A SEARCH FOR DIRECTION- TRYST WITH DESTINY

The channel surfing on the Independence day took me repeatedly to the black and white images of Jawaharlal Nehru delivering the famed Tryst with Destiny speech. After a good many repetitions I felt the compelling need to get hold of the transcipt of the speech to understand what was really the import of this much talked about oratory. Google made the job easy and soon I stumbled upon the speech which on reading I felt should necessarily be reproduced and here it is:

Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance. It is fitting that at this solemn moment, we take the pledge of dedication to the service of India and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity. At the dawn of history, India started on her unending quest, and trackless centuries are filled with her striving and grandeur of her success and failures. Through good and ill fortune alike, she has never lost sight of that quest, forgotten the ideals which gave her strength. We end today a period of misfortunes and India discovers herself again. The achievement we celebrate today is but a step, an opening of opportunity to the greater triumphs and achievements that await us. Are we brave enough and wise enough to grasp this opportunity and accept the challenge of the future? Freedom and power bring responsibility. The responsibility rests upon this Assembly, a sovereign body representing the sovereign people of India. Before the birth of freedom, we have endured all the pains of labour and our hearts are heavy with the memory of this sorrow. Some of those pains continue even now. Nevertheless, the past is over and it is the future that beckons us now. That future is not one of ease or resting but of incessant striving so that we may fulfill the pledges we have so often taken and the one we shall take today. The service of India means, the service of the millions who suffer. It means the ending of poverty and ignorance and disease and inequality of opportunity. The ambition of the greatest man of our generation has been to wipe every tear from every eye. That may be beyond us, but as long as there are tears and suffering, so long our work will not be over. And so we have to labour and to work, and to work hard, to give reality to our dreams. Those dreams are for India, but they are also for the world, for all the nations and peoples are too closely knit together today for any one of them to imagine that it can live apart. Peace is said to be indivisible, so is freedom, so is prosperity now, and also is disaster in this one world that can no longer be split into isolated fragments. To the people of India, whose representatives we are, we make an appeal to join us with faith and confidence in this great adventure. This is no time for petty and destructive criticism, no time for ill-will or blaming others. We have to build the noble mansion of free India where all her children may dwell.

The appointed day has come -the day appointed by destiny- and India stands forth again, after long slumber and struggle, awake, vital, free and independent. The past clings on to us still in some measure and we have to do much before we redeem the pledges we have so often taken. Yet the turning-point is past, and history begins anew for us, the history which we shall live and act and others will write about. It is a fateful moment for us in India, for all Asia and for the world. A new star rises, the star of freedom in the East, a new hope comes into being, a vision long cherished materializes. May the star never set and that hope never be betrayed! We rejoice in that freedom, even though clouds surround us, and many of our people are sorrow-stricken and difficult problems encompass us. But freedom brings responsibilities and burdens and we have to face them in the spirit of a free and disciplined people. On this day our first thoughts go to the architect of this freedom, the Father of our Nation, who, embodying the old spirit of India, held aloft the torch of freedom and lighted up the darkness that surrounded us. We have often been unworthy followers of his and have strayed from his message, but not only we but succeeding generations will remember this message and bear the imprint in their hearts of this great son of India, magnificent in his faith and strength and courage and humility. We shall never allow that torch of freedom to be blown out, however high the wind or stormy the tempest. Our next thoughts must be of the unknown volunteers and soldiers of freedom who, without praise or reward, have served India even unto death. We think also of our brothers and sisters who have been cut off from us by political boundaries and who unhappily cannot share at present in the freedom that has come. They are of us and will remain of us whatever may happen, and we shall be sharers in their good [or] ill fortune alike. The future beckons to us. Whither do we go and what shall be our endeavour? To bring freedom and opportunity to the common man, to the peasants and workers of India; to fight and end poverty and ignorance and disease; to build up a prosperous, democratic and progressive nation, and to create social, economic and political institutions which will ensure justice and fullness of life to every man and woman. We have hard work ahead. There is no resting for any one of us till we redeem our pledge in full, till we make all the people of India what destiny intended them to be. We are citizens of a great country on the verge of bold advance, and we have to live up to that high standard. All of us, to whatever religion we may belong, are equally the children of India with equal rights, privileges and obligations. We cannot encourage communalism or narrow-mindedness, for no nation can be great whose people are narrow in thought or in action. To the nations and peoples of the world we send greetings and pledge ourselves to cooperate with them in furthering peace, freedom and democracy. And to India, our much-loved motherland, the ancient, the eternal and the ever-new, we pay our reverent homage and we bind ourselves afresh to her service.

