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Dear Citizens, on the eve of the 57th Republic Day
of India, my greetings to all of you in the country
and those living abroad. I convey my special
greetings, to the members of our Armed Forces and
the Paramilitary Forces, who guard our frontiers on
the land, the sea and the air and also the central
and state level police including the other internal
security forces. I am also happy to inform that my
government has decided to increase the pensionary
benefits of JCOs and NCOs of our Armed Forces from 1st
January 2006, which will benefit around 1.2 million
pensioners.
Critical national needs
In
today’s Republic Day address, I would like to share
with you two critical needs of our nation. One is
about the national mission and its progress. The
second is to protect our progress and further
sustain the earning capacity of individuals and
people. For this, it is essential to increase the
boundary conditions of our life, which comes out of
our long cherished civilizational heritage. This is
the time, we must launch and build-up an intensive
and extensive movement of cherishing our value
systems in all walks of life. This is particularly
important since the nation has to provide leadership
to the 540 million ignited minds of the youth who
are the most powerful resource for translating our
vision of transforming India into a developed
nation, well before 2020 in an integrated way.
Progressive Momentum towards National
Missions
Friends, I have visited all the
States and Union Territories and have addressed the
Members of Parliament and a number of State
Assemblies. I have met and interacted with over one
million youth. I have met many spiritual leaders. In
addition, I have addressed a number of Ministries,
professional bodies, educational and scientific
institutions, industries, healthcare organizations,
judicial establishments, law enforcement agencies,
Armed Forces units, media, non-governmental
organizations, artists, creative personalities,
rural people and many others. I have also
interacted with differently abled persons. In all my
interactions with various constituents and
specialists of the society, the prime focus of my
communication was to present the linkages between
the particular institution and the goal of national
development. These have resulted in specific
missions for the organizations and individuals
converging towards Vision 2020. When I visited and
interacted with different cross sections of the
people at a later time, I have found several of
these missions are being translated into actions
providing fruitful results.
For example, the
interlinking of rivers has made a beginning in
Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
In Tamil Nadu, the State is considering creation of
water ways connecting Palar, Kaveri, Vaigai and
Thamiraparani. I have seen and experienced the
functioning of four operational PURAs (Providing
Urban Amenities in Rural Areas) namely Periyar PURA
at Vallam, Tamil Nadu, Loni PURA in Maharashtra,
Chitrakoot PURA in Madhya Pradesh and Byrraju PURA
in Bhimavaram, Andhra Pradesh. BAIF (Bharatiya
Agro Industries Foundation)
has brought a new dimension in rural and tribal
development, through empowering the rural people
with know-how, technology and networks; for water
conservation, dairy development, fruit orchard and
animal husbandry. In addition, Governments of
Kerala, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh have taken up
the PURA missions in their respective States and
have completed the planning process. In the 93rd
Indian Science Congress, I have suggested to the
Ministry of Rural Development to allocate Rs. 500
Cr. for initiation of 100 PURA clusters, each
consisting of 20 to 30 villages across the country.
Action is progressing. Leadership for these PURA
Clusters will be provided by the selected
educational institutions located in the respective
rural areas. Chhattisgarh, Mizoram and Uttranchal
have undertaken large scale plantation of Jatropha
in both Government and private lands to produce
bio-fuel. I have seen a solar power plant of 120 KW
capacity in Kaylapara village in Sagar Island at
Sundarbans in West Bengal. This power plant along
with a number of 20 to 30 KW plants is supplying six
hours of electricity to 33 villages in the Sagar
Island. This is going to be expanded to 150 villages
very soon. Bangalore Municipal Corporation is in
the process of implementing a 8 MW power plant using
solid municipal waste through BOOT (Build, Own,
Operate and Transfer) scheme. The power plant is
similar to what we have in Hyderabad and Vijayawada.
