Address at the XXI Convocation of

Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra

Ranchi
24 February 2011
Evolving a Unique You
Knowledge makes you great

I am delighted to participate in the XXI Convocation of

Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Jharkhand. My greetings
to the Director, Members of the Faculty, Staff and Students of
BIT Mesra. During the last fifty-five years, BIT Mesra has
contributed significantly to the techno-economic growth of the
country by providing quality human resources who are
functioning in the industry in various capacities both in India
and abroad. A large number of alumni of BIT have become
entrepreneurs,

and

thus,

employment

generators.

congratulate the pioneers both present and past who have

strived hard for laying a robust foundation for technical
education in this institute.
As I see the youth qualifying from this great institution,
different emotions occupy my mind. You have been nurtured
by this unique institution founded by Sri BM Birla, who was a
great visionary, industrialist and a great man with his
dedication to science, engineering and education. So what
Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam
www.abdulkalam.com
Page 1 of 21

message do you get? A person with his vision and deeds lives
for ever and continues to inspire generations. I was fortunate
to work with Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, who was a great visionary
and founder of diverse institutions like ISRO and IIMA, which
are continuing to fulfill his dreams. Such visionaries give
tremendous confidence to the youth as I believe that the
energy of the youth is the most powerful resource on the
earth, above the earth and under the earth. The message is:
there is uniqueness in the visionaries, performers and creative
leaders. Today, I would like to talk on the topic Evolving a
unique you.
Unique You
Dear friends, Look up, what do you see, the light, the
electric bulbs. Immediately, our thoughts go to the inventor
Thomas Alva Edison, for his unique contribution towards the
invention of electric bulb and his electrical lighting system.
When you hear the sound of aeroplane going over your house,
whom do you think of?

Wright Brothers proved that man

could fly of course at heavy risk and cost. Whom does the
telephone remind you of? Of course, Alexander Graham Bell.
When everybody considered a sea travel as an experience or a
voyage, a unique person questioned during his sea travel from
United Kingdom to India.

He was pondering on why the

horizon where the sky and sea meet looks blue? His research
resulted in the phenomena of scattering of light. Of course,
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Sir CV Raman was awarded Nobel Prize. India is fortunate,

the world is fortunate to have had a millennium leader of 20th
century, that is Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi who
got us the freedom and also he became a great leader for
South Africas movement against apartheid. So far, we have
studied those who walked into unexplored path and strived to
be unique and are remembered for their contribution to the
human kind.
Inventions and discoveries have emanated from creative
minds that have been constantly working and imagining the
outcome in the mind. With imagining and constant effort, all
the forces of the universe work for that inspired mind, thereby
leading to inventions and discoveries. The question is: are you
willing to become a unique personality. Let me share an
experience.
I have, so far, met 11 million youth in India and abroad,
in a decades time. I learnt, every youth wants to be unique,
that is, YOU! But the world all around you, is doing its
best, day and night, to make you just everybody else.
The challenge, my young friends, is that you have to fight
the hardest battle, which any human being can ever
imagine to fight; and never stop fighting until you arrive
at your destined place, that is, a UNIQUE YOU! Friends
what will be your tools to fight this battle. There are four
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pro Friends, for the past several years, I have been

discussing with the young and experienced on the vision
of the nation and how each one, whatever be his or her
professional orientation, can contribute to the pillars of
development.

As

envisage,

the

pillars

of

Indian

development profile 2020 are as follows:

Distinctive Profile of India by 2020
1.

A Nation where the rural and urban divide has

reduced to a thin line.

2.

A Nation where there is an equitable distribution and

adequate access to energy and quality water.

3.

A Nation where agriculture, industry and service

sector work together in symphony.

4.

A Nation where education with value system is not

denied to any meritorious candidates because of
societal or economic discrimination.

5.

A Nation, which is the best destination for the most

talented scholars, scientists, and investors.

6.

A Nation where the best of health care is available to

all.

7.

Nation

where

the

governance

is

responsive,

transparent and corruption free.

8.

A Nation where poverty has been totally eradicated,

illiteracy removed and crimes against women and

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children are absent and none in the society feels

alienated.
9.

A Nation that is prosperous, healthy, secure, devoid of

terrorism, peaceful and happy and continues with a
sustainable growth path.

10.

A Nation that is one of the best places to live in and is

proud of its leadership.

