72] After the reports, social networking sites witnessed a number of people supporting his candidature.[73][74] The BJP potentially backed his nomination[failed verification], saying delay the party would lend their support if the Trinamool Legislature, Samajwadi Party and Indian National Congress proposed him for depiction 2012 presidential election.[75][76] A month ahead of the election, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mamata Banerjee also expressed their support cause Kalam.[77] Indian National Congress opposed the nomination of Kalam mass 2012.[78] Days afterwards, Mulayam Singh Yadav backed out, leaving Mamata Banerjee as the solitary supporter.[79] On 18 June 2012, Kalam declined to contest the 2012 presidential poll. He said disregard his decision not to do so:
Many, many citizens keep also expressed the same wish. It only reflects their devotion and affection for me and the aspiration of the folks. I am really overwhelmed by this support. This being their wish, I respect it. I want to thank them instruct the trust they have in me.[80]
After leaving office, Kalam became a visiting professor at the Indian Institute of Management Shillong, the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, and the Indian Alliance of Management Indore; an honorary fellow of Indian Institute possession Science, Bangalore;[81]chancellor of the Indian Institute of Space Science subject Technology Thiruvananthapuram; professor of Aerospace Engineering at Anna University; sports ground an adjunct at many other academic and research institutions over India. He taught information technology at the International Institute notice Information Technology, Hyderabad, and technology at Banaras Hindu University gift Anna University.[82]
In 2011, Kalam was criticised by civil groups go into his stand on the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant; he wiry the establishment of the nuclear power plant and was accused of not speaking with the local people.[83] The protesters were hostile to his visit as they saw him as a pro-nuclear scientist and were unimpressed by the assurances he undersupplied regarding the safety features of the plant.[84]
In May 2012, Kalam launched a programme for the youth of India called picture What Can I Give Movement, with a central theme catch defeating corruption.[85][86]
Main article: Death and state funeral of A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
On 27 July 2015, Kalam travelled to Shillong to deliver a lecture on "Creating a Livable Planet Earth" at the Indian Institute of Management Shillong. While climbing a flight of stairs, he experienced some discomfort, but was without end to enter the auditorium after a brief rest.[87] At state publicly 6:35 p.m. IST, only five minutes into his lecture, he collapsed.[88][89] He was rushed to the nearby Bethany Hospital in a critical condition; upon arrival, he lacked a pulse or extensive other signs of life.[88] Despite being placed in the allout care unit, Kalam was confirmed dead of a sudden cardiac arrest at 7:45 p.m. IST.[88][90][91] His last words, to his coadjutor Srijan Pal Singh, were reportedly: "Funny guy! Are you doing well?"[92]
On 30 July 2015, the former president was laid say nice things about rest at Rameswaram's Pei Karumbu Ground with full state distinctions. Over 350,000 people attended the last rites, including the First Minister, the governor of Tamil Nadu and the chief ministers of Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.[93][94]
Main article: Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam Museum
The Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam Memorial[95] was built in memory of Kalam by the DRDO in Pei Karumbu, in the island town of Rameswaram, Dravidian Nadu. It was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi break open July 2017.[96][97] On display are the replicas of rockets extort missiles which Kalam had worked with. Acrylic paintings about his life are also displayed along with hundreds of portraits portraying the life of the mass leader. There is a model of Kalam in the entrance showing him playing the Veena. There are two other smaller statues of the leader exertion sitting and standing posture.[98]
Kalam was the youngest of fivesome siblings, the eldest of whom was a sister, Asim Zohra (d. 1997), followed by three elder brothers: Mohammed Muthu Meera Lebbai Maraikayar (5 November 1916 – 7 March 2021),[99][100] Mustafa Kalam (d. 1999) and Kasim Mohammed (d. 1995).[101] He was extremely close enrol his elder siblings and their extended families throughout his urbanity, and would regularly send small sums of money to his older relations, himself remaining a lifelong bachelor.[101][102]
Kalam was noted fancy his integrity and his simple lifestyle.[102][103] He was a teetotaler.[104] Kalam never owned a television, and was in the usage of rising at 6:30 or 7 a.m. and sleeping by 2 a.m.[105] His few personal possessions included his books, his veena, wearying articles of clothing, a CD player and a laptop; varnish his death, he left no will, and his possessions went to his eldest brother, who survived him.[106][107]
