Thursday, September 16, 2021
Friday, May 20, 2016
Balaji Sampath ; Unedited material collected for Effective People by Prof T V Rao
Unsung Heroes
|
Balaji Sampath
|
The purpose of true
learning is to understand the subjects well. Literacy rate or level of education
cannot be the measure of the comprehension of subjects among students. One
such individual who has taken the initiative to foster the process of
learning rather than rote-memorization of subjects, to give the youth a
technical and analytical mindset is Balaji Sampath. Balaji Sampath has for
the past 20 years, challenged the archaic ways of science education in India
, and facilitating the learning process among today`s youth.
Balaji Sampath`s parents were in government service;
as a result he did his schooling in various schools across India. Where ever
he went he faced difficulty in understanding the concepts of science due to ineffective
teaching practices. They themselves were not clear and their styles of
teaching did not facilitate comprehension of the subject but
rote-memorization. This probably was because of the education system
prevalent in India. His parents encouraged him to analyse situations and come
to the solution of it.
Balaji Sampath, had
mastered the comprehension of subjects, which is evident from the fact that
he secured an all India fourth rank in the IIT-JEE exam. He got admitted to
IIT-Madras, and it is from there that he first started his journey of
teaching poor kids. While at college, he taught these children in a village
called Thiramani, nearby the IIT campus. He had some help from the other
students also who volunteered for the cause. He left India to pursue his
doctoral program, from the University of Maryland, USA. There he mobilised students and friends to raise
charity for citizen sector organisations in India. He also found students in
the campus as well his batch mates who had just started an initiative
dedicated for India`s development. It was in a nascent stage and named AID: Association
for India`s Development. The main focus of this group of students was to do
something for their country; some helped financially while other volunteered
physically. They stated out by
identifying villages that had no school, and identifying motivated
individuals to take classes for the meagre stipend that they could give. Slowly,
through the presentations of Balaji Sampath, and his e writings, lots of new
chapters of AID opened up in USA.
Rather than follow
the often followed path of joining a corporate or a research lab after doing his doctoral,
Balaji Sampath returned back to India, to work full time as a volunteer for
reforming the education system in his own way. Balaji was very clear in his
goals; he knew the biggest problem in the education system was how education
was delivered to students. The teaching methodology did not generate interest
among the students, and hence even in
states with high enrolment ratio of students, there is a high amount of
student drop outs. First students drop out from the primary school, then
middle schools and finally from the high schools; all in increasing
proportions because of lack of interest generated among students whose
parents themselves are poor. The reason being schools focusing more on the measurement
of learning from the beginning before generating interests among students for
the subject.
Balaji started teaching poor children, in a
temple on the road side, next day a local offered him space on his roof top.
The roof top did not have lights, so teaching got stopped after, sunset. From
the next day, all the kids collected money to get the bulb, and slowly
students came up to him for classes. “There was no lack of motivation for me,
seeing the poverty around it was easy, persistence for a task is important, persistence
to carry out a task even when you face failure multiple times.” “People wanted to do something; they just
needed platform to do so.”
Education installs a
sense of confidence among people, and one of Balaji`s first student
epitomises that. When Balaji first met
her, she was in sixth standard and suffering from polio. She passed tenth,
but her parents were not willing to send her to school further. Balaji
intervened and persuaded her parents to let her study. After passing twelfth
when she wanted to study, her parents were uncooperative. Balaji arranged for
a scooter with extra wheels so that she can travel herself. She completed her
graduation, post graduation and has been working as a manager with the Indian
Overseas Bank. She is not a liability on anyone but can take care of herself.
Her brother who dropped out of school after class ten is now working as a
courier service boy. “Everywhere we try to build confidence.” It is Balaji`s
persuasiveness and belief in individual`s potential that has helped change
numerous such lives.
The platform provided
brought in people from various lives. One of his friends, Chandra left her cushy
software job, to become a full time volunteer for the cause. “Chandra was
getting depressed in the first 1-2 years because of lack of visible progress;
but after persisting when she saw the visible changes of her hard work, she
is excited.” “People start to work,
but move away when they don’t see impact of their work.” Balaji emphasises
that starting a good initiative is one thing, but persisting with it when you
fail numerous times to get the desired role is the real deal. He says, “If
you fail solving a problem many times, you know what mistakes you are making;
just try to solve it in another way. Identify a big problem and stick to it.”
Balaji has identified
the core problem and has come up with unique solutions. He stresses on “learning
by doing”, thereby helping in internalising the concepts rather than
memorising. Balaji`s methods of using examples from daily life, simple
cartoons, specially designed tool kits, simple reading material incorporating
stories is proving beneficial to students. His creative approach to problem
solving comes from the fact that he is a good listener. “Trust in the
sensibility of the poorer sections of the people; if something is not
working, they will tell you. You just need to change the approach to suit
them.” Balaji cannot work alone to achieve everything. He has a team of
volunteers who mostly are high school drop outs, they learn the skills of
teaching and then go to rural places and implement them. “Don`t work as an individual, work as a
team; with that you get more ideas, more support and more contribution.”
