President calls upon Overseas Indians to provide leadership for transformation of Indian Villages
Fifteen NRIs/PIOs honoured with the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Awards at the Valedictory Session of PBD-2006
The
President Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam has called upon the overseas Indians to
provide leadership for transformation of Indian villages with their experience
and knowledge. Delivering a richly
illustrated lecture on the subject of Umbilical Connectivity and Societal Change at the valedictory session of the 4th
Pravasi Bharatiya Divas here today the President underlined that the
transformation of India needs transformation of six hundred thousand
villages. “You can definitely provide the leadership for transformation of the
cluster of villages around your village with your experience and knowledge
connectivity. If it is interests you,
you can definitely become a partner in this noble mission” he added.
The President said that overseas Indians have been
successful, thanks to the foundation in education and the heritage their home
country gave them, and also the opportunities that the country they have gone
has given. They look for the warmth of human relations in India. The society
remains a loving mother to grown up sons and daughters who always return. This he called the umbilical connectivity
between the mother and the children and said that we belong to same umbilical
connectivity, whether we are in India or in any other part of the planet.
India, whose 70% people live in rural areas, has a vision to transform itself
into an economically developed country before 2020, and added that “It is not
only important for the Non-Resident Indians to pay the debt to their motherland
but all of us living here have also to pay back the debt to our motherland
which has nurtured and grown us.”
The following is the full text of the President’s
Speech:
“I am delighted to participate in the conferment of
Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Awards 2006. I
congratulate the award winners for their contribution in promoting
international understanding for healthy bilateral relationship between the
countries and enable us to project the right image of India abroad. I am happy to meet you all in this gathering.
I also congratulate the PIO's for the Overseas
Citizenship of India (OCI). My greetings
to the organizers - Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs in partnership with
Government of Andhra Pradesh and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce
and Industry.
Cultural
deprivation
Sometime back Nobel Laureate Sir
V.S. Naipaul met me with his wife Lady Nadira. We walked through the Mughal
Gardens in Rashtrapati Bhavan and discussed various issues related to the
history of our country and its people. Sir Naipaul thoughtfully told me that
while India as a Nation is a very recent phenomenon, Indian as people are as
old as the mankind on this planet. Sir Naipaul informed me that he is the
descendant of unskilled labourers of North Indian Brahmin origin, who were
shipped out of India as settlers for farming of the British Empire. He called
him a dispossessed child of India whose upbringing in a far away Trinidad
familiarized him with a new type of deprivation that is the cultural
deprivation. His books reflects his in-built love for the nation of his origin.
Empire of
Indian Mind
Today, the 9th day of January, marks the
return of Gandhiji from South Africa to India 91 years ago. His work in South
Africa and reasons of his return are well known. The point I would like to make
is that when Gandhiji returned, he travelled from one colony to another of an
Empire on whose territory; the sun would never set at that time. It would not
be an exaggeration, if I say that today the sun truly cannot set on the empire
of the Indian Mind. Some children of Mother India are always working wherever
the sun is shining on this planet be it Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe, the
Americas and, indeed, on the icy reaches of Antarctica. Twenty million children
of India live in various parts of the planet and every year it is increasing,
because they are needed.
Experiences
Before coming here, I was at Peda Amiran village near Bhimavaram town
today morning with Prof MR Raju, a Nuclear Scientist who held important
positions in American Laboratories, including Los Alamos National Laboratory,
during his 33-years stay there. On
1992, 2nd October the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, Prof Raju
decided to move with his family, permanently to their village and serve the
society with their knowledge and wealth. His contribution during the last one
decade has made a difference to the village. I participated in the inauguration
of a Rural Cancer Treatment and Research Center built by him under Mahatma
Gandhi Memorial Trust. I met on that occasion a lawyer, a maxillofacial surgeon
and an ophthalmologist; they are all working in the United States and drawn to
Raju’s mission. I also saw Byrraju Foundation’s work in the rural community.
Working in 150 villages across five districts of Andhra Pradesh, it has an
impact on nearly one million rural lives. Their programmes include healthcare,
education and adult literacy, water, environment and sanitation and livelihood
skills. The Foundation is entirely funded by Satyam Computer Services Limited. I
can see the impact of their work on Human Development Index in the Bhimavaram
region. I discussed with Shri B. Ramalinga Raju, Chairman, Satyam Corporation
for establishing the linkage for economic connectivity.