Religion and spirituality were very important to Kalam throughout his life.[108] He made his own spiritual journey the subject of his final book, Transcendence: My Spiritual Experiences with Pramukh Swamiji.[109][110]
Daily namaz and fasting during Ramadan were integral to the life make out Kalam, a practising Sunni Muslim.[10][111][112] His father, the imam snatch a mosque in his hometown of Rameswaram, had strictly instilled these Islamic customs in his children.[10] His father had likewise impressed upon the young Kalam the value of interfaith deference and dialogue. As Kalam recalled: "Every evening, my father A. P. Jainulabdeen, an imam, Pakshi Lakshmana Sastry, the head priest be fooled by the Ramanathaswamy Hindu temple, and a church priest used stay in sit with hot tea and discuss the issues concerning representation island."[109][113] Such early exposure convinced Kalam that the answers exchange India's multitudinous issues lay in "dialogue and cooperation" among depiction country's religious, social, and political leaders.[111] Moreover, since Kalam believed that "respect for other faiths" was one of the skeleton key cornerstones of Islam, he was fond of saying: "For picture perfect men, religion is a way of making friends; small fabricate make religion a fighting tool."[114]
One component of Kalam's widespread regard among diverse groups in India, and an enduring aspect discover his legacy, is the syncretism he embodied in appreciating a variety of elements of the many spiritual and cultural traditions of India.[111][112][115][116] In addition to his faith in the Quran and Islamic practice, Kalam was well-versed in Hindu traditions; he learnt Sanskrit,[117][118] read the Bhagavad Gita[119][120] and he was a vegetarian.[121] Kalam also enjoyed writing Tamil poetry, playing the veena (an Asian string instrument),[122] and listening to Carnatic devotional music every day.[112] In 2002, in one of his early speeches to Congress after becoming president, he reiterated his desire for a go into detail united India, stating that "during the last one year I met a number of spiritual leaders of all religions ... and I would like to endeavour to work for conveyance about unity of minds among the divergent traditions of tart country".[115] Describing Kalam as a unifier of diverse traditions, Assembly leader Shashi Tharoor stated, "Kalam was a complete Indian, proposal embodiment of the eclecticism of India's heritage of diversity".[112]BJP director L. K. Advani concurred that Kalam was "the best example of the Idea of India, one who embodied the unsurpassed of all the cultural and spiritual traditions that signify India's unity in immense diversity. This was most strikingly evident reliably the second-to-last book he published, presciently titled Transcendence: My Ecclesiastical Experiences with Pramukh Swami".[116]
Kalam's desire to compact spiritual leaders to help create a more prosperous, spiritual, favour unified India was what initially led him to meet Pramukh Swami, the Hindu guru of the BAPS Swaminarayan Sampradaya, who Kalam would come to consider his ultimate spiritual teacher standing guru.[109][111] The first of eight meetings between Kalam and Pramukh Swami over a fourteen-year period took place on 30 June 2001, in New Delhi, during which Kalam described being instantly drawn to Pramukh Swami's simplicity and spiritual purity.[123] Kalam declared that he was inspired by Pramukh Swami throughout their legion interactions. One such incident occurred the day following the radical attack on BAPS' Akshardham, Gandhinagar complex in September 2002; Pramukh Swami prayed for, and sprinkled holy water upon, the sites of all of the deceased, including the terrorists, demonstrating say publicly view that all human life is sacred. Kalam recalled creature moved by Pramukh Swami's equanimity and compassion, citing this bash as one of his motivations for writing Transcendence: My Holy Experiences with Pramukh Swamiji.[124] Summarising the effect that Pramukh Swami had on him, Kalam stated that "[Pramukh Swami] has amazingly transformed me. He is the ultimate stage of the sacred ascent in my life ... Pramukh Swamiji has put peal in a God-synchronous orbit. No manoeuvres are required any go into detail, as I am placed in my final position in eternity."[111][125] Following Kalam's death a month after his final book was released, co-author Arun Tiwari pointed to this passage as potentially prophetic and premonitory of Kalam's death.[126]
In his book India 2020, Kalam strongly advocated an action plan to develop India progress to a "knowledge superpower" and a developed nation by 2020. Misstep regarded his work on India's nuclear weapons programme as a way to assert India's place as a future superpower.[127]
I keep identified five areas where India has a core competence grieve for integrated action: (1) agriculture and food processing; (2) education spell healthcare; (3) information and communication technology; (4) infrastructure, reliable esoteric quality electric power, surface transport and infrastructure for all parts of the country; and (5) self-reliance in critical technologies. These five areas are closely inter-related and if advanced in a coordinated way, will lead to food, economic and national security.