Truly a well written concise speech which set the ambitions, goals and future in the perspective of the shackled history. Pragmatism is the hallmark of the vision in the speech. The flaws of the man may have been  many but this speech should teach many a soul who indulge in rabble rousing and long winding speeches without substance many a lesson. We have had history text books which make a passing mention to this epoch making moment and the oratory of Nehru. Should we not incorporate this as a lesson in the language text books to teach the nuances of language to the students of the day? Contrast this with the Dr. Kalam's lecture to the legislators of Karnataka which is also placed here verbatim:

Dear Hon?ble Speaker and Members of Karnataka Legislative Assembly and faculty members of IIM Bangalore, I am delighted to be with you for the inauguration of the orientation programme for the first- time- elected members of Legislative Assembly and the members of Legislative Council, organized by the Speaker in association with IIM, Bangalore. I congratulate all the first time elected representatives and wish them success in their endeavors for development of Karnataka and service to the public.

Vision for the constituency

When I see you all, in front of me, dear friends, a thought comes to me, which I would like to share with you. Political system of a democratic nation gives vision for the nation, focuses on the national development and executes various missions of federal government through the supervision of the Parliament. Similarly, at the State level, political vision drives accomplishment of missions under the supervision of the legislature. Now this process is extended to the individual districts and constituencies. Still, over the years, the political system does not enjoy the full confidence of the public. Why? How to give respect for the politics? Political system is equal to Political politics and development politics. Higher the developmental politics, it will get higher respect among the citizens. Political politics was essential for your election, and you have already crossed that milestone. Today, what is needed for your constituency is the development politics. Large number of people live below poverty line in your constituency, the illiteracy rate is considerable and the employment seekers and under employed people outnumber the availability of employment opportunities. Hence the mission has to be, to make the constituency a developed constituency meaning:

1. A Constituency free from poverty, crime and ensuring dignity to every human life in an unbiased manner.

2. A Constituency free from illiteracy with state of the art skill development or higher education to the youth.


3. A Value added employment for all with enhanced percapita income.

4. Provision of healthcare services to every citizen and eradication of diseases like TB, Cholera, Malaria, HIV/AIDS and Leprosy. Mass screening and provision of proactive healthcare system leading to reduction in IMR, MMR and chronic diseases.

5. Working for creation of enduring infrastructure for safe drinking water, drainage, sanitation, irrigation, transportation, power and enhancing the tourism potential in your constituency.


6. Making the process of administration efficient, transparent and corruption-free, so that every citizen feels comfortable to receive the services without any hassle and contribute maximum to the development with core competence


7. Making the constituency a better place to live, in terms of all the aspects given above, so that there is a possibility of reverse migration.

8. In essence, the constituency should have sustainable development with protected environment which will make the leader a friend, philosopher and guide of each and every family of the constituency.

Achieving these goals will lead you to perform development politics and you will grow from stature to stature in the hearts of the people as well as in the political ladder.

Defeat the problem and succeed.

When I see you all, I would like to recall my experience in Karnataka. My theatre of action started in this land. I would like to share few experiences that will be relevant to all of you today. First and foremost experience was my assignment in ADE High grounds, Bangalore where I was designing, developing and flying a Hovercraft. I used to fly the Hovercraft. This is the place where I had the fortune of coming into contact with Prof. Satish Dhawan, who was then a professor in Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, popularly known as TATA institute, celebrating its centenary this week. Prof. Satish Dhawan taught me how to design the contra rotating propeller for the hovercraft. The big message he gave me was, "Kalam, if you don?t do anything, no problem. If you do a complex mission or task, problems are bound to occur. Problem shouldn?t become your captain; you should become the captain of the problem, defeat the problem and succeed." This message I got during the 1950?s. Even now, when I have completed 77 orbits around the sun, this great advice has remained the beacon light for all my actions. Why I am saying this to you, dear Hon?ble members? First and foremost you have succeeded in getting elected . I congratulate you on your election. The citizens of your constituency have reposed faith in your leadership qualities. You will be handling hundreds of problems everyday. You should defeat the problems and succeed with integrity. I am sure, you will do it and win hearts.

