| Unique You |
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Dear friends, Look up, what do you see, the light, the electric bulbs. Immediately, our thoughts go to the inventor Thomas Alva Edison, for his unique contribution towards the invention of electric bulb and his electrical lighting system.
When you hear the sound of aero-plane going over your house, whom do you think of? Wright Brothersproved that man could fly, of-course at heavy risk and cost.
Whom does the telephone remind you of? Of course, Alexander Graham Bell.
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When everybody considered a sea travel as an experience or a voyage, a unique person questioned during his sea travel from United Kingdom to India. He was pondering on why the horizon where the sky and sea meet looks blue? His research resulted in the phenomena of scattering of light. Of course, Sir CV Raman was awarded Nobel Prize.
Do you know the scientist who is famous for Chandra Limit which describes the maximum mass (~1.44 solar masses) of a white dwarf star, or equivalently, the minimum mass for which a star will ultimately collapse into a neutron star to black hole following a supernova. Two of his students got the Nobel Prize before him. It is of-course the famous Nobel Laureate Chandrasekhar Subrmaniam
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Friends, there was a great scientific lady who is known for discovering Radium. She won not one, but two Nobel Prizes, one for physics and another for chemistry. Who is she? She is Madam Curie. Madam Curie discovered radium and she was doing research on the effect of radiation on human system. The same radiation which she discovered, affected her and she sacrificed her life for removing the pain of human life.
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Dear friends, do you know the name of the great institution in Franko Switzerland border which has discovered the existence of Higgs Boson using Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and measure its property which is the fundamental property of elementary particles. Of course the name is CERN (European Centre for Nuclear Research). Do you know why the particle is called Boson? This is because the Indian scientist Satyendra Nath Bose first wrote in 1924 ? 1925 to Albert Einstein about the existence of such a particle in landmark paper.
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When I described to you young friends, these historical events, you all jumped. The scientist, technologist, warriors and great human being, who created the event, are unique personalities. Young friends, can you join such unique performers of scientific history? Yes, you can. Definitely, you can. Let us study together, how it can be made possible?
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Friends, I have, so far, met 15 million youth in a decade?s time. I learnt, "every youth wants to be unique, that is, YOU! But the world all around you, is doing its best, day and night, to make you just "everybody else". At home, dear young friends, you are asked by your parents to be like neighbours' children for scoring good marks. When you go to school, your teacher says "why not you become like the first five rankers in the class". Wherever you go, they are saying "you have to be somebody else or everybody else".
The challenge, my young friends, is that you have to fight the hardest battle, which any human being can ever imagine to fight; and never stop fighting until you arrive at your destined place, that is, a UNIQUE YOU!
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| How to achieve unique you? |
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Dear friends, when I see you all, I am thinking how you can achieve what you envision in your life?
How does achievement come? There are four proven steps; having an aim in life before 20 years of age, acquiring knowledge continuously, hard work towards the aim and perseverance to defeat the problem and succeed. Here I would like to recite a poem "Fly with knowledge and courage".
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I will fly and fly
"I am born with potential.
I am born with goodness and trust.
I am born with ideas and dreams.
I am born with greatness.
I am born with confidence.
I am born with courage,
I will defeat the problem and succeed.
I am born with wings,
So, I am not meant for crawling,
I have wings, I will fly
I will fly and fly"
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My message to you, young friends, is that education gives you wings to fly. Achievement comes out of fire in our sub-conscious mind that "I will win". So, each one of you assembled here and elsewhere, will have "Wings of Fire". The Wing of Fire will indeed lead to knowledge which will make you to fly as a Doctor, or an Engineer, or a scientist, or a teacher, or a political leader, or a bureaucrat or a diplomat or you would like to walk on the Moon and Mars or anything you want to be.
Dear friends, when I see the students of this institution, I would like to discuss with you, what type of India are you going to inherit in next one decade time. If you understand, then certainly everyone of you has a role to contribute for the developed India vision 2020. I visualize India in the year 2020 to have the following distinctive competitive profile. Now, let me give my visualization of India during the year 2020.
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| Distinctive profile of the nation |
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1. A Nation where the rural and urban divide has reduced to a thin line.
