Dr.
APJ Abdul Kalam Speech
3rd
Annual Lecture of the UPSC Lecture Series on Governance on 1 December 2011
Creative
Leadership: Essence of good governance “Before
you do anything, stop and recall the face of the poorest most helpless destitute person you have seen and ask yourself, “Is
what I am about to do going to help him?” …Mahatma GandhiI am delighted to give the 3rd Annual Lecture on
Governance and Public Service organized by Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to this audience who
are part of the governance system of our
great Nation. During the last six decades of Independence, India has
established that her core competence is in providing leadership to over one
billion people of a democratic country with multi religious, multilingual and multi cultural characteristics.
UPSC has
played an important role in selecting and recommended the most talented persons
for appointment to various segments of our National governance system. Over the
last six decades UPSC has selected nearly quarter of a million candidates,
after examining over forty-six million applicants which is equivalent to the
entire population of South Africa or England. UPSC has inspite of various
factors affecting societal dynamics, has conducted examinations, interviews, personality
tests and recommending suitable candidate for various Services, particularly Civil Services dealing with
district administration, Law and Order, Agriculture Services, Communication
Services, Medical Services, Railway Services and Engineering Services under
this intense competition. I would like to congratulate you for having a clean
record of selecting the candidate for the required task insulated from societal
turbulence. Today I would like to talk on the topic “Creative Leadership:
Essence of good governance”.
Problem cannot be our master – We Japanese will become
the master of the problemsOn 29th November night, I was returning from Seoul,
Republic of Korea to Delhi on a non-stop seven and half hours flight after
attending the Eminent Persons Group meeting organized by the President of Republic of South Korea
prior to 2012 Seoul Nuclear Security Summit. This meet was attended by top
experts in the nuclear field from different countries. The mission of EPG is to
establish safety and security guidelines for 539 nuclear power plants spread
all over the world. I am not going to talk about the details of that meet, but
I would like to mention one incident which was narrated by Prof. Shinichi
Kitaoka, a Professor of Faculty of Law, University of Tokyo to me and the EPG
members.
The professor was narrating the whole scene, the combination of
highest intensity earthquake and the tsunami which affected the 40 years old
Fukushima nuclear power plant. He said, the world has gone through so far three
major nuclear power plant accidents. One in USA, one in former USSR and the
latest in Japan. He said, in the Japan accident, even though the Fukushima
plant experienced a major natural havoc leading to the major accident of the
nuclear power plant, there was no single radiation induced casualty and there
was no radiation leakage. Of course, it has generated within Japan and also
many parts of the world, a fear about the type of safety in the present and
future shore-based nuclear power stations situated in various parts of the
world. The most profound statement of Prof Kitaoka, was “two cities of Japan were
attacked by nuclear weapons in 1940s. It was a painful tragedy, but Japanese
citizens withstood boldly, challenged the problem and within three decades, Japan
got transformed into the most industrialized nation in the world. Now,
Fukushima nuclear power plant problem is in front of us. We the Japanese will
not allow this problem to become our master. With international cooperation, we
the Japanese will become the master of the problem, defeat the problem and the
world will see clean-green nuclear energy flourishing all over the place.”
Leadership is the essence of good governance How to make
the governance system of the country most effective and ensure development of
the nation which will make and sustain the nation as an economically developed,
prosperous, happy and peaceful society in the world? For that what you need is
to have creative leadership at all segments of the governance of the nation.
Friends, I have seen three dreams which have taken shape
as vision, mission and realization. Space programme of ISRO (Indian Space
Research Organization), AGNI programme of DRDO (Defence Research and
Development Organization) and PURA (Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas)
becoming the National Mission. Of course, these three programmes succeeded in
the midst of many challenges and problems. I have worked in all these three
areas. I would like to convey to you what I have learnt on leadership from
these three programmes:
a.
Leader must have a vision.
b.
Leader must have passion to realize the vision.
c.
Leader must be able to travel into an unexplored path.
d.
Leader must know how to manage a success and failure.
e.
Leader must have courage to take decisions.
f.
Leader should have nobility in management.
g.
Leader should be transparent in every action.
h.
Leader becomes the master of the problem, defeats the problem and succeeds.
j.
Leader must work with integrity and succeed with integrity.
Let me illustrate these characteristics through our national
programmes. Vision for self-sufficiency in food. The vision for the First Green
Revolution emanated during the 1970s from the political leadership of Shri C. Subramaniam.