India’s first virtual university has been created by
the three 150 year old universities namely Madras,
Mumbai and Calcutta. I have delivered the inaugural
address for this virtual university and interacted
with 15,000 students spread across the country
through EDUSAT using virtual tele-education delivery
system. A Virtual University by definition is meant
to cut across the geographical and administrative
boundaries and provide the best of education. It is
our responsibility to make it happen in the new
environment. I have seen the accelerated learning
programme using computers in Karnataka Government
schools in association with Azim Premji Foundation
to reduce the dropouts. Akshaya Computer Literacy
Programme of Kerala has made at least one member in
each family a computer literate in whole of
Malapuram district of the State. Also, I saw a high
profile scientist after his retirement from Light
Combat Aircraft Programme has taken up the mission
of removing the illiteracy in his native village
Bour in Darbhanga district of Bihar. Jamsetji Tata
Virtual Academy has started the creation of Village
Knowledge Centers using the selected fellows of
virtual academy in association with M.S. Swaminathan
Research Foundation. I interacted with a number of
village knowledge centers established in different
parts of the country from Coimbatore and Hyderabad
through EDUSAT connectivity and discussed the
problem faced by the farmers, fisher folk and crafts
personnel. At Peda Amiram near Bhimavaram, I have
visited an International Cancer Centre with all
modern facilities for treatment of cancer patients.
At Parumala in Kerala, the International Centre for
Cardio Thoracic and Vascular Diseases is providing
specialized treatment to heart patients in rural
areas. I also met 1000 physically challenged
children wearing the light weight calipers at
Nalgonda in Andhra Pradesh and most importantly the
first and the 10,000th child benefited
from Defence Technology spin off. All these results
indicate that the development has started reaching
certain parts of our rural areas. What does it all
symbolize? The 5000 years old civilization is
awakening to new technology and towards development.
I can see that developed India is on the rise.
In order to strengthen this process,
scientists, technologists and healthcare specialists
have a special role to play.
Mission for Scientists and
Technologists:
For the scientists and technologists of the nation,
I have five immediate national missions: (a).
Increasing the Solar Photo Voltaic Cell efficiency
from 14% to 45% using nano technology; (b).
Research in proteomics to identify the disease
causing mechanism and to develop new methods to
treat diseases;
(c).
Earthquake forecasting using multiple parameter
pre-cursors such as pre-shock conditions and
electromagnetic phenomena, prior to the final
rupture;
(d).
Building a validated mathematical model for
predicting the quantum of rain for a particular
cloud conditions in a particular region in a
prescribed time using the new type of Polarimetric
radar and;
(e).
Developing the products in the healthcare,
electronics and materials to meet the national
requirements using the convergence of nano, bio and
info technologies.
Healthcare:
Health care community should give highest priority
for treatment of HIV/AIDS and accelerate the
development of effective anti-vaccine for certain
types of HIV before 2007, by networking with
national and international institutions working in
this area. They should integrate research efforts
of malaria, typhoid, and diarrhoeal disorders for
facilitating development of combination vaccine by
2007. Healthcare personnel, doctors, psychologists,
researchers, pharmacologists, economists and
environmentalists should all work together
coherently towards the mission of providing good
health to all citizens of India and make the nation
near disease free.
Bharat Nirman Programme:
The Government has already launched the Bharat
Nirman Programme with an outlay of Rs. 1,74,000
Crore for providing rural infrastructure within the
next four years. This will facilitate the rural
programme like PURA to progress faster in an
integrated way.
Awakening and change
These actions from multiple agencies
spread across the country gives me confidence that
we are well on our way on the path of development
and transforming India into a developed nation
before 2020. Every awakening and change, bring with
them certain responsibilities and a code of conduct.
Therefore, we need to promote ethical values in all
walks of life which will enable creation of synergy
between establishments for realizing our dream of
seeing the smiles on the billion faces. Now I would
like to discuss the need for important changes
required in our mind-set.
Transparency starts from Home:
On 21st November 2005, I
had visited Adhichunchanagiri Math, attended a
function of FUREC (Foundation for Unity of Religions
and Enlightened Citizenship) and interacted with
over 54,000 students of various schools and
colleges of Karnataka. There a 10th class
student Bhavani studying in Adichunchanagiri
Composite High School, Shimoga asked me the
following question:
“Dear Sir, What is the role of students to stop
corruption which is deeply rooted in our county just
like cancer?”