One of the major
challenges Balaji faced in India is the too much beauracracy in processes. The
problems to which he is solving the problem, is something that is created by
archain educational policies. Instead of acting as a facilitator for the
noble cause, there are too many bottlenecks created by the government. “At
policy level the government is not an enabler.” As it is getting funds is
difficult, on top of the the policies has not made it easier. As per Balaji,
the government at least can allow the NGO`s to fuction properly and allow
schools to collaborate with them. He understands that there are bogus NGO`s
involved in dubious works but believes that there shouldn`t be a blanket
attack on all NGO`s. The level of corruption has also been a deterrent for
his work. “The political interference is not much, but bureaucracy is too
much.”Still he has received collaboration from some area through which his
program is functioning in 400 schools in Tamil Nadu and has been approved by
the government in Tamil Nadu. He is also working in ststes like Kerela,
Andhra Pradesh and Bihar.
Balaji`s reach and
teach strategy involves low cost curriculum and teaching materials by
assessing the children`s current level of learning. These learning aids using
videos, low cost kits, and recorded sessions are easily comprehendible
and very useful for students coming
from low income groups. The Eureka science low-cost experiment kit: a
collection of 300 experiments covering all sessions and developed by Balaji,
has been very popular among students and teachers. It comes with a manual to
disseminate and demonstrate the teaching techniques. Being a firm believer of team work he has
involved volunteers from Tamil Nadu Science forum to train them and
disseminate the teachings to rural students. He is also working for training of teachers
in government school so as to improve their teaching techniques so that
students find it easy to understand.
He has started a
coaching class ahaguru.com where nominal sum is charged for ten lesions and
these are provided free for government schools. One computer in a village
school is enough for the education of all. This facilitates in improving the
quality content. He will persisit to work with the rural children and plans
to include their parents who are illiterate to help them formulate a better
future plan for their children.
“When I first meet
children, they say I can’t learn, one year later somebody wants to be a
teacher or a doctor. This transition is what gives me happiness and drives
me.” Balaji Sampath has been selling dreams to numerous children and also helps
them realise them come true. His innovative ways of teaching has definitely
helped people enjoy learning and take education seriously. He indeed is
giving people the opportunity to grow and kick-start a cycle of progress in
the country.
·
Words in
apostrophe’s commas are quotes from the person himself.
Excerpts of the interviews as
conducted by Debangshu Bhattacherjee over the phone:
1.
What has been
your inspiration in making a difference to the lives of others? What are the
sources of inspiration? (If you like you
may mention any one or two instances that changed your life and made you
start something new or something different that laid the foundation for your
work).
There was always motivation for me to work
for the poor seeing the poverty all around, it was about taking an initiative
that was important. When I see children and find them happy that gives me
satisfaction and that keeps me driving. When I meet children they don’t have
hope, but a year later they are filled with hope. People come and when they
don’t see results they get de motivated, but once when they see the results
of their efforts they get energised. I faced difficulties in comprehending
science concepts during my childhood, hence I thought let’s make education
comprehensible for all.
2.
What are the
challenges that you faced while starting your initiative and what are the
current challenges that you are facing now?
·
Government: they are the reason for the
problem, but they are a hindrance when others try to help
·
Level of corruption: getting things done
without bribing someone is difficult and they expect us to be corrupt as them
·
Bottlenecks in terms of policy matters relating
to raising money and FCRA act
3.
What is your
opinion on getting inspiration and using your talent for doing simple things
that eventually become great and make a difference in the lives of others?
The ability to persist with a
problem and finding a solution to a particular problem. Find a problem that
affects a large part of the society and try to come up with solutions in your
lifetime.
4.
What do you
consider as your own strong points that helped you to accomplish whatever you
have been able to? When did you discover them? How? How did you cultivate
them?
·
Persistence: don’t drop a good idea
·
Don’t work as an individual, I believe
in teamwork
·
Trust in the poorer sections of people.
5.
What in your
opinion are some of the qualities that people need to cultivate to make a
difference to others?
·
Clear goals: know the problem to get the
solution
·
Persistence: stay and measure the
importance of the problem for many years to come up with a solution.
·
Get suggestion about your work from
others; it helps.
6.
What future
scope do you have in mind for your work?
·
Continuing with the work that I have
been doing.
·
Helping parents to be literate and help
in their child`s career planning.
·
Ahaguru.com : a
platform for online course materials focusing on science, maths, English to
drive self learning.
7.
What messages
would you like to give for others to be or to become an effective person?
Find a problem and see that
the problem is realistic, i.e. it can be solved in a lifetime. Try to find a
solution to that problem which is acceptable to the stake holders. Be
socially productive.
Reference: The following resources
have been used for the secondary research on Balaji Sampath
Downloaded as on: 1/05/2015
7.
“ Unsung Beacons”
by CSIM Publications.
|
Wednesday, May 18, 2016
Dilip Banerjee: Unedited material collected for Effective people by Prof TV Rao
Unsung Heroes
|
Dilip Banerjee
(Inputs by Debangshu Bhattacherjee) |
A sense of equality and indomitable spirit
characterised Dilip Banerjee from a young age. Born, in a village of Hooghly
district of West Bengal, he has always been involved in mass movements for the
constructive development of the society.
His work, projects how grass root development require inclusive work
from all the stakeholders.