With the Visionary leadership of
Shri C. Subramaniam, the team with the scientific leadership of Nobel Laureate
Dr. Norman Borlaugh and Dr. M.S. Swaminathan, with the active support of Shri
B. Sivaraman, Secretary Agriculture, Dr. M.S. Swaminathan in partnership with agricultural
scientists and farmers liberated India from the situation of what was called
“ship to mouth existence”.
Through an effort of historical magnitude, India attained
near self-sufficiency in food through “Seed to Grain” mission. As part of this
first green revolution, the country has been able to produce over 236 million
tonnes of food grains per year now. Of course, farmers played a pivotal role in
working with agricultural scientists in farm itself.
The political leadership and the scientific leadership
has been able to build the capacity among our scientists, researchers and
farmers to take up the mission of “second green revolution” which is indeed a
knowledge graduation from characterization of soil to the matching of the seed
with the composition of the fertilizer, water management and evolving
pre-harvesting techniques for such conditions. The domain of a farmer’s work
would enlarge from grain production to food processing and marketing.
India has now embarked upon the Second Green Revolution
which will enable it to further increase the productivity in the agricultural
sector. By 2020 India would require to produce over 340 million tonnes in view
of population growth and increased purchasing power. The increase in the
production would surmount many impeding factors such as reduce availability of
land, shortage of water and reduced availability of agricultural workforce. Our
agricultural scientists and technologists in partnership with farmers have to
work for increasing the average productivity per hectare has to be increased
three times compared to present productivity. The type of technologies needed
would be in the areas of development of seeds that would ensure high yield
varieties even under constraints of water and land.
Passion
to realize the vision
Now let me describe to you an example of how passion to realize
the vision has facilitated the successful and on-time implementation of a two
billion dollar metro-rail project by the Managing Director of a public sector
organization. The Delhi Metro Rail
Project has given to the nation the potential of executing a fast transportation
system using high technology with reliability through a time bound mission mode
operation. Delhi, the Capital of the country with over 20 million population,
has the distinction of having a world class metro rail with frontline
technologies. The work on the metro rail commenced on 1st October 1998 and the
first phase with three lines covering 66 kms has been completed by December 2005.
Today over all route length created by Delhi Metro is around 190 Kms. Everyday,
metro handle minimum movement of 2 million passengers.
Delhi Metro Rail
Corporation has brought to the country, the most advanced rail technologies for
the first time. Here is a leader who has passion and passion for excellence.
The notable gains to the country are, light weight stainless steel, sleek,
modern trains with pneumatic springs, regenerative braking, public information
display, wide vestibules and automatic doors. The sophisticated coach
technology which was not available in the country so far, has been transferred
to M/s. Bharat Earth Movers Ltd., Bangalore, which is now assembling these
trains with progressive indigenization.
BEML is now in a position to supply train sets needed for
Phase-II of Delhi Metro Rail Project and meet the requirement for Metros coming
up in other cities of the country. Mr.
E. Sreedharan, the Managing Director of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation has
ensured that, all the scheduled sections were completed by their target date or
before and within their respective budgets through his programme management
skills. The dedicated and transparent leadership backed up with professional
competence of Mr. Sreedharan has given to the nation, one of the best
transportation systems of the world at the most economic cost. He is a
recipient of many national and international awards. Also, he is in demand for
undertaking the development of metro system in different countries of the world
which he has politely declined due to pre-occupation with committed Indian
programmes.
Now I would like to talk about a leader who ventured to travel
in an unexplored path.
Traveling
in unexplored path
I was fortunate to
work with Prof. Vikram Sarabhai for seven years and while closely working with
him, I saw the dawn of the vision for the space programme in a one page statement.
Witnessing the evolution of this one page by a cosmic ray physicist, a great
scientific mind and be a part of the team which has been working ceaselessly
for many years to realize the vision have been of really great learning for me.
Also I am thrilled to see the famous vision statement of Prof Vikram Sarabhai
made in the year 1970 which states “India with her mighty scientific knowledge
and power house of young, should build her own huge rocket systems (satellite launch
vehicles) and also build her own communication, remote sensing and
meteorological spacecraft and launch from her own soil to enrich the Indian
life in satellite communication, remote sensing and meteorology.
The projects selected in space programme, are designed to
meet the societal needs”. Total 150 transponders are there in the
geo-synchronous orbit for providing connectivity to the nation. If I look at
this vision statement today, I am overwhelmed to see the results of this statement.