Integrated Action for developed India

To achieve the distinctive profile of India, we have the
mission of transforming India into a developed nation. We
have identified five areas where India has a core competence
for integrated action: (1) Agriculture and food processing (2)
Education and Healthcare (3) Information and Communication
Technology (4) Reliable and Quality Electric power, Surface
transport and Infrastructure for all parts of the country. (5)
Self-reliance in critical technologies. These five areas are
closely inter-related and will be progressing in a coordinated
way will lead to food, economic and national security.
I have given you, how you have to transform yourself to
meet the professional challenges as system technologist and
contribute in realizing any one or more of the ten pillars that I
have described.
Friends, please look carefully at each of the pillars. You
will

find

some

interesting

points.

All

of

them

require

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convergence of disciplines and technologies. In an engineering

system level, optimisiation of systems takes place with the
targets of performance, cost and schedule. In the case of
human body, ultimately decisions will involve the overall well
being. In the case of the nation the best decisions happen
when everyone puts the nation above himself or herself. The
other important aspect is the confidence that innovations can
be done and changes can be brought out for the better. The
third aspect is, while technologies will be developed and
human welfare will be enabled, lasting peace and prosperity
will

happen

only

through

development

of

enlightened

citizenship. Every individual is responsible for practicing and

spreading the message of enlightened citizenship. Let me start
with convergence of technologies.
Convergence of Technologies
The

information

technology

and

communication

technology have already converged leading to Information and

Communication Technology (ICT). Information Technology
combined with bio-technology has led to bio-informatics.
Similarly, Photonics is grown out from the labs to converge
with classical Electronics and Microelectronics to bring in new
high speed options in consumer products. Flexible and
unbreakable displays using thin layer of film on transparent
polymers have emerged as new symbols of entertainment and
media tools. Now, Nano-technology has come in. It is the field
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of the future that will replace microelectronics and many fields

with

tremendous

application

potential

in

the

areas

of

medicine, electronics and material science. I am sure about

the use of nano-robot for drug delivery. When Nano technology
and ICT meet, integrated silicon electronics, photonics are
born and it can be said that material convergence will happen.
With material convergence and biotechnology linked, a new
science called Intelligent Bioscience will be born which would
lead to a disease free, happy and more intelligent human
habitat

with

longevity

and

high

human

capabilities.

Convergence of bio-nano-info technologies can lead to the

development of nano robots. Nano robots when they are
injected into a patient, my expert friends say, it will diagnose
and deliver the treatment exclusively in the affected area and
then the nano-robot gets digested as it is a DNA based
product. I saw the product sample in one of the labs in South
Korea where best of minds with multiple technology work with
a target of finding out of the box solution.
Now, a new trend is emerging. The aspect being
introduced is that of Ecology. Globally, the demand is shifting
towards development of sustainable systems which are
technologically superior. This is the new dimension of the 21st
century knowledge society, where science and environment
will go together. Thus the new age model would be a four
dimensional bio-nano-info-eco based.
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Let us take another example, how governance is enriched

by information networks and technologies. They enhance
efficiency, instant connectivities, better cross reference and
transparency. They enable the unreached to be reached. There
are plenty of opportunites in this area for enterpreunership of
individuals

and

small

organization

working

along

with

Government, private sector and large organizations. Of course

many older processes of working together need to be reengineered for speed, efficiency and transparency. When
technologies and systems converge, obviously one important
aspect is systems thinking and implementation.
Friends, any establishment, any organization, you will be
joining or you create, your own enterprise becoming an
employment generator, always one demand that will come in
front of you, that is: the experience of system design, system
integration, and system management of the assignment or the
task to be undertaken by you.

I would like to present my

experience of learning system design, system integration and

system

management

while I

was

studying

aeronautical

engineering in MIT, Chennai, (1954-57) during the third year

of my course.
Learning integrated system design
I was assigned a project to design a low-level attack
aircraft together with six other colleagues.

I was given the

responsibility of system design and system integration by

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integrating the team members. Also, I was responsible for

aerodynamic and structural design of the project. The other
five of my team took up the design of propulsion, control,
guidance, avionics and instrumentation of the aircraft.