Right from his childhood he had treated the
hapless, and people from less financial, means equally. In times when. Children
from upper caste Brahmin families would not mix and play with tribal children;
he would mingle with them uninhibitedly. He was not bothered with the social stigma
attached to it. These children from tribal, lowly background could not afford
to pay to the clubs for playing football, but had the desire to so found a
friend in Dilip, who coming from an affluent family could buy a football and
play with them. His indomitable spirit for standing for the right cause came
into first prominence when he stopped a private circus party from occupying
their school ground. He had mobilised the students in his school to stand up
against the political bosses who profited from the circus party. His actions
were supported by the village elders who saw the logic behind his protest. He
was successful in saving the ground but he had to pay the price of this
insolence against the political bosses later in his life.
After doing his education from ND College, in
Hooghly; he became involved in mass movements, assisting coal miners in the coalieries
of West Bengal and Bihar to get their rightful dues from the owners. His
actions were instrumental in the tribal people getting back their land from the
mine owners, who were helpless against the might of the mine owners. He
strongly believed that people should have control over their land and be the
masters of their own futures. This ideology of people involvement in
developmental processes helped him in devising means for the strengthening and
empowerment of Panchyat Raj Institutions (PRI).
Having successfully getting the people their
rights, he moved on to join CINI ( Child In Need Institute) : an institute
working for poverty alleviation among the downtrodden, specifically directed to
women and children health and safety. As a health program officer, he had
introduced systems whereby the people of the communities it served in were
involved to improve the health conditions. Mobilisation of women, through the
platform of CINI helped in raising awareness about immunisation, appropriate
breastfeeding practices, and diagnosing of illness at an early stage. Training
of these workers was of primary importance for the project with the view to
empower them and then gradually phase out the external help that was provided.
Training and capacity building focus led to the creation of a separate training centre for them, which
led to the primary health care movement Dilip believed that a truly successful
developmental process is one in which after the venture has dug its root to
transfer the work to the local people. One needs to empower the people and
delegate the responsibility to its stakeholders for the continuity of the
development process. Only then can the
process be self sustain and the development sustainable.
Having served the cause of primary health development,
he moved on to work in the areas of Sunedrbans, a mangrove covered area in the
southernmost part of West Bengal, ravaged by cyclones. He recognised that
natural disasters like cyclones were a regular feature in many parts and
treating them as a one off problem is not the correct way to tackle the
problem. The reactive strategy of doling out aids, human and financial help
after a disaster would not help the community to stand up to its feet. Many a
times the doles did not reach the intended targets and even a class struggle,
where only lower and middle class affected people got the benefits. Even though
the upper class people were affected by disasters, they were not receiving the
benefits. He used the strategy of empowering people as he had previously done
in the case of primary health department. He has helped in launching efforts to
understand the real needs of the people in the affected communities and help
them in designing programs that will lead to a sustainable development. This
helps them in their emergency preparedness and faster and efficient responding
to disasters. Better preparation and
response can save many lives. In today`s time when we face various kinds of
environmental issues, ranging from tsunami, cyclones, to earthquakes
preparedness and quickening the response time is of paramount importance. Man
made environmental pressures like that of desertification seen in parts of Asia
and Africa can be tackled by building a model around need understanding and
capability building for sustainable livelihood.
He has a very clear understanding of the
processes which hinders or facilitates development in an area. His strategic
acumen plus his understanding of the ground realities led him to formulate an
action plan in which, he works with existing communities to identify people and
groups who have the capacity to implement the plan. Then he forms a village
community from these people. These people being from the community in which the
programs are implemented are well conversant with the problems of the plan. He
them guides these people who are from diverse backgrounds through his experience
for the better implementation for the program. These people being stakeholders
themselves are more involved in the developmental process. This increases
ownership and accountability in them and helps in managing and spending of
public money better, and coming up with innovative solutions to their problems.
His methodologies stands vindicated when during floods in the Sunderbans,
people with strong communities had faster response time and efficient use of
materials. This resulted in a lot of damage control.
Spending his childhood in rural Bengal and most
of his time among the working class people, he has a good understanding of
these people and trust in their abilities. The Panchayati Raj Institutions were
formed to be the backbone of development in rural India. Though effective in
paper the vertical process makes it difficult for resource convergence and
getting the desired level of output.
Most of subjects have been delegated to the local bodies for identification
and fulfilment of their requirements, but it is the funnelled approach, due to
which the benefits do not reach to the audience it is intended for. The
approach propagated by Dilip calls for planning for the local needs,
utilisation of resources and progress monitoring by capability building of the
people involved in the process. One of the problems that Panchayats face is non
delegation of power from the upper hierarchies for greater control over them.
Dilip with the collaboration from the government of West Bengal and Chattisgarh
have conducted workshop to raise awareness about the role and responsibilities
of the local bodies. This ranges from the central government schemes to action
plans for implementing development programs. His work is showing significant
effects and the decentralisation model of Panchayat Raj Institutions have been
supported and scaled by the government of Chattisgarh in strengthening the
local bodies.