Agony of the young mind is reflected in this
question. For me it was an important question, since
it comes from a young mind. I was thinking what type
of solutions we could give. My thought process was
the following:
I
said there are one billion people in the country and
nearly 200 million homes. In general most of them
are good people. However, if we find that people in
few million houses are not transparent and not
amenable to the laws of the country, what can we
do? These houses apart from parents have one
daughter or one son or both. If the parents in these
houses are deviating from the transparent path the
children can use the tool of love and affection and
correct the parents to come back to the right path.
I asked all the children assembled in that
gathering, whether parents of a few children get
deviated from transparency, will you children boldly
tell your parents, father or mother you are not
doing the right thing. That is what we are taught by
you and in the school. Most of the children
spontaneously responded, “We will do it”. The
confidence comes from them that they have love as a
tool. Similarly I have also asked the parents in
some other meeting, initially there was a silence,
later, many of them hesitantly agreed that they
would abide by the children’s suggestion since it is
driven by love. The children took an oath. The oath
was “I will lead an honest life free from all
corruption and will set an example for others to
adopt a transparent way of life”. Finally I told the
students that they should start a movement starting
from their home.
Gift extinguishes the dignity of
human life
It
was around 1940 and the Second World War was in
progress. At that time Panchayat board elections
took place in Rameswaram. My father was elected as
Panchayat Board member and on the same day he was
also elected as the President of Rameswaram
Panchayat Board. Rameswaram Island is a beautiful
place with 20,000 populations at that time. They
elected my father as Panchayat Board President not
because he belonged to a particular religion or a
particular caste or particular language or for his
economic status. He was elected only on the basis of
his being a good human being. I would like to
narrate one incident that took place on the day he
was elected as President of Panchayat board.
I
was a school boy at that time studying in fourth
class in Rameswaram Panchayat School. Those days we
did not have electricity and we used to study in
kerosene lamp. I was reading the lessons loudly and
I heard a knock on my door. We never used to lock
the door in Rameswaram in those years. Some body
opened the door, came in and asked me where my
father was? I told him that father had gone for
Namaz for evening prayers. Then he said, I have
brought something for him, can I keep it there. Then
since my father had gone for Namaz, I shouted for my
mother to get her permission to receive the items.
Since she was also on the Namaz there was no
response. I asked the person to leave the items on
the cot. After that I went for my studies.
I
used to learn by reading aloud in my younger days. I
was reading loud and fully concentrating on my
studies. At that time my father landed and saw a
tambalum kept in the cot. He asked me what is this?
Who has given that? I told him somebody came and
has kept this for you. He opened the cover of the
tambalum and found there was a costly dhoti,
angawastram, some fruits and some sweets and he
could see the slip that the person had left behind.
I was the last son of my father, he really loved me
and I also loved him a lot. This was the first time
I saw him very angry and also this was the first
time I had a beating by him. I got frightened and I
was weeping. Then he touched my shoulder lovingly
with affection and advised me not to receive any
gift without his permission. It is not a good habit.
Receiving gift with a purpose is a very dangerous
thing in life. He quoted a verse from Hadith which
means “Gifts accompany poisonous intentions”. This
lesson stands out prominently in my mind. This
experience taught me a valuable lesson for my
life.
I
would like to mention the writings in Manu Smriti
which warns every individual against accepting gifts
given with the motive since it places the acceptor
under an obligation in favour of the person who gave
the gift. Ultimately it results in making a person
to do things which are not permitted according to
law, in order to favour the person who has given the
gift. Therefore it is necessary that the quality of
not yielding to attraction of gifts and presents
must be inculcated in individuals, so that he/she
may develop immunity against the desire for
receiving gifts. It is also said that by accepting
gifts the divine light in the person gets
extinguished. I am sharing this, with all of you
particularly the young ones, to emphasize that, not
to be carried away by any gift with a motive through
which one loses his personality greatly. I will be
very happy if you can practice this sincerely.
Mother gives principle of truth
Now, I will narrate to you a story
surrounding the life of a great saint Sheikh Abdul
Qadir Al-Gelani which happened about one thousand
years ago. One day child Abdul Qadir heard a cow
saying, “what are you doing here in the grazing
fields, it is not for this you have been created”.
He ran back to his house feeling utterly terrified
and climbed on to the roof of his house. From there
he saw a large group of people returning from Arafat
Mountain, thousands of miles away from his place in
the neighbourhood of Mecca after performing Haj.