What
attracts India?
What does all these people symbolize? What attract
people spread across the planet to the land of their origin? I asked this
question to a Minneapolis-based engineer Madhu Reddy who met me few days ago in
Hyderabad. He informed me that he just signed a MoU with Electronics Corporation
of India Ltd to set up a production unit for Digital X-ray (D.R.) systems.
These systems are latest in Radiography equipment and have not yet arrived in
India due to its prohibitive cost. He told me that not only he would sell the
D.R. Systems in a cost effective way to Indian hospitals, and also export to
other countries. The product will be internationally competitive. When I asked,
“Why are you doing that? Madhu Reddy replied, “Sir, while it makes a perfect
business sense to manufacture electronic products in India and export them, I
also want to repay the debt I owe to this land and society where my forefathers
had existed to whom I am just a connected link.” Madhu Reddy who is successful in the United States was born and
educated here. “There is a debt to be repaid by me,” he says. Friends, it is
not only important for the Non-Resident Indians to pay the debt to their motherland but all of us living here
have also to pay back the debt to our motherland which has nurtured and grown
us.
Four Waves
People of Indian Origin worldwide represent four waves
of migration in the past. The first, and probably the longest wave, was of
Indians going forth in search of knowledge and opportunity as travellers, as
teachers and as traders. Indians went to China and around Indo-China. The
second wave was one of enforced migration of indentured labour, a legacy of
colonialism. Indians were taken to Africa, West Indies and England. The third
wave was a product of partition. The fourth and the most recent wave has been
that of Indians empowered with skill and knowledge seeking various type of
opportunities and challenges. The
destination is the United States, Canada and English speaking European
countries and West Asia. Will there be a fifth wave? In the fifth wave, towards the end of 21st century,
Indians may participate in the planetary civilization that may result many
resourceful Indians inhabitating Mars and entering the space industrial
establishment on Moon.
The spirit
of movement
The four migratory waves happened in different
historical settings for different reasons, but the central theme remained quest
for better living conditions and opportunities to excel. Hope to transform, to
translate our living present to a productive future is what makes human a
unique creature of the Cosmos. This is
indeed true of migrants the world over. The important point is that Indians
always migrated as individuals and never as communities. In fact even during
the Partition, brothers chose to separate rather than migrating as a family.
The attraction of the homeland has been historically proved powerful than
compulsions of migration, definitely in the long run and over a period of
lifetime. The presence of all of you here today testifies this. What is that
unique thing that binds an Indian to this land?
The
Eternal Mother
Overseas Indians have been successful, thanks to the
foundation in education and the heritage their home country gave them, and also
the opportunities that the country they have gone has given. I receive visitors
settled abroad from all walks of life. Many of them have brought their children
first time to their motherland. They look for the warmth of human relations in
India. This society remains a loving mother to grown up sons and daughters who
always return. This I will call
umbilical connectivity between the mother and the children. We belong to same umbilical connectivity,
whether you are in India or in any other part of the planet. Friends, India,
whose 70% people live in rural areas, has a vision to transform itself into an
economically developed country before 2020. Now I would like to discuss what I
presented in the Indian Science Congress on 5th January 2006 about
how a rural area can be developed with education centres as base line.
Technology for societal
transformation
The transformation of India will need
transformation of six hundred thousand villages. This would need creation of
seven thousand PURAs spread in different parts of the country with physical
connectivity, electronic connectivity, knowledge connectivity leading to
economic connectivity. I suggested that the decision could be taken to allot
Rs. 500 crore to develop 100 PURA Clusters. Each cluster, comprising of 20 to
30 villages, will have an educational institution as a nucleus. The development will comprise of setting up
of village knowledge centres; agro-clinics; Tele-education and Tele-medicine
centres; and other employment oriented schemes such as bio-gas plants; water
treatment plants (brackish to potable water); bio-fuel esterification plant;
cold storage; consumer product development; vocational training centres and
setting up of business centres by the entrepreneurs for national and
international marketing of the products from these rural enterprises. In all
these cases, the educational institutions should plan the activities in
consultation with local people who are the beneficiaries of this programme.