Today India can build any type of satellite launch vehicle, any type of
spacecraft and launch them from Indian soil. India also has launched
Chandrayaan and has successfully placed the satellite in Lunar Orbit and now it
is preparing for manned missions to other planets. India has proved that
through space science and technology, we can provide effective communication,
resource mapping, disaster predication and disaster management systems.
Now, I would like to give an incident which demonstrates the
characteristics of Dr. Vikram Sarabhai for traveling in an unexplored path.
Purpose of life: It was during early 1960’s, the founder of
Indian Space Research Programme Prof. Vikram Sarabhai with his team, had
located a place technically most suited for space research after considering
many alternatives. The place called Thumba in Kerala, was selected for space
research as it was near the magnetic equator, ideally suited for ionospheric and
electrojet research in upper atmosphere.
The major challenge for Prof Vikram Sarabhai was to get the
place in a specific area. As was normal, Prof. Vikram Sarabhai approached the
Kerala Government administrators first. After seeing the profile of the land
and the sea coast, the view expressed was that, thousands of fishing folks
lived there; the place had an ancient St Mary Magdalene Church, Bishop’s House
and a school. Hence it would be very difficult to give this land and they were
willing to provide land in an alternative area. Similarly the political system
also opined that it would be a difficult situation due to the existence of important
institutions and the concern for people who were to be relocated. However there
was a suggestion to approach the only person who could advise and help. That
was “Rev Father Peter Bernard Pereira” who was Bishop of the region.
Prof Vikram
Sarabhai approached the Bishop on a Saturday evening, I still remember. The
meeting between the two turned out to be historical. Many of us witnessed the
event. Rev Father exclaimed, “Oh Vikram, you are asking my children’s abode, my
abode and God’s abode. How is it possible?” However, both had a unique quality
that they could smile even in difficult situations. Rev Father Peter Bernard
Pereira asked Prof. Vikram Sarabhai to come to church on Sunday morning at 9.00
AM. Prof. Vikram Sarabhai went to the church with his team again on Sunday. At
that time the prayer was progressing with the recitation of Bible by Father
Pereira. After the prayer was over, the Bishop invited Prof. Vikram Sarabhai to
come to the dais.
The Rev Father introduced Prof Vikram Sarabhai to the people,
“Dear children, here is a scientist, Prof. Vikram Sarabhai. What do sciences do?
All of us experience, including this church, the light from electricity. I am
able to talk to you through the mike which is made possible by technology. The
diagnosis and treatment to patients by doctors comes from medical sciences.
Science through technology enhances the comfort and quality of human life. What
do I do, as a preacher? I pray for you, for your well being, for your peace. In
short, what Vikram is doing and what I am doing are the same - both science and
spirituality seek the Almighty’s blessings for human prosperity in body and
mind. Dear Children, Prof Vikram says, he would build within a year, near the
sea-coast, alternative facilities to what we are having. Now dear children, can
we give your abode, can we give my abode, can we give the God’s abode for a
great scientific mission?” There was a total silence, a pin drop silence. Then
all of them got up and said ‘Amen’ which made the whole church reverberate.
That was the church where we had our design centre, where
we started rocket assembly and the Bishop’s house was our scientists’ working
place. Later the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS) led to the
establishment of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) and the space activities transformed
into multiple space centers throughout the country. Now this church has become
an important centre of learning, where thousands of people learn about the
dynamic history of the space programme of India and the great minds of a
scientist and spiritual leader. Of course, the Thumba citizens got the well
equipped facilities, worshiping place and educational centre in an alternate
place at the right time.
When I think of this event, I can see how enlightened spiritual
and scientific leaders can converge towards giving reverence to the human life.
Of course the birth of TERLS and then VSSC gave the country the capability for
launch vehicles, spacecraft and space applications that have accelerated social
and economic development in India to unprecedented levels.
Today, among us, Prof Vikram Sarabhai is not there, Rev Peter
Bernard Pereira is not there, but those who are responsible for creation and
making flowers blossom will themselves be a different kind of flower as
described in the Bhagwat Gita: "See the flower, how generously it distributes
perfume and honey. It gives to all, gives freely of its love. When its work is
done, it falls away quietly. Try to be like the flower, unassuming despite all
its qualities". What a beautiful message, to the humanity on the purpose
of life reflected the spiritual component.