Bewildered Abdul Qadir went to his mother and asked
her permission to make a journey to Baghdad in order
to pursue a career in knowledge. Mother understood
the divine call and promptly gave the permission for
him to go. She gave him 40 gold coins which was his
share he inherited from his father. She stitched
these 40 gold coins inside the lining of his coat
and gave him permission to leave. When she stepped
out of the door to bid him a farewell, she said,
“Oh, my son! You are going! I have detached myself
from you for the sake of Allah knowing that I shall
not see your face again until the day of last
judgement. But take one advice from me. My son, you
always feel the truth, speak the truth and propagate
the truth even when your life is at stake”.
Abdul Qadir travelled with a small
caravan heading for Baghdad. During the journey,
when the caravan was passing through the tough
terrains, a group of robbers on horses suddenly
attacked the caravan and started looting. None of
them however took the slightest notice of Abdul
Qadir, until one of the looters turned to him and
said. “You are here poor boy! Do you have anything
with you? Abdul Qadir replied, “I have got 40 gold
coins which are stitched by my mother in the lining
of my coat underneath my armpit.” The looter smiled
and thought that Abdul Qadir was just joking. He
left him alone and moved elsewhere. When their
leader came and the looters took this boy to their
leader and said to him, “A poor boy claims that he
is in possession of 40 gold coins. We looted
everybody but we have not touched him because we
hardly believed that he has got gold coins with
him”. Then the leader put the same question but
Abdul Qadir replied the same. Then the leader ripped
through his coat and discovered that he indeed got
40 gold coins inside the lining of his coat.
The
astonished leader asked Abdul Qadir, what prompted
him to make this confession? Abdul Qadir replied.
“My mother made me promise to always be truthful
even at the cost of my life. Here, it was a matter
of only 40 Gold coins. I promised her and never
betrayed her trust, so I told the truth”. The
looters started weeping and said, you have adhered
to the advice of your great mother but we have been
betraying the trust of our parents and the covenant
of our Creator for many years. From now onwards,
you would become our leader in our repentance and
they all decided to give up robbery and from that
day, became righteous persons. Here the world saw
the birth of a great saint, Shiekh Abdul Qadir Al-Gilani
out of a message of truth a mother gave to her
child. At this juncture, let me recall a Thirukkural
composed by Poet Saint Thiruvalluvar, 2200 years
ago.
This means that “Truth in thinking and action will
have a power higher than enduring Tapas and generous
Charity.
Influence of
Teacher: Mission of my life
I
have talked to you many times about my primary
school teacher Shri Sivasubramanya Iyer. He was a
great teacher and he imbibed in many of his students
a vision for future. For example, once he explained
about bird flight and asked whether we understood or
not. Seeing our response, he took us to the
seashore and showed the birds actually flying and
explained the flight mechanism. Above all, the way
he explained he injected into me, what should be the
goal of my life. He is an excellent role model for
all the teachers.
So far, I have
discussed the need of transparent life, problems
connected with the motivated Gift which extinguishes
the human dignity, mother giving the principle of
truth and teacher imbibing the vision to the
students. Now, I would like to discuss about the
importance of developmental politics.
Politics = Political Politics + Developmental
Politics
We have been proud at the
unparalleled distinction of India being the world’s
largest thriving Parliamentary democracy of
multi-religions, multi-languages and multi-culture,
is a matter of self-esteem for the nation and each
one of us. We have completed 56 years of our
Republic, with a flourishing democratic edifice,
that is the envy of many other countries. What
amazes the world perhaps is the sagacity and
maturity of the Indian voters who have always tried
to exercise their mandate conscientiously and
enthusiastically proving once again that as
envisaged in our Constitution, the people are
sovereign and the power flows from them. People
have a right and an urge to live in a developed
India. Therefore, we need to orient ourselves
towards Developmental Politics.
In politics there are two
dimensions, the first one is the political politics
and the other is the developmental politics.
Political politics is required during the election
process. Immediately after the election all parties
must converge on developmental politics with a
common mission. Translating this into action, all
parties have to work with zeal to uplift the 260
million people living below poverty line and remove
the illiteracy and unemployment. I would like to
visualize a situation in which the political parties
perform in the environment of developmental politics
in our country, competing with each other, in
putting forth their focused developmental vision
through their manifesto.