He is working in Orisaa and Jharkhand on
similar projects that are to empower the local bodies. His work on reversing
the damaging effects on prawn production in Chilka Lake, and conservation of
forests in North Bengal are doing good but one of the challenges that he has
faced over the course of his time is politics and their interference in
developmental activities. Indifferent attitude of political parties to
development , compounded with corruption is a big hindrance. The mindset of the people also needs to change
from short term benefits, to long term sustainable benefits.
He believes that he alone cannot do everything;
the effort has to come from every one.
He expects people to just trust on their as well as others abilities and
take the risk to stand up for a cause. He stood up for a cause in his
childhood, got beaten badly by politically protected hooligans, but he was
successful in his endeavour. “Please
make a mark of your existence on the society; it may start small but it will
scale up further.”
Dilip Banerjee has been one of the few
individuals who through their openness and creative learning approaches are
trying to empower the rural masses. Through this he is strengthening the local
government bodies and creating sustainable model of development. He is currently associated with Sanchar, an
organisation working for promoting equal rights and opportunities for people
with disabilities. He is acting there as an executive board member, guiding
this noble work. “I enjoy every moment that I work for others; that gives me
strength and energy.”
His empathetic nature towards the poor people
and transparent approach in his work has brought him credibility in his
interactions with the village folks. His good analysis of real life problems
and seamless communication with the folks has made him connect to the masses. His is a story of an individual who works
tirelessly for empowerment, and sustainable development of rural people who
constitutes a large part of the society.
·
Words in apostrophe commas
are words of the person himself.
Excerpts of the interviews as conducted by Debangshu
Bhattacherjee over the internet:
1.
What has been your
inspiration in making a difference to the lives of others? What are the sources
of inspiration? (If you like you
may mention any one or two instances that changed your life and made you start
something new or something different that laid the foundation for your work). I think this has influences of my
child hood in rural Bengal. I preferred to stay more time with the working
people families, because they loved and cared for me so much and no scolding
for anything. I grew with them and had a very strong group while I was in
school.
2.
What are the
challenges that you faced while starting your initiative and what are the
current challenges that you are facing now? Main challenges- party politics
(especially in Bengal), Mindset of the people, their own experiences and
corrupt practices.
3.
What is your
opinion on getting inspiration and using your talent for doing simple things
that eventually become great and make a difference in the lives of others? I don’t see any
“talent” in it, it depends on understanding, perception, mobilization, people’s
strength and keeping trust on the whole
process.
4.
What do you
consider as your own strong points that helped you to accomplish whatever you
have been able to? When did you discover them? How? How did you cultivate them?
Mobilization,
Transparency, Strategies and negotiating skill. It started when I was a student
of standard VI (mobilized almost whole village to protect our school ground).
To mobilize others around a common agenda like protect a play ground from
private Circus parties and political bosses.
5.
What in your
opinion are some of the qualities that people need to cultivate to make a
difference to others? How to enjoy every moment in working for others (it
gives energy and strength) Learning
ability, Openness, Commitment, risk taking ability, mobilization, analytical
and communication skills.
6.
What in your
opinion prevents successful people from making a contribution to the society? Lack of
-understanding, trust on people’s strength, flexibility and risk taking
ability.
7.
What future scope
do you have in mind for your work? I can’t do everything, but try to
respond on the basis of my understanding and priorities, so there is no fixed
future agenda. It’s ongoing so long I’m active.
8.
What messages
would you like to give for others to be or to become an effective person? Please mark your
presence of your existence as a member of the larger society, it may start from
individual of one’s family or friend and extend one’s ability at every moment
for scaling it up further.
Reference: The following websites have been used for
the secondary research on Dilip Banerjee
Downloaded as on:
25/04/2015
Tuesday, April 5, 2016
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
Dr Verghese Kurien: Unedited material collected for Effective People by Prof TV Rao
Verghese Kurien 1921-2012
IT was more than sixty years ago that Dr. Verghese Kurien came to Anand
after completing a graduate programme in the United States, intending to soon
leave its dust and heat behind. But drawn by the power of an idea – milk
producers cooperating to build a better life – he stayed. Recently, after a
lifetime of service that touched tens of millions of lives, Dr. Kurien breathed
his last in the small town he never left.
When Dr. Kurien arrived in Anand, there was a fledgling dairy
cooperative that had been born during the independence movement. The chairman of
that cooperative, Tribhuvandasbhai Patel, was a man of extraordinary wisdom,
ability and integrity. He drew the young Verghese Kurien into his vision of
dairy farming transformed by cooperation, by people pooling their resources to
achieve together what they could never accomplish alone. He quickly saw in the
young man talent, intelligence and energy and together they were a team that
over time transformed millions of lives.
Tribhuvandasbhai’s extraordinary skill in motivating people and raising
resources, combined with Dr. Kurien’s entrepreneurial qualities and drive,
helped to transform the business into a model for dairying in India, a model
that was soon replicated in other parts of Gujarat.
The success of this cooperative drew attention in an Indian dairy
scenario that was marked by stagnating domestic production and growing imports.
In 1964, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri visited Anand to inaugurate the
cooperative’s cattle feed plant. He spent a night in a village and learnt the
secret of Anand’s success: cooperation. He created the National Dairy
Development Board to replicate the spirit of Anand throughout India and asked
Dr. Kurien to be its first chairman. Kurien accepted on the condition that the
headquarters remain in Anand, close to the cooperative, which was the model,
and its members.