Managing
success and failure
Three decades ago
while I was working at ISRO, I had the best of education which won't come from
any university. I will narrate that incident. I was given a task by Prof.
Satish Dhawan the then Chairman, ISRO to develop the first satellite launch
vehicle SLV-3, to put ROHINI Satellite in orbit. This was one of the largest
high technology space programmes undertaken in 1973. The whole space technology
community, men and women, were geared up for this task. Thousands of scientists,
engineers and technicians worked resulting in the realization of the first
SLV-3 launch on 10th August 1979.
SLV-3 took off in the early hours and the first stage
worked beautifully. Even though all stage rockets and systems worked, the
mission could not achieve its objectives, as the control system in 2nd stage
malfunctioned. Instead of being placed in the orbit, the Rohini satellite went
into Bay of Bengal. The mission was a failure. There was a press conference at
Sriharikota, after the event. Prof. Dhawan took me to the press conference. And
there he announced that he takes responsibility for not achieving the mission,
even though I was the project director and the mission director. When we launched
SLV-3 on 18th July 1980, successfully injecting the Rohini Satellite in to the
orbit, again there was a press conference and Prof. Dhawan put me in the front
to share the success story with the press.
What we learn from this event is that
the leader gives the credit for success to those who worked for it, and leader
absorbs and owns the responsibility for the failure. This is the leadership.
The scientific community in India has the fortune to work with such leaders,
which resulted in many accomplishments. This success generated great happiness
among all my team members. This is an important lesson for all youth who are
aspiring to be tomorrow’s leaders. The great lesson we learn: the leader in any
field, political, administrative, scientific, education, industry, judiciary,
or any other human activity, should have the creative leadership capacity and
courage to absorb the failure and give the successes to his or her team
members.
This I learnt and learnt all the way. Leader has the
courage to take decision Friends; I still remember a scene during May 1996. It was
9 O’clock at night. I got a call from the then Prime Minister’s House that I
should meet the Prime Minister Shri PV Narasimha Rao immediately. I met him
just 2 days before the announcement of General Election results. He told me “Kalam,
be ready with your team for the N-Test and I am going to Tirupati. You wait for
my authorization to go ahead with the test. DRDO-DAE teams must be ready for
action. Of course the election result was quite different from what he anticipated.
I was busy in Chandipur missile range. I got a call saying that I must meet
immediately the Prime Minister designate Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayeeji with Shri
Narasimha Raoji. I witnessed a unique situation. Shri Narasimha Raoji the
outgoing Prime Minister - asked me to brief the details of N-programme to Shri
Vajpayeeji, so that a smooth takeover of such a very important programme can
take place. This incident reveals the maturity and professional excellence of a
patriotic statesman who believed that the nation is bigger than the political
system. Of-course after taking over as Prime Minister in 1998, the first task
given by Shri Vajpayeeji to me was to conduct the nuclear test at the earliest.
Both these leaders had the courage to take difficult decisions boldly, even
though the consequences of such a decision have great national and
international significance.
Nobility
in management
Friends, the next
leader I would like to discuss is Prof Brahm Prakash. When I was the Project
Director of SLV3 programme, Prof. Brahm prakash – a great scientific leader with
nobility, was the Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), which
integrated multiple institutions based on the advice of Prof. Kamala Chowdhuri,
a management guru from IIM. Prof Brahm Prakash took hundreds of decisions for the
growth of space science and technology. One important decision which I will
always cherish was once a programme such as SLV3 is sanctioned the multiple
laboratories of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre and also the multiple centres of
ISRO including the Space Department have to work to realize the stated goals of
the programme as a team. Particularly during 1973 – 1980, there was a
tremendous financial crunch and competing requirement from many small projects.
He converged all scientific and technological work to be focused towards SLV3
and its satellite. When I say that Prof. Brahm Prakash is famous for the
evolution of management with nobility, I would like to give a few instances.
He enabled for the first time evolution of a
comprehensive management plan for SLV-3 programme towards the mission of
putting the Rohini satellite in orbit. After my task team prepared the SLV3
management plan, in a period of 3 months time, he arranged nearly fifteen
brainstorming meetings of the Space Scientific Committee (SSC). After
discussion and approval, this management plan was signed by Prof Brahm Prakash
and became the guiding spirit and working document for the whole organization.
This was also the beginning of converting the national vision into mission mode
programmes.
