NationMaster - Encyclopedia: A.P.J Abdul Kalam

Dr. Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam (Tamil: அ.ப.ஜ. அப்துல் கலாம்; Hindi: अवुल पकिर जैनुलाअबदीन अब्दुल कलाम; Urdu: ابو الفقیر زین العبدین عبدل کلام), born October 15, 1931, Tamil Nadu, India, usually referred to as Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam ^, is the current President of India. He is also a notable scientist and an engineer. He is often referred to as the Missile Man of India. Image File history File links Kalam. ... October 15 is the 288th day of the year (289th in leap years). ... 1931 (MCMXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link is to a full 1931 calendar). ... Dhanushkodi was a city at the southern tip of the Rameswaram island, at the eastern coast of the Tamil Nadu state of India. ... Rameswaram is a town in the southern part of India in the state of Tamil Nadu, on an island separated from the mainland by the Pamban channel. ... Tamil Nadu (தமிழ் நாடு, Land of the Tamils) is a state at the southern tip of India. ... Standard of the President of India The President of India is the head of state and first citizen of India and the Supreme Commander of the Indian armed forces. ... July 25 is the 206th day (207th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 159 days remaining. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... Kocheril Raman Narayanan (Malayalam: à´•àµ‹à´šàµà´šàµ‡à´°à´¿à´²àµ à´°à´¾à´®à´¨àµ à´¨à´¾à´°à´¾à´¯à´£à´¨àµ; 4 February 1921 â€” 9 November 2005), also known as K. R. Narayanan, was the tenth President of the Republic of India. ... Tamil (à®¤à®®à®¿à®´à¯ ) is a classical language and one of the major languages of the Dravidian language family. ... October 15 is the 288th day of the year (289th in leap years). ... 1931 (MCMXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link is to a full 1931 calendar). ... Tamil Nadu (தமிழ் நாடு, Land of the Tamils) is a state at the southern tip of India. ... Indian names are based on a variety of systems and naming conventions, which vary from region to region. ... Standard of the President of India The President of India is the head of state and first citizen of India and the Supreme Commander of the Indian armed forces. ... The physicist Albert Einstein is probably historys most widely recognized scientist. ... Look up engineer in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Career

Abdul Kalam was born at Rameswaram in Dhanushkodi, Tamil Nadu, to a working class Tamil Muslim family. He received his degree in aeronautical engineering from the Madras Institute of Technology in 1958. He joined India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) upon graduation to work on a hovercraft project. In 1962, Kalam moved to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), where his team successfully launched several satellites. He made a significant contribution as Project Director to develop India's first indigenous Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-III) which successfully placed the Rohini satellite into the near earth orbit in July 1980. Rameswaram is a town in the southern part of India in the state of Tamil Nadu, on an island separated from the mainland by the Pamban channel. ... Dhanushkodi was a city at the southern tip of the Rameswaram island, at the eastern coast of the Tamil Nadu state of India. ... Tamil Nadu (தமிழ் நாடு, Land of the Tamils) is a state at the southern tip of India. ... The term working class is used to denote a social class. ... The Tamil people are an ethnic group from South Asia with a recorded history going back more than two millennia. ... A Muslim (Arabic: Ù…Ø³Ù„Ù…, Turkish:MÃ¼slÃ¼man, Persian:Ù…Ø³Ù„Ù…Ø§Ù†, Bosnian: Musliman) is an adherent of Islam. ... Aerospace engineering is the branch of engineering concerning aircraft, spacecraft and related topics. ... Madras Institute of Technology (MIT) is a premier engineering institute located in Chennai, India. ... 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is Indias premier research organisation for defence related matters. ... A U.S. Navy hovercraft attached to the Amphibious assault ship Kearsarge (LHD-3) A Russian Project 1232. ... 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar). ... It has been suggested that Indian space program be merged into this article or section. ... A satellite is any object that orbits another object (which is known as its primary). ... This page may meet Wikipedias criteria for speedy deletion. ... Thats somewhere between two hundred and four hundred miles in space. ... 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday. ...

In 1982, Kalam returned to the DRDO as director, focusing on Indigenous guided missiles. He was responsible for the development and operationalisation of the AGNI and PRITHVI missiles. This earned him the sobriquet "India's missile-man". He also helped in building healthcare products using technology developed for missiles. 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A guided missile is a military rocket that can be directed in flight to change its flight path. ... Agni is a Hindu deity. ... Prithvi (pá¹›thivÄ«) is the Hindu earth-god. ...