Give, Give and Give and receive happiness

Dear friends, I moved on to many missions within the nation. During the last five years, I have visited number of institutions in Karnataka. I would like to share some of the experiences. During April 2007, I participated in the 100th birth day celebrations of Sri Shivakumar Swamiji of Siddhaganga mutt, Tumkur. This function was attended by many political leaders of the state. I met Shivakumar Swamiji in the mutt and I found in him a radiating smile. During the function, Swamiji stood erect at his 100th year and gave an extempore speech for 15 minutes to half a million people of Karnataka with a smiling face. At that time, I asked my self, what makes Swamiji in his 100th year of life to be in that happy state of mind. He has "given, given, and given" and hence the happiness radiates from him.

Sree Sivakumara Swamiji is an example of spreading the message of "giving". He has been on a tireless mission of socio-economic development and eradication of evils of illiteracy and discrimination through giving. He saw education and alleviation of hunger among the masses as an effective means to enrich human capacity which in turn would contribute to national reconstruction. During the last seven decades Swamiji is the founder of well over hundred and twenty five educational institutions ranging from nursery to institutions of technology, pure science, arts, management, vocational training and performing arts. Here is a personality who has given education, healthcare and food for thousands and thousands of people and in turn he derives happiness. The more you give to your constituency, the more happiness, the more cheerfulness will engulf you.

What I can give?

Friends, I went to address and interact with the students community of Al-Ameen in Bangalore. While addressing the students and teachers, I received more than 30 questions. All the students were asking me, "what can I give to my nation?". Such students are there in Karnataka, who are willing to contribute whatever they can for the development of the state and the nation. I am sure; the members can definitely use this important resource.

Corruption free movement starts from home

Next I would like mention about another great event which took place at Adi-chunchunagari while attending the FUREC (Foundation for Unity of Religions and Enlightened Citizenship). On the dais, I saw many leaders representing different religions, many political leaders, the Chief Minister and Cabinet Ministers. I addressed over 54,000 students of various schools and colleges hailing from Karnataka, followed by an interaction session. There a 10th class student Ms. M. Bhavani studying in Adichunchanagiri Composite High School, Sharavathy Nagar, 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 came 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 there are good citizens everywhere. 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? Every home 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, "in case, parents of 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. They took an oath from me. 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. Youth of today have to fight to eradicate corruption by making each home righteous. This happened in one of the constituencies of Karnataka. Normally every body complains about corruption. But here was a youth of Karnataka, who wants to contribute to remove the corruption. The message I would like to give it to you is, corruption free constituency, corruption free Karnataka and corruption free India are certainly possible and legislators of Karnataka could be the role models. Will you be?

Karnataka can do

During my various visits to Karnataka, I have met people from different walks of life, extremely serious about development of the state. As a matter of fact, this inaugural function itself has created tremendous enthusiasm not only among yourselves (I am thankful for the responses from several of you for my questionnaire) but also from many citizens who have given valuable suggestions). I was happy to witness BAIF'S intergrated development programme at Manjunathapura, Tiptur Taluk, Tumkur, Karnataka and to meet the confident villagers. I had seen in Gulbarga, how people from many villages were looking upto the Suvarna Gramodaya rural development initiative. Hope it is progressing well. Recently I visited the University of Agricultural Sciences in Bangalore and witnessed the many innovations in seed and farming practices done by the researchers and faculty members. Through the medium of Satellite connectivity, I interacted with farmers from Shimoga, I have interacted with the legal community, the scientists, people serving differently challenged, women entrepreneurs, teachers, artists, software experts, societal transformers, students and people from various professions. All of them convey one single message. What is that? We can make Karnataka a developed state and everyone is willing to contribute his or her bit.

So, dear friends, here is a great opportunity for you, to take up this responsibility and work with a missionary approach to set targets for progress for society and achieve them. Now let me give some typical examples of developmental efforts from other states.

Water management

I want to share an experience, recently I happened to witness. In Coimbatore, many areas are filled with houses and thatched homes and are densely occupied. As per the satellite map, these areas had been the place for lakes earlier, with their inlets and outlets sealed now. Few great minds joined together under the leadership of Mrs. Vanitha Mohan and started the initiative called Siruthuli (meaning small drop). This ecological project aims to bring back the glory of Coimbatore and its rich heritage. The project is represented by people from all walks of life and professionally organized. The primary focus is on large scale rain water harvesting, afforestation, sewage / waste water treatment and solid waste management. They have already standardized and revived 5 of the nine primary lakes and tanks in Coimbatore for large scale rainwater harvesting. Over 600 saplings have been planted on the bunds of the desilted tanks and are being maintained. They are moving towards a target of planting 15 lakh trees. The comprehensive study has indicated outlet of the city sewage as 10 million litres per day. A pilot plant is being taken up for sewage treatment to treat one million litres per day. The treated water will be sold to the agriculturists and industrialists as a revenue earning measure. The garbage and debris to the extent of over 26,000 cubic meters in one of the city?s largest tank have been removed. These are the major achievements for developing a growing city by the people. Certainly in your constituency, you might have witnessed many water bodies are non-functional and may require de-silting and there will be many water bodies which are occupied. If you activate the water bodies that will definitely help improving the ground water situation of your constituency.