My

design teacher Prof. Srinivasan, the then Director of MIT, was

our guide. He reviewed the project and declared my work to be
gloomy and disappointing. He didnt lend an ear to my
difficulties in bringing together data base from multiple
designers. I asked for a months time to complete the task,
since I had to get the inputs from five of my colleagues without
which I cannot complete the system design. Prof. Srinivasan
told me "Look, young man, today is Friday afternoon. I give
you three days time. By Monday morning, if I dont get the
configuration design, your scholarship will be stopped." I had
a jolt in my life, as scholarship was my lifeline, without which I
cannot continue with my studies. There was no other way out
but to finish the task. My team felt the need for working
together round the clock. We didnt sleep that night, working
on the drawing board skipping our dinner. On Saturday, I took
just an hours break. On Sunday morning, I was near
completion, when I felt someones presence in my laboratory.
It was Prof. Srinivasan studying my progress. After looking at
my work, he patted and hugged me 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.
Page 9 of 21

Through this review mechanism Prof Srinivasan, really

injected the necessity of understanding the value of time by
each team member and brought out engineering education has
to

lead

system

design,

system

integration

and

system

management. I realized that if something is at stake, the

human minds get ignited and the working capacity gets
enhanced manifold. Thats what exactly happened. This is one
of the techniques of building talent. The message is that young
in the organization, whatever is their specialization, be trained
to systems approach and projects, which will prepare them for
new

products,

innovation

and

undertaking

higher

organizational responsibilities. Friends, you should get ready

to acquire knowledge in an integrated way for using multiple
disciplines towards product development and its management.
On

this

occasion,

have

one

suggestion

to

the

management of BIT Mesra. Can you consider establishing of a

forum in the institute with all departments, students,
administration and parents to identify technological research
to move forward towards Indian development profile 2020.
This may lead to several projects with specific targets for
sustainable development in the neighbourhood of the institute.
Education system in BIT Mesra should concentrate on
developing the spirit among the students I can do it. Here I
would like to give an example of a visually challenged young
boy, who was not deterred by his physical challenge.

Page 10 of 21

I can do it
Friends, when I was the President of India, on 28 Aug
2006, I met the group of tribal students from Lead India 2020
movement. I asked all of them one question: What you want
to become? Out of many responses, one visually challenged
boy studying IX class got up. His name is Srikanth, he
answered me "I will become the first visually Challenged
President of India".

I was very happy to see his vision and

ambition. Small aim is a crime. Hence, I congratulated him to

realize his vision and told him to work for realizing the vision.
Thereafter, he worked hard got 90% in Xth class and 96
% in intermediate and he set a goal to study Engineering in
MIT, Cambridge USA. His relentless hard work not only
secured seat but he got full fee waiver from MIT, Cambridge.
Srikanths achievement has brought changes in many change
agents of Lead India 2020 and inspired to set high vision. Lead
India 2020 training has set a high vision for every student who
undergoes the training process.

Seeing this impact of Lead

India 2020 training, GE volunteers have funded Mr. Srikanth

for his travel to USA. Today he is pursuing his studies at MIT,
Cambridge. When the GE offered him a job on his completion
of graduation, he told them that he would certainly come back
to GE, if I couldnt become the President of India. What a
confidence that boy has amidst of difficulty and the challenges
in his life by being visually challenged. What a great
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transformation that has brought into a visually challenged

boys life by Lead India 2020 movement through value based
education intervention.
Dear graduating students, let me share with you two
inspiring

personalities;

empowerment

with

one

education,

has

enable

healthcare

reaching
and

of

earning

potential to the unreached tribal areas. And the other one is a

great personality who could combat all the challenges and
succeed in his mission through his creativity and passion.
Reaching the Unreached
In the present circumstances and environment, it was
inspiring to see, how a MBBS doctor has put all his dreams in
mainstreaming the tribal citizens of Karnataka state of India
for the last 25 years through Vivekananda Girijana Kalyan
Kendra (VGKK), at BR Hills. When I visited BR Hills in 1998
and subsequently in 2006, I could see substantial new
developments in that area. I could see that New Tribal
Hospital, Roads and education environment and above all the
earning capacity of the tribal citizens have been increased with
the technology resource centre as a base. Dr. H. Sudarshan,
is the inspiring architect of this societal transformation.
When Dr. Sudarshan was 12 years old, his father died in
a village without any medical help. This event, followed by his
reading the biography of Dr. Albert Schweitzer who worked in
Page 12 of 21

Africa motivated Dr. Sudarshan to take up medical profession

and work in tribal areas in India. Dr. Sudarshan derives his
philosophy of work from Swami Vivekanandas teachings
which states they alone live who live for others, rest are more
dead than alive.
Dr. Sudarshan starts his day at 4.30 am in the morning
with Yoga, meditation and prayer with tribal school children.
From 9 am to 1 pm, he goes around the ward and sees the
patients individually. He takes lunch with the tribal students
between 1 and 2 pm. Later, till 7 pm, he is busy in the clinic
where he conducts surgeries and visits tribal complex,
performs administrative work for an hour and half and has
dinner with the tribal students. He devotes one hour for study
between 9 and 10 pm, so that he gets updated information
about medical systems. He spends large part of his time in
Clinical Diagnosis, Laboratory diagnosis and treatment, in
addition to Supervising, Monitoring, teaching and carrying out
research along with his team members.
Dr. Sudarshan pays particular attention to the special
problems of the tribals such as Snake bite cases, Mauling by
bears,

Pneumonia,

Infections.

