Former President A P J Abdul Kalam today advocated a three-pronged strategy to combat terror which included raiding and smashing militant hideouts both inside and outside the country.
80-year-old Kalam was twice frisked at the JFK Airport by security officials who even took off his jacket and shoes to check for explosives before he was to board an Air India flight on September 29.
Long written off as a political force, K N Govindacharya made a strong comeback this week, bringing together a million people -- most of them farmers -- on the platform of alternative development.
Former President A P J Abdul Kalam, who turned 80 today, celebrated his birthday by planting saplings along with hundreds of children and farmers.
The country should now opt for developing reusable missiles which come back after striking enemy targets, former president A P J Abdul Kalam said on Tuesday.
"Gujarat registered a sustained agricultural growth of 7 to 9 per cent over the past six years which was far ahead of the country's national average growth of just about 2.5 to 3 per cent."
Disclosing this in the academic council meeting of the BHU, Vice Chancellor Punjab Singh announced that the former president has given his consent to join BHU as a visiting professor in the science faculty.
A group of six IIM-A students proposed the idea of starting the helpline to former President A P J Abdul Kalam and IIM-A professor Anil Gupta, which was appreciated by them.
"The mission has economic and strategic value," Kalam told media persons on the sidelines of a function in New Delhi when asked to comment on the ambitious mission. He, however, refused to elaborate on it further. The lunar spacecraft Chandrayaan-I, India's first space mission beyond the earth's orbit, is scheduled for blast off on October 22 from the Sriharikota spaceport.
'We shouldn't attach great significance to Obama's 'qualified' assurance on a membership to 'a reformed' Security Council. Nobody knows how many decades it will take and America can easily forget its un-doable promises.'
'What did he (Kalam) know about extracting, making explosive grade? He didn't know a thing. By being a President, he appeared to wear the stature. He relied on atomic energy to gain additional stature,' said Sethna about Kalam while talking to CNN-IBN.
Colonel Dr Anil Athale (retd) writes an open letter to former President A P J Abdul Kalam to intervene in Kashmir and start a dialogue with the people.
Here are 15 of his best quotes that will inspire us forever:
A day after the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security filed an FIR against Continental Airlines for frisking former President A P J Abdul Kalam, the government on Wednesday said it knew about the incident and had issued a show cause notice to the airline on July 9."The BCAS, after getting the information in time, first conducted an inquiry and then issued the show cause notice on July 9. On Tuesday, they filed an FIR also Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said.
"Not only the preliminary inquiry has been ordered but we also have a preliminary report on the basis of which Continental Airlines has been issued a show cause notice why action for wilful violation should not be taken," Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
The Civil Aviation Ministry has ordered a probe into the incident involving the ground security staff of Continental Airlines which subjected Kalam to security check before he was to board a Newark-bound flight on April 24.
Former President A P J Abdul Kalam lauded ISRO scientists for successfully launching the PSLV-C9 to put 10 satellites in orbit. "Though I have envisioned India to become a superpower by 2020, the attitude and the confidence of the youth, to conquer everything in the right spirit, would make the country a global leader and superpower within five years," Kalam said.
Former President A P J Abdul Kalam and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday faced angry farmers in Nalanda, who pelted stones while demanding compensation from the state government for land acquisition for a proposed international university.
Children should take the lead in making India a developed and prosperous nation by 2020 and inspiring their parents to fight against the menace of corruption, former President A P J Abdul Kalam said on Friday. The former President, who interacted with the children after inaugurating a science exhibition, asked them to take a pledge to fight against corruption.
Former president A P J Abdul Kalam has been conferred with a Honourary Doctorate of Science by the University of Wolverhampton in the United Kingdom in recognition of his eminence in the international community as a scientist, educationist and statesman. This is the 33rd Honourary Doctorate received by Kalam from Indian and foreign universities.
He stressed the need to 'ignite the minds' and attract the imagination of young students in order to inspire them to make discoveries relevant to the World Space Vision 2050. Kalam called for all space-faring nations to optimise their space capabilities by contributing substantially in technology and resources.
Mankind needs to find an alternative habitat in another planet with the Moon serving as the human space technological industrial belt and Planet Mars as an alternate human habitat, Kalam said at the International Aerospace Conference.
Former president A P J Abdul Kalam made a surprise visit to his favourite vegetarian restaurant in the arterial Anna Salai in Chennai for dinner on Thursday night putting security personal into tenterhooks.
"They (Armed Forces) need to be reassured about the weapon system they use and about the planning of what kind of the yield they have when they hit the target," Malik, the army chief during Pokhran-II, told Karan Thapar on the Devil's Advocate programme of CNN-IBN.
In an apparent breach of security, former President A P J Abdul Kalam was forced to walk for nearly 15 minutes in search of his car in the premises of a private medical college in Kochi, after attending a function on Thursday.
'We as citizens should be bothered about how a former President is treated. It is about the institution of the Presidency and not about any individual.'
He said a network of sensors along with infra-based cameras should be placed at strategic positions along the borders to guard against infiltration. BSF should consider utilisation of recently-launched CARTOSAT-2A satellite designed by ISRO for scene-specific spot imageries with high spatial resolution of better than one metre, he added.
Invited to deliver a keynote address by former president A P J Abdul Kalam on the occasion of the release of Lal Kishenchand Advani's book My Country My Life at Srifort Auditorium in New Delhi on Wednesday evening, former external affairs minister in the Atal Bihar Vajpayee government Jaswant Singh said that his concept of handling the Ayodhya issue was definitely not the same as that of Advani's.
Former president A P J Abdul Kalam, who will be from April 17 to 19, will confer the award that carries $50,000 in cash and a trophy on April 18, Canada-India Foundation Convener Ajit Someshwar told reporters on Wednesday. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Ontario Premier David McGuinty were likely to be present on the occasion, he said.
Lord Martin Rees, president of The Royal Society, presented the medal and a scroll to Kalam in the presence of a distinguished gathering, including NRI industrialist Lord Swaraj Paul, Lord Karan Billimoria, chief of the Cobra Beer, Acting High Commissioner of India to the UK Asoke Mukerjee and Lord Meghnad Desai, a leading economist, at the Royal Society.
Abdullah is among a growing set of young Indian politicians who are active on the World Wide Web with social networking profiles and online portfolios used to connect mainly to the youths. The internet savvy 38-year-old National Conference president said he will put a system in place so that the general public could directly send him e-mails.
"Today, 23 million Indian reside abroad. Either, they are citizens of other countries or they are working there. So it is essential that whichever country you go, you make that country a winner," he said, and added, "That is your mission. I am sure the JSS Spiritual Mission in USA will definitely spread this mission."
The round table was organised by the Indian Institute of Science Alumni Association of North America, Pan-IIT, India Community Centre, and TiE Silicon Valley.
Archana Dutta will take over from S M Khan, who served as the press secretary to former President APJ Abdul Kalam
PURA is a word that Kalam has been repeating for the past two years. Unfortunately, the politicians in our country and the bureaucrats have not taken up the war cry that Kalam has initiated.
Kalam had sent Guru's mercy plea to the home ministry for its views.
Disclosing his future plans, Kalam said he will be donning five caps in his post-President period.
Lamenting that the country is busy in elections throughout the year, former president A P J Abdul Kalam said parliamentary, assembly and panchayat elections should be held on a single day.
When Rediff.com requested former President A P J Abdul Kalam to compose a Republic Day message for our readers, he promptly sent us this, which we are honoured to publish.
"Whatever treaty or agreement we do, if it helps... well and good, but the thrust should be to be self-reliance in thorium fuel-based reactors," Kalam told PTI in an interview in London.
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