Agriculture productivity increase  the agriculture and farming sector, I had an interesting experience in Bihar on agriculture productivity increase, which I would like to share with you. The TIFAC mission has resulted in doubling the productivity of Rice and Wheat in areas near RP Channel-5 in Bihar using innovative integrated farming and marketing methods. These results have spread to many areas through people?s efforts and are applicable to the whole of Bihar, Eastern Uttar Pradesh and other areas which have similar agro-climatic conditions. These regions could be transformed into the granaries of India.

On 15th October, 2008 I visited Illedu village in Kancheepuram District., Tamilnadu. There, National Agro Foundation (NAF) is engaged in uplifting the quality of life of the rural citizens by providing know-how on advanced agricultural practices, characterization of soil, soil upgradation through proper systematic soil testing, matching the seed to soil, systemic approach for the pre and post harvesting methodologies and providing market connectivity. They have realized productivity increase ranging from 40% to 150% in different agriculture produces such as rice, sugarcane, vegetables and other horticulture products. I have come across similar success stories in respect of doubling seed cotton productivity in Punjab, when I visited Gheri Buttar village, where I met farmers. Also in the field of sugarcane cultivation, in Maharashtra, the intervention of the Vasant Dada Patil Sugar Institute, Pune has enabled farmers to increase the yield of sugarcane by 36 percent. These experiences can definitely be emulated by the farmers in your constituency. The message I would like to convey here is: "The farmers, agriculture scientists, industry and TIFAC worked together for doubling the food production by managing the existing environment with system oriented approach and inculcation of innovative agricultural practices among the team members". When this is possible, your leadership can bring together all the stakeholders and enhance the agricultural productivity in your constituency.

Sustainable Rural Development

The integrated method which will bring prosperity to rural India is called PURA, which envisages four connectivities: the physical connectivity of the village clusters through quality roads and transport; electronic connectivity through tele-communication with high bandwidth fiber optic cables reaching the rural areas from urban cities and through internet kiosks; knowledge connectivity through education, skill training for farmers, artisans and craftsmen and entrepreneurship programmes. These three connectives will lead to economic connectivity through starting of enterprises with the help of banks, micro credits and marketing of the products. We need to establish approximately 7000 PURA Complexes in the country encompassing approximately 2.3 lakh Village Panchayats. There are four operational PURA?s in the country pioneered by the private institutions independent of the government efforts, namely Periyar PURA in Vallam, Tamilnadu, Loni Pura in Loni, Maharastra, Chitrakoot PURA in Madhya Pradesh and Byrraju PURA in Andhra Pradesh.

Now I would like to share the experiences of my recent visit to Byyraju PURA in Bhimavaram, Andhra Pradesh. Byrraju Foundation of Satyam has undertaken the mission of establishing 32 Ashwini centers benefiting 116 villages with the population of around 500,000 people. It has provided the electronic connectivity through wireless (512 kbps to 2 mbps), knowledge connectivity in cooperation with National Academy of Construction, Hyderabad and other domain experts, thereby creating economic connectivity in these villages. This rural intervention has resulted in reverse migration of citizens from Hyderabad to Beemavaram.

The message here is: PURA is an integrated sustainable rural development programme with focus on employment generation through rural entrepreneurship by providing physical, electronic, knowledge and economic connectivity. PURA is a tool for bridging the Rural ? Urban divide.

Each one of you may plan and lead the realization of 5 PURA complexes in your constituencies with public-private partnership for bridging rural ? urban divide thus bringing sustainable development of your constituency in an integrated manner instead of concentrating on individual infrastructure development, water and sanitation independently. It could be a Hill PURA, Plain PURA or a Coastal PURA in partnership with university or a corporate.

Improving urban constituencies Infrastructure in cities like Bangalore are overworked and I am sure you are working to enhance them, so that the various missions in aerospace, software, machine building, biotechnology and other fields which you have nurtured are carried forward as internationally competitive fields. Of course there is a great urgency to develop tier two cities like Mysore, Mangalore, Hubli, Dharwad, Belgaum, Gulbarga and Mercara with good connectivity and appropriately sized airports. One of the major factors is to provide pollution free atmosphere for healthy living.

