A.P.J Abdul Kalam | India Writes

Dr Kalam proved President can be agent of change: S.M. Khan

January 29, 2017January 30, 2017 - by India Writes Network

Think of Dr A.P. J. Abdul Kalam, and many laudatory adjectives come readily to mind. Scientist extraordinaire, the father of India’s space and missile programme, nation-builder, dreamer, an inspirational speaker who loved igniting young minds, with his own life serving as a model of self-fashioning and achieving despite formidable odds.
A new book by S.M. Khan, who served as press secretary to President Kalam, makes his portrait more vivid and compelling. nterspersed with anecdotes and personal conversations the author had with the president, “The People’s President” unpacks Dr Kalam’s pioneering role in raising the bar for the presidency under India’s parliament system of government and providing it the much-needed people’s touch.
In this wide-ranging conversation with Manish Chand, Editor-in-Chief, India Writes Network, Khan, currently Director-General of the Registrar of Newspapers for India and a former spokesperson for Central Bureau of Investigation, speaks insightfully about the making of the people’s president and how Dr Kalam remapped the contours of the presidency by positioning people at the centre of his outreach and dispensing with most of ceremonial aspects associated with this exalted institution. Most important, as the author says, Dr Kalam tried to prove in those five years that the President, while remaining within the framework of the Constitution of India, can be an agent of change and transformation and contribute to the nation’s development in a tangible way.
Excerpts from the interview….

Igniting Dreams: Dr Kalam lives on in his inspirational thoughts

July 28, 2015July 29, 2015 - by India Writes Network

He was an extraordinary scientist, but more than his myriad positions and multi-faceted achievements, Dr A.P. J. Abdul Kalam was a luminous human being, radiating boundless energy and an inner radiance that illumined the lives of all around him. Humility can be sometimes fake, a show, but for Dr Kalam, sporting his floppy silvery mop nestled around his forehead, it was his second nature. Scientist extraordinaire, the father of India’s space and missile programme, India’s 11th president, his life story is truly inspirational as the boy from a non-descript village in Tamil Nadu rose to occupy not only the highest position in the world’s largest democracy by sheer self-belief and tireless hard work, but also remapped the contours of the presidency by bringing the much-needed people’s touch to a largely ceremonial institution. His achievements were many, but for countless of young people he will remain a teacher, inspiring them for reach for the skies. It was fitting that he breathed his last among students at an institute in Shillong on July 27. The man who epitomizes the power of dreaming and self-fashioning is alive and burning in all ignited minds. Here is a random selection of Dr Kalam’s inspirational thoughts.