Promoting and establishing close to a 150,000 village cooperatives, with
about 15 million members, and leading India to become the world’s largest milk
producer was no mean feat. They are an ever growing testimony to the dream that
Dr. Kurien pursued, a dream that continues to date and will live as an eloquent
memorial to him for years to come.
It was Dr. Kurien’s single-minded determination against odds that would
have overwhelmed a lesser mortal and the vision that he steadfastly strove to
achieve that helped make this possible. It was the quality of leadership he
provided that enabled NDDB to impact the lives of so many millions.
He strode like a Titan across the bureaucratic barriers and obstacles
that at every stage of NDDB’s history could have brought it to its knees.
Undaunted, he stood steadfast against the machinations of those who beheld his
achievement with envy and were affronted by the sheer tenacity of the man. By
his example, he taught us to act with courage when faced with those who oppose
the interests of our nation and its farmers. The sense of professionalism,
integrity and his constant search for excellence in everything that he did, set
a shining example for those who followed him to live up to. He taught us that
in order to succeed our integrity must be beyond reproach, for those who oppose
cannot successfully defeat an honest man.
He had an extraordinary ability to convert threats into opportunities –
never letting an opportunity pass him by that could be of advantage to the
organization or those it served.
Today, the politicization of a number of cooperatives has resulted in
their inability to evolve as professionally managed institutions truly serving
their members. The ultimate tribute to Dr. Kurien would be for brave young men
and women to defend and protect what he stood for.
At a personal level, it has indeed been a great privilege, and one given
to very, very few, to have worked so closely and for so many years with such a
great man. Every moment of my working life with him was a learning experience.
He was demanding, set very high standards, had his own unique style of training
and believed that there was no better way of helping people develop than by
giving them greater and bigger responsibilities to shoulder.
May his vision continue to guide all those who work with and for farmers
and farmer-owned institutions.
Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam: Unedited material collected for Effective People by Prof TV Rao
·
Work Hard
- Simple
living high thinking
- Think big
- Take the
team along and give them credit
- Invest in
the Future of the Country
Abdul Kalam
APJ Abdul Kalam was born on 15 October 1931 at the
South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. He belonged to a very poor family of
Rameshwaram. Kalam's father was Jainulabdeen Marakayar was the Panchayat Board
President. He was the owner of a few boats which were used to ferry pilgrims
between Rameshwaram and Dhanushkody.
Dr. Kalam was the youngest child in the family. He was the only one to do
graduation. His brothers and sisters could not even complete their schooling.
The poverty of the family can be judged from the fact that once his father had
no resources even to pay his fee. Then his sister came to his rescue. She sold
her ornaments to enable him doing higher education. Kalam was a typical case of
a poor but determined person in his childhood. As a boy, he had even to sell
newspapers. Abdul Kalam had his initial education in Rameshwaram.
Abdul Kalam was studying and working simultaneously.
After the school gets over in the evening, again he will go around Rameswaran
for collection of dues from customers. As a young boy Kalam was walking,
running and studying all together. One day, when all his brothers and sisters were
sitting and eating, Kalam mother went on giving him chapattis (even though they
were rice eaters only, wheat was rationed). When kalam finished eating, his
elder brother called him privately and scolded “Kalam do you know what was
happening? You went on eating Chappati, and mother went on giving you. She has
given all her chappatis to you. It is difficult time. Be a responsible son and
do not make your mother starve”. First time Kalam had a shivering sensation and
he could not control himself. Kalam rushed to mother and hugged her. Even
though he was studying in 5th class, he had a special place in his home because
he was the last guy in the family. There used to be no electricity. Their house
was lit by the kerosene lamp that too between 7 to 9 PM. Kalam mother specially
gave him a small kerosene lamp so that he can study up to 11 PM. Kalam still
remember his mother in a full moon night which has been portrayed with the
title “mother” in his book “Wings of Fire”.
Later he
studied at Schwartz High School, in Ramanathapuram. Subsequently, he moved to
St. Joseph's College, Trichi. After completing the B.Sc degree course from St.
Joseph's, he joined the Madras Institute of Technology, the best institution
for technical education in South India at that time.
While Kalam was studying aeronautical engineering in
MIT, Chennai, (1954-57) during the third year of his course, he was assigned a
project to design a low-level attack aircraft together with six other
colleagues. Kalam was given the responsibility of system design and system
integration by integrating the team members. Also, he was responsible for
aerodynamic and structural design of the project. The other five of Kalam team
took up the design of propulsion, control, guidance, avionics and
instrumentation of the aircraft. Kalam design teacher Prof. Srinivasan, the
then Director of MIT, was their guide. He reviewed the project and declared
Kalam work to be gloomy and disappointing. He didn’t lend an ear to Kalam
difficulties in bringing together data base from multiple designers. Kalam
asked for a month’s time to complete the task, since he had to get the inputs
from five of his colleagues without which Kalam cannot complete the system
design. Prof. Srinivasan told Kalam "Look, young man, today is Friday
afternoon. I give you three days time. If by Monday morning I don’t get the
configuration design, your scholarship will be stopped." Kalam had a jolt
in his life, as scholarship was his lifeline, without which he cannot continue
with his studies. There was no other way out but to finish the task. Kalam team
felt the need for working together round the clock. They didn’t sleep that
night, working on the drawing board skipping their dinner. On Saturday, Kalam
took just an hour’s break. On Sunday morning, he was near completion, when he
felt someone’s presence in his laboratory. It was Prof. Srinivasan studying
Kalam progress. After looking at Kalam work, he patted and hugged him
affectionately. He had words of appreciation: "I knew I was putting you
under stress and asking you to meet a difficult deadline. You have done great
job in system design”.