2. A Nation where there is an equitable distribution and adequate access to energy and quality water.
3. A Nation where agriculture, industry and service sector work together in symphony.
4. A Nation where education with value system is not denied to any meritorious candidates because of societal or economic discrimination.
5. A Nation which is the best destination for the most talented scholars, scientists, and investors.
6. A Nation where the best of health care is available to all.
7. A Nation where the governance is responsive, transparent and corruption free.
8. A Nation where poverty has been totally eradicated, illiteracy removed and crimes against women and children are absent and none in the society feels alienated.
9. A Nation that is prosperous, healthy, secure, devoid of terrorism, peaceful and happy and continues with a sustainable growth path.
10. A Nation that is one of the best places to live in and is proud of its leadership.
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| Integrated Action for developed India |
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To achieve the distinctive profile of India, we have the mission of transforming India into a developed nation. We have identified five areas where India has a core competence for integrated action: (1) Agriculture and food processing (2) Education and Healthcare (3) Information and Communication Technology (4) Infrastructure: Reliable and Quality Electric power, Surface transport and Infrastructure for all parts of the country and (5) Self reliance in critical technologies. These five areas are closely inter-related and progressing in a coordinated way, leading to food, economic and national security.
Now I would like to discuss about the mission of ten billion trees
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| Birth of a Global Mission: Ten billion trees |
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Dear friends, you have learnt about the process of photo-synthesis in the plant and tree family. "When the Sun shines, the green plants breakdown water to get electrons and protons, use these particles to turn carbon-di-oxide into glucose and vent out oxygen as a waste product." Each mature tree in a year absorbs 20 Kgs of carbon-di-oxide and transforms into wood and reinforces the branches of the tree. At the same time, it lets out into the atmosphere and surrounding 14 kgs of oxygen which is the nature gift to the mankind. That?s why I have been administering during the last ten years to every one of the 15 million youth I have met, a ten point oath, one of which emphasizes the need for plantation of trees. The oath reads: "I will plant ten trees and ensure their growth". I understand that this oath has resulted in the plantation of millions of trees in different parts of the country during the last decade. I am sure; each one of you will participate in the mission.
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| Let not thy winged days, be spent in vain |
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As you all know, the earth rotates on its own axis once in a day having 24 hours or 1440 minutes or 86400 seconds. Earth itself orbits around the sun. It takes nearly one year for an orbit. With the completion of one rotation of earth around the sun, your age is added by one year as you are living on planet earth. Seconds fly, minutes fly, hours fly, days fly and years fly. We have no control over it. The only thing that we can do is, while the time flies, we can navigate the time. "Let not thy winged days, be spent in vain".
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| Conclusion: what I will be remembered for? |
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Finally, I would like to ask you, what would you like to be remembered for? You have to evolve yourself and shape your life. You should write it on a page. That page may be a very important page in the book of human history. And you will be remembered for creating that one page in the history of the nation ? whether that page is the page of invention, the page of innovation or the page of discovery or the page of creating societal change or a page of removing the poverty or the page of fighting injustice or planning and executing mission of networking of rivers. I will be happy if you could write this page and mail it to me (apj@abdulkalam.com).
My greetings and best wishes to all of you for the success of your educational mission. May God bless you.
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| Oath for the Students |
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1. I will have a goal and work hard to achieve that goal. I realize that small aim is a crime.
2. I will work with integrity and succeed with integrity.
3. I will be a good member of my family, a good member of the society, a good member of the nation and a good member of the world.
4. I will always try to save or better someone's life, without any discrimination of caste, creed, language religion or state. Wherever I am, a thought will always come to my mind. That is "What can I give?"
5. I will always protect and enhance the dignity of every human life without any bias.
6. I will always remember the importance of time. My motto will be "Let not my winged days, be spent in vain".
7. I will always work for clean planet Earth and clean energy.
8. As a youth of my nation, I will work and work with courage to achieve success in all my tasks and enjoy the success of others.
9. I am as young as my faith and as old as my doubt. Hence, I will light up then, the lamp of faith in my heart.
10. My National Flag flies in my heart and I will bring glory to my nation.
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