A.P.J. Abdul Kalam interacted with students in Bidar after inaugurating the District Science Centre on Friday. He took questions from a few boys and girls and assured the rest that they would be answered by email (apj@abdulkalam.com). When one student addressed him as the “missile man of India”, he smiled and said he was not one.
“I am not the missile man of India. People like you fondly call me that. India’s missile programmes have been developed by hundreds of scientists working tirelessly for many years. They deserve credit for our self-reliance in defence,” he said. He told the children to aspire to fly. “I mean figuratively. We should educate ourselves in such a way that no one can come in our way of progress,” he said. We should develop wings to fly and education gives us the wings, he said.
“We can serve society in any field, be it science or politics, when our intentions are good and we work hard towards public good,” he said.
He said poverty could be addressed if India achieves a growth rate of 9.5-10 per cent, by focusing on education and health, agriculture and food processing, infrastructure and applied technology. The science centre includes a play-and-learn area for children, and a park that has games based on science. It will also have a planetarium and a library.