Kalam specialized in Aeronautical Engineering and
became a full-fledged aeronautical engineer after being trained at Hindustan
Aeronautics Limited, Bangalore.
After his college education, Abdul Kalam was keen on joining the Indian Air
Force. But his dreams of joining the Indian Air Force were dashed when he just
missed to make it to the selected list of candidates. Though he was sad at
being unable to join the Indian Air Force, he went ahead and joined the
Directorate of Technical Development and Production, DTD & P (Air), as a
Senior Scientific Assistant
Abdul Kalam's job at the DTD & P (Air) became the launching pad for his
glorious career in the defense field. After working for some time at the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in USA, Abdul Kalam
returned to India and helped the country to develop awe some weaponry.
Kalam was shocked and felt
orphaned after Sarabhai’s sudden death in the early hours of December 31,
1971, due to cardiac arrest. Dr. Sarabhai had been in reality Kalam’s mentor -
the man who influenced him the most and moulded his professional career. After
the initial shock, Kalam decided to work as hard as possible to fulfil the
dreams of Dr. Sarabhai, which he thought was the best tribute he could pay to
the departed soul.
Kalam, as project leader,
believed in integrating people working on a project. He did not believe that
solo performance helped very much in the execution of complex projects. What
was required was coordination and excellent teamwork. The project leader was
only the captain of the team.
Kalam
communicate freely with all the teams working on the SLV-3 project and acted as
a sensor to every constructive idea or suggestion coming from any colleague at
any level. A great deal of time was spent on communication which became his
mantra. He fought against bureaucratic delays and insensitiveness and finally
got the help of Dr. Brahm Prakash who delegated financial powers to the Project
Team.
Kalam gave the maximum freedom with responsibility
and accountability to all his team mates which he found produced good results.
As the project leader he had somehow to keep abreast of all that was happening
around in real time and had to update his knowledge which called for proper
time-management. Perhaps his being a bachelor also helped, as he could devote
all seven days in the week to the management of the project.
In 1973 Prof. Satish Dhavan (the Chairman of the
Atomic Energy and Space Commission) gave Abdul Kalam the task to build the
satellite launch vehicle to launch a satellite in to the orbit. In 1979, they
were ready with thousands of engineers, 10,000 of workers and staff all worked
together with 44 sub-systems and thousands of components. It was built in
Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, and also of the Space Centre. Then they moved
that vehicle from Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre to the now Satish Dhavan Space
Centre at Shriharikotta. The launch vehicle was on the launch pad and the day
17th August 1979, and Abdul Kalam was the Mission Director, Project Director
and all were in the control centre and the computer takes over at T-8 minutes.
Because it was very difficult for Kalam as a mission director to check hundreds
of parameters so they hand over the whole launch of the rocket system to the
computer at T-8 minutes, Kalam handed over to the computer for the launch,
thousands of people were waiting at the launch mission canters and they were working
throughout the country and some out range centre, at exactly T-8 minutes
computer took over. And at T-4 minute’s computer put a hold. It said don’t
launch. At that time the whole rocket system was alive. Every explosive system,
propellant system, electronic system, all were on, and ready of launch and
computer says don’t launch, at T-4 minutes. Then immediately computer printout
comes out. There is some problem in the second stage control system; there is a
leakage, so you don’t launch. Behind Kalam there were a number of experts;
six-seven experts with 10 to 20 years experience. And Kalam turn to them and
they have their computers to find out, what happened and they told him within a
minute, they say there is problem in second stage control system and that we
cannot launch; computers say don’t launch. But we believe as experts, the
igniters i.e. oxidizers is sufficiently more there and even through there is a
leakage in system you can launch. They asked Kalam to launch. Kalam put the
rocket in the manual mode. Rocket took
off. 100 seconds. Beautiful launch and rocket first stage did its job. It’s a
four-stage rocket system, and then second stage, within a second it goes into a
spin. It should be steady; it is a
controlled system by guided system. But it was going into a spin. Kalam knew he
lost the rocket system; within few seconds instead of putting the satellite in
the orbit, the whole system went in the Bay of Bengal. It was a failure.
It is very important, for entrepreneurs. Life is not
so simple. We have to handle failures with a stout heart. Chairman, Prof.
