Posted Date:
27 Jul 2015 |Updated:
27-Jul-2015 |Category: General |Author: Kalyani |Member Level: Gold |Points: 70 |
On July 27' 2015, the Missile Man of India - left the physical world and reached the Heavenly Abode. As a respectful homage to our ex-President who remains forever in the minds and hearts of every Indian, I have written the complete biography of our ex-President Dr. A.P.J.Abdul Kalam.
He did his graduation in Physics from St.Joseph's College, Tiruchirapalli in 1954 and later studied aerospace engineering in Madras (presently known as Chennai) in 1955 from Madras Institute of Technology (MIT). He directed two projects in the 70's which sought to develop ballistic missiles from the technology of the successful SLV programme. His success in the career life rocketed with the launch of Rohini-1 that was launched into space in the SLV rocket using indigenous technology. With this success of Dr. Abdul Kalam, the govt of India invited him for the initiation of an advanced missile program under his dictatorship. Thus, he play a key role in developing / making the missiles under the missions named Agni - an intermediate range ballistic missile and Prithvi - a tactical surface-to-surface missile. In 1980s, the govt of India started an advanced missile programme which was headed by Dr. Abdul Kalam and V.S.Arunachalam who was the then scientific adviser to the Defence Ministry. Dr. Abdul Kalam, later, became the Chief Executive of the Integrated Guided Missile Development Program (IGMDP) which researched in the simultaneous development of a quiver of missiles. He was then appointed as the Chief Scientific Adviser to the Prime Minister of India and worked from 1992 to 1999. He became the Secretary of DRDO and during this time he served as the Chief Project Coordinator for Pokhran II nuclear tests. And then he became popular as the Missile man of India. During this period, it was the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) that formed the government at the central level and Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the then Prime Minister. In 2002, the NDA proposed Dr.Abdul Kalam's name for the prestigious post of the President of India. He succeeded K.R.Narayan and served the nation as the 11th President of the country from 2002 to 2007. And thus he became the first scientist and first bachelor to become the President of India. There are numerous awards to his credit and he was the proud recipient of the most prestigious and Highest Civilian award of Bharat Ratna in 1997. He also received Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan in 1981 and 1990 respectively. He was honored with the Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration in 1997 and was later awarded with Veer Savarkar award by the Govt of India. His other international awards include: His life history is a great source of inspiration not only to the present generation but to all alike irrespective of the age group. There is much to learn from his life. He gave much importance to knowledge than to wealth and he truly lead a life of Karma Yogi On July 27' 2015, Dr. Kalam suffered a massive cardiac arrest and collapsed on the stage while delivering a lecture at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in Shillong. He was immediately shifted to Bethany Hospital where he breathed his last. He was 84 years old.Introduction
Dr.A.P.J.Abdul Kalam was a scientist and an administrator and served the nation from 2002 to 2007 as the 11th President of India. He is popularly known as the Missile Man and was the man with vision. He is one of the most respected persons of the country who immensely contributed to the nation as a scientist and as a President. 
His early life and childhood
Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen (A.P.J) Abdul Kalam was born to Jainalubdeen and Ashiamma on October 15' 1931 C.E in the temple town of Dhanushkodi near Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu. To support the financial needs of the family, Dr. Abdul Kalam took up odd jobs during his childhood days. However he continued with his education. Career life of Dr.Abdul Kalam
After his graduation at MIT, Dr. Abdul Kalam joined the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and took up the position of Chief Scientist at the Aeronautical Development Establishment. He even worked under the legendary space scientist Vikram Sarabhai. But his keen urge for scaling heights in career life made him to shift to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) as the Project Director of India's first indigenous Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-III). He lead many projects at ISRO and his works left a long lasting impact on him as he turned out successful in each of his work / project. His works, awards and achievements
Dr. Abdul Kalam was not only a missile man and an able administrator but also he was an excellent author who authored many inspiration books. Some of his popular works include 'India 2020', 'Ignited Minds', 'Mission India', 'Inspiring Thoughts', 'Wings of Fire' etc. A great source of inspiration
Ancient Greek Philosopher Plato mentioned about the Philosopher Kings, in his famous book 'The Republic', to rule the Republic successfully. If you look into the life of Dr.Abdul Kalam, he trued lived as a Philosopher King who possessed a special level of knowledge and loved his subjects as his own children. In Sanskrit too we have a similar word called 'Raja Rishi which means a Raja or King needs to live a life of a Rishi or Sage. And King Janaka (father of Sita Devi) was believed to be a Raja Rishi who led a saintly life in the palace. A Raja Rishi lives with a detachment to the materialist world / worldly pleasures. We hardly find such Raja Rishis or Philosopher Kings in the modern era. But Dr.Abdul Kalam stood an example of such a ruler who was a Philosopher King / Raja Rishi with quantum of knowledge.Few of his famous quotes
Conclusion
Dr.Abdul Kalam is one of the most popular Presidents of the country who rose to the heights from the son of a boat-maker in a small coastal town to the First Citizen of the country. His incredible journey of life is a great inspiration to many particularly to the youth.