Tuberculosis

and

Acute

Respiratory

The Soliga tribal people suffer from Sickle Cell

Anemia and Dr. Sudarshan has developed a low cost

electrophoresis machine for diagnosing the disease. He has
also built the healthcare system on the strengths of traditional
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knowledge available in the tribal areas. The secret of his

service is that he is empowering the people to manage their
own health through the provision of knowledge. He has trained
tribal girls as Auxiliary Nurse & Midwife (ANM) and posted
them in the Tribal Sub-centers. These nurses undergo 18
months course. Thus the rural area is self-sufficient in
nursing resource. He has also developed low cost management
system for Epilepsy in the Primary Healthcare Centre (PHC).
He has introduced Dental Healthcare and Cancer Control in
the PHC. He is providing quality healthcare to the people by
the introduction of low premium health insurance for all the
people living below poverty line. Dr. Sudarshan says the
greatest joy, he experienced was when he resuscitated a
patient whose lungs and heart had stopped and when he sees
the smile on the face of poor patients who come to the hospital
with blindness (cataract in both eyes) and walk out with full
vision after the cataract surgery. Country needs thousands of
Dr. Sudarshans for providing healthcare to our rural citizens.
Birth of Creativity in a difficult situation
Mario Capecchi had a difficult and challenging childhood.
For nearly four years, Capecchi lived with his mother in a
chalet in the Italian Alps. When World War II broke out, his
mother, along with other Bohemians, was sent to Dachau as a
political prisoner. Anticipating her arrest by the Gestapo, she
had sold all her possessions and given the money to friends to
Page 14 of 21

help raise her son on their farm. In the farm, he had to grow
own wheat, harvest, take it to miller to be ground. Then, the
money which his mother left for him ran out and at the age of
four and half years, he started sometimes living in the streets,
sometimes

joining

gangs

of

other

homeless

children,

sometimes living in orphanages and most of the time hungry.

He spent the last year in the city of Reggio Emelia, hospitalized
for malnutrition where his mother found him on his ninth
birthday after a year of searching. Within weeks, the Capecchi
and his mother sailed to America to join his uncle and aunt.
He started his 3rd grade schooling afresh over there and
started his education, interested in sports, studied political
science. But he didnt find interesting and changed into
science, became a mathematics graduate in 1961 with a
double major in Physics and Chemistry.

Although he liked

Physics, its elegance and simplicity, he switched to molecular

biology in graduate school, on the advice of James D Watson,
who advised him that he should not be bothered about small
things, since such pursuits are likely to produce only small
answers.
His objective was to do gene targeting. The experiments
started in 1980 and by 1984, Capecchi had clear success.
Three years later, he applied the technology to mice. In 1989,
he developed the first mice with targeted mutations. The
technology created by Doctor Capecchi allows researchers to
create specific gene mutations anywhere they choose in the
Page 15 of 21

genetic code of a mouse. By manipulating gene sequences in

this way, researchers are able to mimic human disease
conditions on animal subjects. What the research of Mario
Capecchi means for human health is nothing short of
amazing, his work with mice could lead to cures for
Alzheimers disease or even Cancer. The innovations in
genetics that Mario Capecchi achieved won him the Nobel
Prize in 2007. Noble laureate Capecchi life indeed reveals: When you wish upon a star,
Makes no difference who you are
Anything your heart desires
Will come to you.
Dear friends, let me take you to the type of society we are
entering and challenges.
The knowledge society in 21st century
The world in the 21st century will be a knowledge based
society with multiple opportunities. I was reading a book,
Empires of the Mind by Denis Waitley. This book gives, what
type of the new world which we are facing now? What was
yesterday and what is today. I have modified certain points of
the author to suit our conditions. I have also added a third
line which relates to action of educational institutes.
It specially says that what worked yesterday, wont
work today.

Page 16 of 21

1.

Yesterday natural resources defined power

Today - knowledge is power
Educational Institutions will be a powerhouse for
knowledge

2.

Yesterday - Hierarchy was the model

Today- synergy is the mandate
Educational
Institutions
will
be
enabler
of
intersection of multiple faculties towards mission
goals

3.