Satish Dhawan, at exactly 6.30 came to Kalam room, Kalam was very tired of
continuously working; he asked Kalam to join him for a press conference. On
that day, in the morning there is a press conference. Hundreds of press
reporters, media people have assembled. Prof. Dhawan told Kalam that he is
going to handle the press conference and you are going to come with me. He took
Kalam there. There was the press, national press, international press. They
asked a lot of questions, how you can put 20 crores in Bay of Bengal, one guy
asked. And like that so many serious questions, after all people will ask
questions, it is the people’s money. Prof. Dhawan said, ‘Yes, we had a
failure’. First time we have launched. We have gained lot of system. And
definitely we will succeed. And I will give all the support to my
technologists; I will give all the support to my scientists. We will succeed in
a year’s time, he said. Kalam was the Mission Director, Project Director, he
has failed the mission. With Kalam five thousand people have worked. But
Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization, takes the responsibility of
the failure. He completely switched Kalam failure to his failure. Exactly after
one year, 18th July 1980 they go to the launch pad. And countdown starts. At
T-8 minutes Kalam handover to the computer. Computer checks out. It initiates
the rocket system. First stage gives the required velocity. Second stage gives
the required velocity. Third stage gives the required velocity. And, fourth
stage gives the escape velocity to put the satellite in the orbit. Kalam can
see the performance in front of himself, he took the mike and he announce to
all at the station. “Here is your Mission Director, the satellite is in orbit
and we congratulate you.” Kalam told them. After thirty minutes, Prof. Satish
Dhavan called Kalam and asked him to conduct the press conference. failure he
took it and success he gave Kalam and to his team.
This great lesson no university taught Abdul Kalam.
No book taught him. But that one person, that institution, that taught him such
a big lesson.
Kalam joined the Defence Research and Development Organization
(DRDO) as the Director of the Defence Research and Development Laboratory
(DRDL) at Hyderabad on June 1, 1982. Kalam was aware of the work going on at
DRDL in the indigenous development of missile systems. His first task before
formulating an action plan was to have detailed discussions with the scientists
of DRDL, to evaluate the ongoing work. For these review meetings, he followed
what Dr. Sarabhai used to do at Thumba, namely, bring in experts from outside
institutions such as the Indian Institute of Science (IIS), IITs, CSIR, TRIF
and so on. Thus he opened the window so that fresh air and new ideas could
enter the laboratory.
Kalam was making full use of all the lessons he had
learnt at Thumba during his long service of about 20 years there. He had found
that participative management was essential in executing complex projects like
the SLV-3.
After much discussion, an action plan with a
timeframe of 12 years and an estimated expenditure of Rs. 3900 million was
drawn up and placed before the Government.
Kalam was asked to give a presentation at New Delhi.
At a meeting presided over by the Defence Minister and attended by the three
Service Chiefs, Dr. Arunachalam and other senior officials, proposals were made
on the design of the heat shields for building long-range missiles in future.
This was a project that interested Kalam very much.
Everybody present at the meeting was quite excited
about these proposals. At the end of the meeting the Defense Minister asked
Kalam and Dr. Arunachalam to meet him later in the evening. At this meeting the
Minister asked for an Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP),
and that too, by the next morning! It was indeed a tall order. But Kalam and
Arunachalam worked the whole night and produced an action plan. The minister
quickly cleared the proposal.
The atmosphere in the eighties at the DRDL was very
similar to that at Thumba during the sixties and seventies. Kalam could
capitalize on the tremendous enthusiasm, exuberance and the strong desire on
the part of all concerned to make a grand success of the IGMDP. He took his own
time in selecting competent leaders for the five missile projects, from among
the many talented scientists that DRDL had.
Using the
consortium approach, he involved several institutions and organizations
scattered all over the country to carry out various tasks directly related to
the IGMDP. Through concurrent engineer in the period required to execute the
project was reduced to the minimum possible. All the lessons learnt at Thumba
stood him in good stead in the execution of the most complex and challenging
project ever undertaken in the country.
A site had to be selected for the missile
flight trials. It was finally decided to select Balasore in Orissa state as the
Interim Test Range (ITR) which was made an independent establishment to be got
ready by December, 1986. As a bachelor and a workaholic, Kalam could devote
about 90 hours a week for his work.
Much of the credit for the grand success of the IGMDP
goes to Kalam, the captain of the team who headed the DRDL for about ten years,
before he was called upon, in July, 1992 - to shoulder greater responsibilities
as the Scientific Advisor to the Defence Minister and Secretary, Department of
Defence R&D.
It will be no exaggeration to state that Abdul Kalam is instrumental in firmly
establishing India's core competence in missile technology. His efforts, along
with that of his dedicated team, took India into the selected club of nations
that call themselves super powers.
In his 14 year work-span as the Director of Defence Research and Development
Laboratory he lined up Prithvi, Agni, Trishul, Akash and Nag. He completed the
long delayed 'Arjun' tank project and also pushed ahead with an indigenous Air
Craft 'Kaveri'.
Dr. Kalam took up academic pursuit as Professor,
Technology & Societal Transformation at Anna University, Chennai from
November 2001 and was involved in teaching and research tasks. Above all he
took up a mission to ignite the young minds for national development by meeting
high school students across the country.
http://www.abdulkalam.com/kalam/jsp/display_content.jsp?menuid=22&menuname=Dr.Kalam%F6s%20Page&linkid=130&linkname=Profile&content=457&columnno=0&starts=0&menu_image=-
He is one of those few technologists who strive to find multiple uses for what
they create. He developed light weight calipers for the polio-effected, out of
the carbon material developed for Agni missile. This material made the caliper
one tenth of its original weight of four kilos.