So far I have given certain working examples with respect to education, healthcare, corruption free society, agricultural productivity increase, water management and PURA for sustainable rural development. Dear friends, I am giving these real life examples so that it can increase your confidence and provide a message that "you can do it". In short I want to tell you, "you can do it", "your constituency will do it", "Karnataka will do it", and "India will do it".

At this stage I would like to give you some suggestions regarding utilization of constituency development fund.

Hon?ble Members, as you are aware, you are all eligible for allocation of constituency development fund of rupees 7.5 crore during the next five years . You may visualize the total availability of rupees 7.5 crore and plan important infrastructural activities, which will be beneficial to the citizens of the constituency. Some of the programme which you can implement through this fund could be:

1. Identifying the water bodies in the constituency which need de-silting and opening of the inlet and outlet. As you are aware, whenever rain occurs, only the de-silted tanks will get full and also increase the level of the ground water in the region. You may also consider linking up the water bodies in the constituency. You will be remembered for this action by all the Members of the constituency.

2. Girls education needs the highest priority. Someof the major reasons, why girls are not sent to the school is the non-availability of toilets and the distance of the school from the village. There are many schools with just a single room. You can assist the existing schools or in starting special schools in your constituencyin improving children friendly infrastructure including toilets. These children and their parents will remember you for life.

3. You can conduct a survey of Primary Health Centres and ensure that the centre is provided with a Doctor and minimum supporting staff along with equipment and medicines. You can allocate funds for tele-medicine connectivity between PHC and the district hospital in your region which will enable provision of quality healthcare to the citizens.

4. For providing medicare to the remote areas of your constituency, provision of well equipped mobile hospital could be considered which will go to different villages of the constituency on specified date, so that the patients can be treated in the village itself. What could be better than providing health care to the needy.

5. Development of state of the art skill in welding, construction, repair and maintenance of electronic equipments will provide value added employment to the rural youth. You can organize special courses for the youth of the constituency for acquiring special skills in the polytechnic or ITI located in the constituency or the district headquarters. This is a great opportunity in creating global cadre skilled people.

6. Organizing street plays in the constituency depicting the social evils such as dowry, corruption, girl child feticide, gender inequality, child marriage and corruption, so that the citizens of the constituency are made aware and facilitated to improve their societal characteristics. This will be a great opportunity to inculcate value based societal system.

Dear members, for all development missions to be successful and completed in time with value addition, science and technology has to be injected into all the missions at the right time and with the coordinated help of scientists, academicians, industry, NGOs and with the committed leadership provided in each missions. With the introduction of e-governance, in which your state has shown leadership, you can be enabled in your communication with the administrators and citizens and transparent management of missions. Certainly you, as the elected leader of the constituency, can become the facilitator for transforming your constituency into a fully developed constituency. Fortunately Karnataka is blessed with great scientific institutions like ISRO, DRDO, IISc, HAL, BEL, CSIR laboratories, Bangalore Agricultural University, IT institutions and number of educational healthcare institutions. Most of the development work in your constituency needs scientific and technological solutions to accelerate the development. In such a situation, scientific linkages should be established with the nominated panel of experts maintained at the Chief Minister office. Hence I suggest, you should have an honorary advisory council for your missions, so that you can achieve the sustainable development in an accelerated fashion in the emerging knowledge society.

Conclusion: Friends, in any system of human Endeavour performance excellence occurs, when there is a vision supported by hard earned competence and creative leadership. The competence in political activity comes through understanding of the constituency requirement, working with the single goal of development, harnessing and networking the talent and infrastructure for development, executing the work in a time bound manner with public sense and integrity in a transparent manner and carrying out mid course corrections with public feedback. Now let us see what is creative leadership?

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 want 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 must work with integrity and succeed with integrity.

For success in all your missions you have to become creative leaders. Creative leadership means exercising the vision to change the traditional role from the commander to the coach, manager to mentor, from director to delegator and from one who demands respect to one who facilitates self-respect. For a prosperous and developed India, the important thrust will be the availability of number of creative leaders.

I am sure with your creative leadership; you can transform your constituency into a developed constituency with in the 5 years.

May God bless you

Both the leaders gave directions and presented their visions. The latter had to present an elaborate plan which was like providing food on a platter, In either case are we at least able to follow the letter let alone the spirit we have unduly failed.

Would we read these gems of directions to instil in ourselves at least a semblance of direction and make our tryst with destiny?