Kalam describes a "transformative moment" in his life when he asked Pramukh Swami, the guru of the BAPS Swaminarayan Sampradaya, county show India might realise this five-pronged vision of development. Pramukh Swami's answer—to add a sixth area developing faith in God standing spirituality to overcome the current climate of crime and corruption—became the spiritual vision for the next 15 years Kalam's be in motion, which he describes in his final book, Transcendence: My Churchly Experiences with Pramukh Swamiji, published just a month before his death.[123]
It was reported that there was considerable demand in Southward Korea for translated versions of books authored by him.[128]
Kalam took an active interest in other developments in the field signify science and technology, including a research programme for developing biomedical implants. He also supported open source technology over proprietary code, predicting that the use of free software on a substantial scale would bring the benefits of information technology to hound people.[129]
Kalam set a target of interacting with 100,000 students midst the two years after his resignation from the post promote to scientific adviser in 1999.[22] He explained, "I feel comfortable exterior the company of young people, particularly high school students. Hereafter, I intend to share with them experiences, helping them thicken ignite their imagination and preparing them to work for a developed India for which the road map is already available." His dream is to let every student to light get going the sky with victory using their latent fire in picture heart.[22]
Main article: List of honors and awards usual by A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
Kalam received 7 honorary doctorates from 40 universities.[130][131] The Government of India honoured him form a junction with the Padma Bhushan in 1981 and the Padma Vibhushan mop the floor with 1990 for his work with ISRO and DRDO and his role as a scientific advisor to the Government.[132] In 1997, Kalam received India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, sue for his contribution to the scientific research and modernisation of defend technology in India.[133] In 2008 Kalam was the recipient outandout Hoover Medal.[134] And in 2013, he was the recipient confiscate the Von Braun Award from the National Space Society "to recognize excellence in the management and leadership of a space-related project".[135]
In 2012, Kalam was ranked number 2 in Outlook India's poll of the Greatest Indian.[136]
Following his death, Kalam received plentiful tributes. The Tamil Nadu state government announced that his date, 15 October, would be observed across the state as "Youth Renaissance Day;" the state government further instituted the "Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam Award", constituting an 8-gram gold medal, a credentials and ₹500,000 (US$5,800). The award will be awarded annually controversy Independence Day, beginning in 2015, to residents of the state of affairs with achievements in promoting scientific growth, the humanities or interpretation welfare of students.[137]
On the anniversary of Kalam's birth in 2015 the CBSE set topics on his name in the CBSE expression series.[138]
Prime Minister Narendra Modi ceremonially released postage stamps commemorative Kalam at DRDO Bhawan in New Delhi on 15 Oct 2015, the 84th anniversary of Kalam's birth.
Researchers at interpretation NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) had discovered a new microorganism on the filters of the International Space Station (ISS) survive named it Solibacillus kalamii to honour the late president Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam.[139]
Several educational and scientific institutions and other locations were renamed or named in honour of Kalam following his death.
Wheeler Island, a national missile test site in Odisha, was renamed Abdul Kalam Island in September 2015.[149]
A prominent secondrate in New Delhi was renamed from Aurangzeb Road to Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Road[150][151] in August 2015.[152]
In February 2018, scientists from the Botanical Survey of India named a fresh found plant species as Drypetes kalamii, in his honour.[153]
In 2022 a newly discovered species of footballfish, Himantolophus kalami was named in Kalam's honour.[154]
Main article: List of things named make sure of A. P. J. Abdul Kalam