In July 1992, Kalam became scientific advisor to India's defence minister. As the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Indian government, he held the rank of a Cabinet Minister. His work led to the successful Pokhran-II nuclear tests in 1998, which reiterated India's position as a nuclear weapon state. Dr. Kalam was also the Chairman, Ex-officio, of the Scientific Advisory Committee to the Cabinet (SAC-C) and piloted India Millennium Mission 2020. 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... A defence minister (Commonwealth English) or defense minister (American English) is a cabinet portfolio (position) which regulates the armed forces in a sovereign nation. ... // INTELLIGENT BEHAVIOURS TO BECOME MORE RICHER AND SECURE WITHIN INDIA REMOVE POVERTY AND TO INCREASE SECURITY OF INDIA, THERE IS A NEED TO USE HIGHER INTELLIGENT, THAT IS TO SAY, TO PROMOTE FOREIGN CITIZENS OF FIRST WORLD COUNTRIES TO BECOME CITIZEN OF INDIA WHEREBY THEY HAVE RIGHTS TO PURCHASE WHOLE... Alternate meanings in cabinet (disambiguation) A Cabinet is a body of high-ranking members of government, typically representing the executive branch. ... Pokharan-II refers to test explosions of five nuclear devices, three on 11 May and two on 13 May 1998, by India at Pokhran. ... A nuclear test explosion is an experiment involving the detonation of a nuclear weapon. ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... This is a list of countries with nuclear weapons. ...

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. Anna University is one of Indias premier universities. ... 2001: A Space Odyssey. ...

Kalam was elected the 11th President of India and took office on July 25, 2002. Standard of the President of India The President of India is the head of state and first citizen of India and the Supreme Commander of the Indian armed forces. ... July 25 is the 206th day (207th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 159 days remaining. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ...

Honours

Dr. Kalam has the unique distinction of having received honorary doctorates from at least thirty universities, as also India's three highest civilian honours - the Padma Bhushan in 1981; the Padma Vibhushan in 1990; and the Bharat Ratna in 1997. He has recently refused a honorary doctorate from a University, claiming he is satisfied with the ones he has earned with his hardwork and determination. The Padma Bhushan is an Indian civilian decoration established on January 2, 1954 by the President of India. ... 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Padma Vibhushan is Indias second highest civilian honour. ... This article is about the year. ... Bharat Ratna is Indias highest civilian award, awarded for the highest degrees of national service. ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Political views

Something of Kalam's probable views on certain issues can be surmised from positions espoused by him in the past. His book "India 2020" strongly advocates an action plan to develop India into a knowledge superpower and into a developed nation by the year 2020. Kalam is credited with the view that India ought to take a more assertive stance in international relations; he apparently regards his work on India's nuclear weapons program as a way to assert India's place as a future superpower. A superpower is a state with the first rank in the international system and the ability to influence events and project power on a worldwide scale; it is considered a higher level of power than a major power. ... A developed country is a country that is technologically advanced and that enjoys a relatively high standard of living. ... 2020 (MMXX) will be a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, 1945, rose some 18 km (11 mi) above the hypocenter. ... A superpower is a state with the first rank in the international system and the ability to influence events and project power on a worldwide scale; it is considered a higher level of power than a major power. ...

Kalam continues to take an active interest in other developments in the field of science and technology as well. He has proposed a research programme to increase intelligence using bio-implants. He is a supporter of Open source software over proprietary solutions and believes that the use of open source software on a large scale will bring more people the benefits of information technology. Image File history File links Dorrit_indianpresident. ... Image File history File links Dorrit_indianpresident. ... Dorrit Moussaieff is the second and current wife of Ã“lafur Ragnar GrÃmsson, president of Iceland. ... The National Gallery of Iceland is located in Reykjavik, and contains a collection of Icelandic art. ... A Bio-implant may be defined as Artificial organic material that can be surgically implanted into a persons body to replace damaged tissue [1]. The common areas of application include orthopedic (especially maxillofacial) reconstructive Prosthesis, cardiac prostheses (artificial Heart_valves like Chitra heart valve), Skin and Cornea. ... Open source refers to projects that are open to the public and which draw on other projects that are freely available to the general public. ... Computer software (or simply software) refers to one or more computer programs and data held in the storage of a computer for some purpose. ... [[[[[[Information technology]]]]]] (IT) or Information and communication(s) technology (ICT) (also Infocomm, esp. ...

Criticism

Kalam has been the subject of vicious criticism from leftists in the Indian press, [1], Praful Bidwai being among his staunchest critics. In popular forums on the web such as this one [2] Kalam has been derided for his appearance and his perceived closeness to the earlier Bharatiya Janata Party led administration.

