Dr. Kalam’s Vision 2020: Transforming India into a ‘Developed’ Nation
The ‘People’s President’ Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam might not be with us anymore, but he will always be alive in the ambitious plans he made for our country. India Vision 2020, prepared under the chairmanship of our ‘Missile Man’, is aimed at transforming India into a developed country by concentrating on the five areas of country’s core competency. These five areas are- Education and Healthcare Agriculture and Food Processing; and
Information and Communication Technology Strategic industries like space and defense technology developed country by concentrating on the five areas of country’s core competency. These five areas are
1. Education and Healthcare
2. Agriculture and Food Processing
3. Infrastructure
4. Information and Communication
5. Strategic industries like space and defense technology
Dr. Kalam taught us to make optimum use of technology for the betterment of India and for bringing transparency in its administration . Over the last decade, we have made tremendous improvement in this vertical. We came out as world’s second largest mobile phone using country and the third largest in the field of auto-mobile. The literacy rates have significantly improved, healthcare facilities are about to be at par with those of foreign countries and the revenues from exports have seen a good hike and Mission for Urban India. The real estate industry also benefits a great deal from Vision 2020. Infrastructure development planned under the vision will completely transform the skyline of Indian cities. We have taken major steps in the direction of large-scale infrastructure. Now our metro cities have airports of international standards with several of them being underway. The diamond quadrilateral highway scheme, rural roads to connect villages with cities and the continuous development of other connectivity facilities contribute towards the master plan. All these steps taken in the infrastructure field have supported the development of real estate industry which, in return, is giving it back to the country’s overall development. With every new project launch, several new job opportunities are created that support several families. A wide variety of manpower is needed to carry out any task efficiently. Engineers, architects, planners, legal specialists, accounts management professionals- everyone has to work together in order to develop a particular industry. The improvement of education sector has contributed a lot in this direction. We have only six years left to achieve Dr. Kalam’s vision of a developed India. Political parties have to work in coordination with every other industry in order to effectively support the plan. Kalam Sir encouraged the youth of India to understand the importance of conservation and lead the way towards a sustainable development. The youth should learn to take responsibility and work in the direction of development with honesty and integrity.
Technology vision 2020
It is against this background that the TIFAC governing council met on 24
November 1993 with its forty members drawn from industry , R&D establishments ,
academic institutions ,government departments and financial institutions and debated
how TIFAC could contribute to national development .An intense discussion took place
about India ‘s past and present technological performance and what could be feasible in
the future .In the midst of the discussion one of the TIFAC council members
posed a very interesting question .’Mr. chairman , we all have to address one issue :India
today , almost fifty years since 1947,is branded a developing country . what will make the
country a developed nation?’
Everyone present realized that therein lay the crux of the problem and to arrive
at he answer to the question became. The agenda .two council meetings were held to
discuss the means to arrive at the answer .It was realized that technology. Is the highest
wealth generator in the shortest possible period. If it is deployed in the right direction
.Technology strengthens. The political, economic and security structure of the nation . For India ,technology had to be the vision for the future. Technology can help transform multiple areas such as education and training
,agriculture and food processing, strategic industries and infrastructure in various fields .
It is on this basis that the task forces and panels of the technology Vision 2020 were
constituted