A Performance Challenge
These hundred PURA programmes originating from
educational institutions and with public-private partnership will provide the
experience for taking up big programmes in future in an industrial scale. This
undertaking will build the capacities of the villagers and encourage the Indian
entrepreneurs to become an active partner in this development process. These
activities should not be treated as mere experiments and scientific knowledge;
it is the application of science and technology to societal transformation. The
winners are the academic institutions and the rural people belonging to the
PURA Clusters. Finally, there should be a clear assessment whether the
villagers have been benefited. A joint team of the village members and the
scientists/technologists can do this.
This will lead to the birth of the Civic Scientists. This is the
performance challenge, which I would like to pose to the experienced scientific
community and to the Government officials. This mission I gave since I had seen
three operational PURA projects: one in Tamil Nadu which I have discussed
earlier in the last year, second in Maharashtra and the third in Madhya
Pradesh. I would like to describe the
three PURA systems to the members assembled here.
Periyar PURA (Tamil Nadu): I have inaugurated Periyar PURA complex
pioneered by Periyar Maniammai College of Technology for Women, Vallam in
Tanjore, a year back. I thought of sharing with you the developmental concept
of a cluster of over 65 villages near Vallam, Thanjavur district of Tamil Nadu
that involves a population of 3 lakhs. This PURA complex has all the three type
of Connectivity – physical, electronic and knowledge – leading to economic
connectivity. The centre of activity emanates from the women engineering
college that provides the electronic and knowledge connectivity. Periyar PURA has health care centres,
primary to post graduate level education and vocational training centres. This
has resulted in large-scale employment generation and creation of number of
entrepreneurs with the active support of 850 self-help groups. Two hundreds acres of waste land has been
developed into a cultivable land with innovative water management schemes such
as contour ponds and water sheds for storing and irrigating the fields. All
the villagers are busy in cultivation, planting Jatropha, herbal and medicinal
plants, and power generation using biomass, food processing and above all
running marketing centres. This model has emanated independent of any
government initiative. The Engineering institution has provided the committed
leadership. Recently, 5 of Periyar PURA villages are connected through Wi-MAX
Wireless of 4 mbps connectivity It provides a sustainable economic development
in that region. This gives me the
confidence that PURA is a realizable proposition and this movement can be
multiplied by thousands of entrepreneurs, educational administrators,
small-scale industrialists and bankers with the support of the government
agencies.
Loni
PURA (Maharashtra): At
Loni in Maharashtra, pioneered by Pravara Medical trust, a participative model
of integrated rural development has come up among 44 villages with the
population of 80,000. It is improving the productivity of the rural people
through improved quality of life with healthcare, education and
employment. The concept is people
centric development for social transformation.
The thrust area of development has been on comprehensive Medicare
particularly for women and children, need based health education and
e-connectivity to the farmers. The
complex has created 27 educational and vocational institutions consisting of
schools, colleges, polytechnic and ITI including medical and engineering
colleges. They have created sugar
factory, biogas plants, chemical plants and power projects. They have large number of self-help groups
for providing low interest loan for the weaker sections in the society. Due to the co-operative effort of the
people, literacy in these villages has gone up from 63% to 83%, birth rate has
come down, infant mortality rate has decreased to 35 per 1000 from 70 per 1000
and the standard of living of the people has gone up by over 20% compared to
other villages in the neighbouring areas.
Chitrakoot PURA (Madhya Pradesh): At Chitrakoot in Madhya Pradesh, I met Nanaji Deshmukh, the ninety-year-old social
worker. His team belonging to Deendayal Research Institute (DRI) is developing
and implementing a village development model. Nanaji told me that people’s
power is more potent, stable and enduring than political power. By becoming one
with the oppressed and depressed, one gains the acumen of administration and
governance. Social advancement and prosperity are possible only by injecting
the spirit of self-reliance and excellence in the younger generation. Using
this principle, DRI has plans to develop one hundred clusters of villages
having approximately five villages each around Chitrakoot. They have already
developed 80 villages in 16 clusters consisting of about 50,000 people.