Identity

As a rule Muslim industry leaders, scholars, and politicians who have made a name for themselves in India and Pakistan have been from the elite classes of their community, such as the Kutchi Memons, the Bohras, or the wealthy families of Hyderabad and Lucknow. Kalam is the first Muslim from Southern India from a Muslim community that does not speak Urdu to have achieved the kind of recognition he has. His idea of India's interests is modernist and nationalistic. This stands in contrast to the articulation of India's interests by different groups across India's political spectrum. The Congress and its related formations derive their idea of national interest from the ideas expressed by Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister, that sees India as an historic entity that must stand at the forefront of nations that have won their independence during the 20th century from colonial powers and are trying to create societies with regulated economic systems. The communist parties of India and its allies see India as an entity of the 20th century and a temporary creation of the current capitalist phase of human society that should some day be a part of a worldwide classless and nationless socialist economy that is the final and inevitable endpoint of human progress. The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party sees India as an entity inspired by its Hindu heritage that is required to recapture its once glorious position on the world stage, with its current structure of a Nation State being a modern requirement. Kalam's views are inspired partly by Nehru's ideas and those articulated by Hindu nationalists and he attempts to draw the best from both. While rejecting Nehru's role for India as a spokesperson of other nations with perceived common interests, his views also reject the Hindu nationalist idea of a national identity based on a religious heritage. Kalam point of view however makes no room whatsoever for the Indian left's idea of India. This may be a reason why leftists journalists in India have criticized him. Kalam's belief in the power of technology to resolve society's problems and his views of these problems as a result of inefficient distribution of resources is modernistic. He also sees science and technology as ideology free areas and emphasizes the cultivation of a scientific temper and an entrepreneurial drive. In this he finds much support among India's new economy business leaders some of whom especially the founders of Infosys have begun their career as technology professionals much in the same way as Kalam has.

Personal life

Kalam observes strict personal discipline, practicing vegetarianism, teetotalism and celibacy. Kalam is a scholar of Tirukkural; in most of his speeches, he quotes at least one kural. It is believed that he reads the Qur'an (the main holy text of his faith, Islam) regularly and also the Bhagavad Gita at times. Kalam has written several inspirational books, most notably his autobiography Wings of Fire, aimed at motivating Indian youth. Another of his books, Guiding Souls: Dialogues on the Purpose of Life reveals his spiritual side. It has been reported that there is considerable demand in South Korea for translated versions of books authored by him. Vegetarianism is the practice of not eating meat, including beef, poultry, fish, or their by-products, with or without the use of dairy products or eggs. ... Teetotalism is the practice or promotion of complete abstinence from alcoholic beverages. ... Celibacy refers either to being unmarried or to sexual abstinence. ... Tiruvalluvar statue at Kanyakumari Tirukural (திருக்குறள் in Tamil) is an important work of Tamil literature by Tiruvalluvar written in the form of couplets expounding various aspects of life. ... Kural is one of the most important forms of traditional Tamil poetry. ... The , , (Arabic: recitation, also transliterated as Quran, Quran, Quran, Koran, and Alcoran), is the holy book of Islam. ... Islam (Arabic: ; ) is a monotheistic religion based on the Quran. ... Bhagavad Gīta भगवद्गीता, composed ca the fifth - second centuries BC, is part of the epic poem Mahabharata, located in the Bhisma-Parva chapters 23–40. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

Trivia

February 14 is the 45th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Visakhapatnam (also VishÄkhapatnam, shortened and Anglicized: Vizag or Vizagapatnam) is a Port city in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. ...

Books

Ignited Minds Ignited Minds is a book written by A P J Abdul Kalam, presently the President of India. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

External links

Categories: Articles lacking sources | 1931 births | Bharat Ratna recipients | Indian scientists | Living people | Muslim scientists | Padma Bhushan awardees | Padma Vibhushan awardees | Presidents of India | Tamil scientists | Teetotalers | Vegetarians | Celibate people | Indian Muslims Image File history File links Wikiquote-logo-en. ... Wikiquote logo Wikiquote is a sister project of Wikipedia, using the same MediaWiki software. ... Kocheril Raman Narayanan, usually known just as K. R. Narayanan (b. ... Standard of the President of India The President of India is the head of state and first citizen of India and the Supreme Commander of the Indian armed forces. ... July 25 is the 206th day (207th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 159 days remaining. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ...

Contents

Career GA_googleFillSlot("encyclopedia_square");