Yesterday leaders commanded and controlled

Today leaders empower and coach
Potential Leaders will be empowered through
exposure to the needs of sustainable development

4.

Yesterday - shareholders came first

Today customers come first
Education should inculcate sensitivity to customer
needs

5.

Yesterday - employees took order

Today teams make decision
Educational Institutions can inject team spirit

6.

Yesterday - seniority signified status

Today creativity drive status
Educational Institutions is the breeding environment
for creativity

7.

Yesterday production determined availability

Today Competitiveness is the key
Competitiveness is powered by research and
university has to have the motto of teachingresearch-teaching

Page 17 of 21

8.

9.

10.

Yesterday - value was extra

Today value is everything
Objective Value judgment
education

to

be

introduced

Yesterday everyone was a competitor

Today everyone is a customer
Educated customer is also from
Institutions

in

Educational

Yesterday - profits were earned through expediency

Today Work with integrity and succeed with integrity.
Education with value system is the need of the hour

Enlightened citizenship
We talked about many changes in society and the
preparedness of young graduates in terms of knowledge,
systems thinking, steadfastness and hard work. However one
important characteristic for peace and prosperity of human
beings is enlightened citizenship. I believe that this has three
components: (1) Education with value system (2) spirituality
bridging religions and (c) Economic development. As we hear
in

many

divine

places,

the

fundamental

to

this

is

Righteousness in the heart:

Righteousness in the heart
Where there is righteousness in the heart
There is beauty in the character.
When there is beauty in the character,
There is harmony in the home.
When there is harmony in the home.
There is an order in the nation.
When there is order in the nation,
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There is peace in the world.

Conclusion
Finally, I would like to ask you, what would you like to be
remembered for? You have to evolve yourself and shape your
life. You should write it on a page. That page may be a very
important page in the book of human history. And you will be
remembered for creating that one page in the history of the
nation whether that page is the page of invention, the page of
innovation or the page of discovery or the page of creating
societal change or a page of removing the poverty or the page
of fighting injustice or planning and executing mission of
networking of rivers.
I am sure, you would like to do something different out of
box missions, what are they?
1

Will you be remembered for a visionary action for the

nation, like Prof. Vikram Sarabhai or Homi Bhabha or
Dr.DS Kothari in the field of space science, nuclear
science and Defence Science?

Will you be remembered for introducing new industrial

system product, like nano-car or office transaction mode
in mobile?

Will you be remembered for creating a company which

finds a place in the top 100 of the Fortune 500
companies from India?

Will you be remembered for facilitating the creation of

100 PURAs (Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas)
in your region?
Page 19 of 21

Will you be remembered for becoming the pioneer in

developing a smart water way in the states and
Interlinking of Rivers in the nation?

Will you be remembered for working and creating a

validated system for the production of 340 million
tonnes of food grains and value addition through food
processing by the year 2020?

Will you be remembered for modernization of 10 million

SMEs and addition of another Million by providing
Private equity funding ventures?

Will you be remembered as a venture capital banker by

introducing the unique private equity funding for the
ideas that will bring new dimension to the society.

Will you be remembered

independence for the nation?

10

Will you be remembered for the action oriented Clean

home, clean environment, clean state and clean nation

11

Will you be remembered for developing one million

enlightened youth in your region who will participate in
the accelerated societal transformation of the nation?

for

bringing

energy

I will be happy if you write your thoughts, particularly

the graduating students to my email id apj@abdulkalam.com.
With

these

words,

graduating students.

once

again

congratulate

the

My best wishes to all the members of

BIT Mesra success in the mission of developing quality

technological human resource for the nation.
May God bless you.
Page 20 of 21

Eight point Oath for Graduating Students

1.

Engineering and Technology is a life time mission. I will

work, work and work and succeed.

2.

Wherever I am, a thought will always come to my mind.

That is what process or product I can innovate, invent or
discover.

3.

I will always remember that Let not my winged days, be

spent in vain.

4.

I realize I have to set a great technological goal that will

lead me to think high, work and persevere to realize the
goal.

5.

My

greatest

friends

will

be

great

scientific

and

technological minds, good teachers and good books.

6.

I firmly believe that no problem can defeat me; I will

become the captain of the problem, defeat the problem
and succeed.

7.

I will work and work for removing the problems faced by

planet earth in the areas of water, energy, habitat, waste
management and environment through the application of
science and technology.

8.

My National Flag flies in my heart and I will bring glory to

my nation.

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