During the evolution of the management plan, I could see,
how multiple views emerged and how, many people were afraid of losing individuality
due to the main mission, thereby throwing anger in the meetings. I could also
see how Prof. Brahm Prakash radiated with smile in the midst of continuous
smoke coming from the cigarette continuously being lit one after the other. The
anger, fear and prejudice have all disappeared in the presence of his nobility
in thinking.
Today, the space programme, launch vehicle, spacecraft,
scientific experiments and launch missions all are taking place in the centres
of Indian Space Research Organization in a cohesive and cooperative manner. I
learnt the hard way from this great mighty soul “before starting any programme,
it is essential to have the project management plan with the details of, how to
steer the project during different phases of the project and foresee the
possible critical paths and possible solutions and keeping time, performance
and schedule as key factors.” I thank this great mighty soul who evolved the
concept of management with nobility and
was a very famous professor in metallurgy
at the Indian Institute of Science. He was also a pioneer for giving the
country – nuclear material by establishing the Nuclear Fuel Complex (NFC).
Transparency
in leadership
The actions to be taken by the government does not reach
the citizens in-time because of the complexity of the decisions, length of
implementation path and lack of transparency. For this I would suggest a unique
model which is being practiced in Gujarat. Under this program, approximately
one lakh government officials, from the Chief Minister to Taluka level staff
from 15 Departments, along with about 1582 agricultural scientists, and several
other stakeholders like civil society organisations, elected representatives,
farmers and women spend a month during April/May in rural areas demonstrating
the best of technologies to farmers. Such initiatives indicate a strong administrative
will to ensure development reaches the rural sector. Krushi Mahotsav tours all
18,600 villages of the state, providing information and counselling on soil
health, organic farming, technology and inputs, irrigation, etc., besides infusing
a new spirit of change and mass mobilization. In addition, the Gujarat Govt has
instituted an e-governance system linking the panchayat level, district HQs,
and the state govt leading to transparency and speed with the decision making
process.
Work
with integrity and succeed with integrity
On 22nd Nov 2011 I went to Jorhat for addressing the World
Tea Science Congress. There I addressed the Administrative and police officers
of Jorhat and Dibrugarh district which was organized by Mr R C Jain, DM Jorhat
on 21st November evening. There I administered an oath to the participants “I
will work with integrity and succeed with integrity”. The decibel level was
very high when they said “work with integrity” and decibel level went down when
they were repeating “succeed with integrity”. But next day, I saw a very
beautiful situation in the World Tea Science Congress in the presence of CM of
Assam and the Jorhat Administrative team. I saw in front of me the Chairman of
Tea Board Mr MGVK Bhanu an IAS officer, giving the introductory speech to the
participants of World Tea Science Congress. Mr Bhanu said, “Yesterday, Dr.Kalam
administered an oath to all the IAS and IPS officers including myself”. I would
to like to assure you Dr Kalam that I have worked with integrity and succeeded with
integrity during the last 24 years as an IAS officer in different parts of the
State and the Centre. Now I am in the Tea Board. I was Secretary to the CM of
Assam”. I would like to assure Dr. Kalam that I have tried to create a brand of
moral uprightness in all my tasks”. Shri Bhanu also mentioned that he was
thinking for the whole night “what he should be remembered for” he said he
would like to be remembered for making India the largest producer of tea, and
largest exporter of tea in the world. I
am very happy to share this unique experience. If every functionary of Govt of
India has such a vision and mission I am confident that we will get transformed
into a developed nation well before 2020.
Friends, so far I have discussed with you nine unique dimensions
of creative leadership for the governance. Here, let me recall a profound
saintly message to all of us by Maharishi Patanjali 2500 years ago. "When
you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your
thoughts break their bounds. Your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness
expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful
world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents come alive, and you discover yourself
to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamt yourself to be."
Conclusion: Vision for the nation and governance India
has to transform into an economically developed nation by the year 2020. This
means our citizens can live in a green clean environment without pollution,
having prosperity without poverty, peace without fear of war and a happy place to
the live for all citizens of the nation. I am sure, with nine dimensions of
creative leadership quality which will be the foundation for our talented human
power that will transform India into a performing nation. Indeed UPSC is a
partner in this transformation by equipping the nation in multiple fields with
the best human power with the great quality “what can I give” and “I will work
with integrity and succeed with integrity”.
Once again let me greet all the participants of this
“UPSC lecture series on governance”. My best wishes to all the members of the
UPSC success in their mission of providing the best talent who will use their
ideas and mind power for a better India and the better world.
May God bless you.
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