I witnessed sustainable development
at Patni village based on indigenous and traditional technology, knowledge
systems and local talents. The programme
aims at income generation through value addition, innovative agricultural
practices, inculcating scientific temper among the villagers, improvement of
health and hygiene, striving towards 100% literacy. The villagers are doing
water harvesting; effectively using it for cultivation of food grains,
medicinal and aromatic and horticulture cultivation. Apart from all these
development activities, the Institute is facilitating a cohesive conflict free
society. I understand that the eighty villages around Chitrakoot are almost
litigation free. The villagers have unanimously decided that no dispute will be
taken to court and the differences will be sorted out amicably in the village
itself. Nanaji told me that if the
people fight among each other they would have no time for the development. This
message has been understood by the society.
The Institute has
developed a novel concept of putting a graduate married couple at the hub of
the societal transformation. Called “samaj-shilpi dampati” (societal sculpture
couple), they counsel and intervene in the affairs of the village citizens. In
the same Chitrakoot environment there is another social organisation called
Shri Sadguru Seva Sangh trust is carrying out number of social activities
including the running of quality eye care centre.
GRID Connectivities
India has embarked on a mission to provide connectivity for billion
people in the form of GRIDs. This GRID gives national connectivity consisting
of Knowledge GRID, Health GRID,
E-Governance GRID and PURA GRID. That means citizen to citizen, citizen to
state, Government to Government and citizen to institutions and rganization are
connected. This GRID system will
certainly maximize the synergy between the rganization and people leading to
faster economic growth and
productivity. The Grids are as follows:
1.
Knowledge
GRID – Inter-connecting Universities with socio-economic
institutions, industries and R&D Organisations.
2.
Health
Care GRID – Inter-connecting the Health Care institutions of
Government, Corporate and Super speciality hospitals, research institutions,
educational institutions and ultimately, Pharma R&D institutions.
3.
E-Governance
GRID – Inter-connecting the Central Government and State
Governments and District and Block level offices for G2G and G2C connectivity.
4.
PURA GRID –
Connecting the PURA Nodal centres with the Village knowledge centres and Domain
service providers. Since this is the
backbone for rural development all other GRIDs will infuse the knowledge into
this GRID for sustainable development, healthcare and good governance. For example, five of the Periyar PURA
villages have now been connected with Periyar Maniammai College and Rashtrapati
Bhavan using Wi-MAX connectivity.
5.
Integrated
Village Knowledge Centers will act as an inter-connected delivery mechanism
for tele-education, tele-medicine and
e-Governance services apart from individual access by the people, within and between the
Village Knowledge Centres.
This GRID will weave the people
together in to a strong social fabric.
Apart from economic prosperity it will bring societal transformation.
Conclusion
Friends, in a rural environment, I find a revolution is taking place due
to the sustained effort of committed leadership for removing human pain.
We are all part of our nation. What the more fortunate among us have to
do is to provide the leadership that can help bring about transformation in the
other India. India has got 600,000 villages. I am sure each one of you
assembled here will have a connectivity with one of these villages. You can definitely provide the leadership
for transformation of the cluster of villages around your village with your
experience and knowledge connectivity.
If it is interests you, you can definitely become a partner in this
noble mission.
I am sure that after living in foreign societies you would have realized
that each one of us is a member of the extended human family. We have the same
hopes and aspirations, fears and longings, desires and dreams. Our station in
life is dictated by a random draw that was made by forces beyond our
imagination even, leave alone our control.
Working in rural areas is not easy. It is like Kurukshetra, as my friend
Prof MR Raju termed it. Still it gives
him wholesome satisfaction to serve the rural people. To come here and
participate in the societal transformation is indeed a spiritual challenge.
Each of us, wherever we are, can make a commitment in our lifetime to bring
about positive change in the land of our birth and enhance its glory. India, seeks
your knowledge, experience and the art of success you have learnt through your
struggle abroad. She beckons in your success!
My best wishes to all of you for
success in your missions wherever you live.
Your prosperity is our happiness.”
The
President also honoured fifteen NRIs/PIOs with the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman
Awards-2006 on this occasion.
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AK/SP/AS
(Release ID :14847)