He doesn't favor the import of technology and encourages self-reliant in
technology. He says, "Haven't we proved that we can do things with minimum
foreign aid? All we need is determination and belief in ourselves."
Dr. Kalam is an extremely simple man. He is above seventy and a bachelor. He is
a strict vegetarian and teetotaler. He is a 'work alcoholic' who knows no
holidays in the seven day week. He works 18 hours a day. He is fond of music
and spends his leisure hours practicing the lute (Veena). He is a great lover
of books. He is a voracious reader of both 'Bhagvad Gita' and 'Kuran'. Dr.
Kalam quotes, "for great men, religion is a way of making friends; small
people make religion a fighting tool".
He is a man of vision and wants to see India a fully developed nation by 2020.
It is to this end that his book "India 2020: A vision for the New
Millennium" is focused.
In his new book "Ignited Minds", he affirms, "Our youth must
dream, dream, dream! Convert these dreams into thoughts; and then transform
these thoughts into actions. We must think big, having low aim is a sin".
He always asks the teachers and the parents to be role models to the children.
He attributes his success to his parents, teachers and the team with which he
has been working for the past many years.
http://www.indiastudychannel.com/resources/75951-Dr-A-P-J-Abdul-Kalam.aspx
A born visionary and a teacher at heart, Dr.
APJ Abdul Kalam, has demonstrated outstanding leadership qualities. During his
entire tenure, he was often seen defying the security arrangement to reach out
and interact with the young children during his public meetings. He will always
be remembered for his vision of a developed India by 2020.
The key to Kalam motivation has always been to look
at how far I had still to go rather than how far I had come. ‘From Wings of
Fire’
Kalam remember his father starting his day at 4 am
by reading the namaz before dawn. After the namaz, he used to walk dawn to a
small coconut grove we owned, about 4 miles from our home. He would return,
with a dozen coconuts tied together thrown over his shoulder, and only then
would have his breakfast. This remained his routine even when he was in his
late sixties. Kalam through out his life tried to emulate his father in his own
world of science and technology.
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/17646299/WINGS-OF-FIRE-AUTOBIOGRAPHY-APJ-ABDUL-KALAM
While there were many significant events during
Abdul Kalam tenure( 2002- 2007 ‘President’), a question from a little girl Anukriti
of Sri Sathya Sai Jagriti Vidya Mandir School, of Darwa village from Haryana, during
children’s visit to Rashtrapati Bhavan on May 22, 2006, rings in Kalam mind ever after. Anukriti asked Kalam “why
India cannot become a developed nation before the year 2020”. Kalam appreciated
the question and said it was indeed a thoughtful question and assured her that that
her dream would be taken to the highest institution of the nation and we would
work for it to achieve before 2020. This question reflects how the desire to
live in developed India has entered into the minds of the youth. The same
feelings are echoed by over fifteen lakh youth, whom Kalam have met so far and
who represent the dream of the 540 million youth of the nation. The aspirations
of the young to live in a prosperous, safe and proud India should be the
guiding factor in whatever profession we contribute.
Abdul Kalam visit to Nagaland on 26th October 2002,
assuming post of President. It was a unique experience for Kalam at Khuzama
village to meet tribal village council members and discuss with them the
village progress and the dream of village citizens. Kalam was very happy to see
the empowered village council functioning with financial powers and taking
decisions. Kalam saw a prosperous village with fruits and vegetables
production. However, there is a need for providing physical connectivity in
Nagaland through quality roads for enabling faster movement of products from
villages to the market. That meeting gave Abdul Kalam a powerful message about
the transformation which can take place to the 600,000 villages of India, if
all the villages are empowered to deal with their development and are well
connected among themselves and with the urban societies.
On February 24, 2007, at Coimbatore, Kalam had a
very beautiful experience. As he got ready for meeting the first person out of
twenty appointments, a wheel chair was in sight with a smiling person probably
in his late fifties; unfortunately he has no hands and legs. His radiant face
was revealing his happy state of mind. He introduced himself as Vidwan
Coimbatore SR Krishna Murthy. Kalam greeted him and asked him how this had
happened. He smilingly said that it was from by birth. He thanked God, his
parents, teachers and many others for giving him confidence, training and help.
Kala, asked him, what Kalam could do for him? He said, “I don’t need anything
from you. I would like to sing in front of you”. Kalam readily agreed. He sang
melodiously the Saint Thyagraja’s pancha ratna kriti entharo mahanubavulu in
Sriragam giving me a glimpse of his talent. Kalam was quite touched. Despite
being physically challenged, the latent talent of music could blossom in this
person with his positive attitude and perseverance, encouraged by the parents,
teachers, academics and rasikas. Now he wants to give, give and give his art to
inspire others. Of course, by his merit of music, in July 2007, he performed in
the Rashtrapati Bhavan art theatre.
12th President
of India, Professor,
author, scientist, Aerospace engineer
Education
Career as a scientist,
Missile Man of India
Vision 2020
What made him effective?
·
Having
a goal in life:
·
Manage
difficult times:
Referances
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