Our 540 million youth, who are below 25
years of age, should see an imprint of great leaders
in every action of the parliament members. They can
become their role models to bring a dynamic change
in politics and the developmental missions. Here, I
am reminded of the famous statement by Swami
Vivekananda "the basis of all systems social or
political rests upon the goodness of men. No nation
is great or good because parliament enacts this or
that, but its men are great and good."
The story of
the Lost Sheep
Dear Friends, when I am talking to you, I am
reminded of the Biblical story of the “Lost sheep”,
as said by The Jesus Christ. “If anyone of you has
a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will
you do? Won’t you leave the ninety nine in the field
and go and look for the lost sheep until you find
it, and when you find it, you will be so glad that
you will put it on your shoulder and carry it home.
Then you will call in your friends and neighbours
and say, let us have a feast, I have found my lost
sheep.”
As the Lost Sheep is most important for the
Shepherd, the message for every citizen of our
country from this story is that you may find around
you a house which is not lit. Please help to light
that house. Similarly, teachers in the class room
may find hundreds of bright students but a few may
need knowledge with kindness. All teachers must
locate such students and impart the knowledge.
Leaders of my nation, you may meet many people and
help them, but you immediately look for those who
need your utmost help and bring them to the
mainstream. Those who deal with public
administration, look for the last person to be
serviced and make him or her feel that he or she is
serviced with the kind heart. Similarly, judiciary
and law enforcement agencies should look for the
marginalized persons, who cannot even reach you
because of the multiple gates and layers between the
judiciary and the citizen. Media as partner in
national development should celebrate the success of
our people whether it is in fishing, farming,
craftsmanship or achievement of a rural area. The
micro world of rural realities lives in the macro
reality of a globally acclaimed India. Media has to
capture this.
There are many such examples, which can be cited.
Dear Citizens, if all of us do this, God will be
with us and I am sure the whole nation will be
happy, prosperous and safe. This is fully
corroborated by the advice given to Mahatma Gandhi
by his mother. Gandhiji says, "My mother had given
an advice "Son, in your entire life time if you can
save or better someone's life, your birth as a human
being and your life is a success. You have the
blessing of the Almighty God".
Conclusion
Infallibility is divinity. We are not
divine. We are fallible. To err is human. Divinity
would demand that we realize this irrefutable truth
and correct ourselves when we become fallible. The
spirit of life and thirst for success and rectitude
should propel ourselves to correct our mistakes on
our way instead of ruing over mistakes and slips
that have been committed even inadvertently. The
need of the hour is disciplined action by all
citizens. This will lead to the creation of
enlightened citizens. Any country is as good as its
citizens. Their ethos, their values and their
character will be reflected in the country’s make
up. They are crucial factors that will determine
whether the country will move forward on a
progressive path or stagnate. Hence, there is a need
to cultivate a sense of eternal values in each of
its citizens, instill in him or her with a sense of
discipline. The education system right from the
primary level has to concentrate on this aspect. For
inculcating discipline among citizens, I visualize
the necessity for providing compulsory NCC training
for a minimum period of 18 months to all our youth
either during the senior secondary stage and or
during graduation in all educational institutions,
both Government and private. This will ensure
disciplined politics, business, judiciary,
bureaucracy, scientific pursuits and sports and
games. All of us have to practice the values of
honesty, sincerity and tolerance in our day-to-day
living. This will elevate our politics to
statesmanship. We have to collectively inculcate a
positive attitude of what we can do for our country
so that we together will be able to benefit
ourselves. We have immensely benefited from what
our ancestors did and left for us. We have a right
and responsibility to leave a positive legacy to the
posterity for which we all will be remembered for.
The land, water and sky of this nation are the
witnesses.
Our righteous toil is our guiding light,
If we work hard, we all can prosper.
Nurture great thoughts, rise up in actions,
May righteous methods be our guide;
May the nation prosper ever with Almighty’s grace.
Allow me again, my dear citizens to wish you a very
purposeful and happy Republic Day.
May
God bless you.
Jai
Hind.
New Delhi,
Jan 26, 2006 |
