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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  Abdul Kalam, former president of India, dies at 83
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Abdul Kalam, former president of India, dies at 83

Kalam rose from humble beginnings to become India's top missile scientist and its first technocrat president

Kalam was popular with scientists, academics, students, the middle class and the NDA. Photo: BloombergPremium
Kalam was popular with scientists, academics, students, the middle class and the NDA. Photo: Bloomberg

Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam wanted to become a pilot in the Indian Air Force. Instead, he became a missile scientist, and, later in life, India’s 11th president—the first technocrat to ascend to the nation’s highest office.

It’s an improbable story made all the more improbable by its beginning, in 1931.

Kalam’s father was a boat owner in Rameswaram, his mother a housewife, and a young Kalam supplemented his poor family’s income by running a paper route. He graduated in physics from Tiruchirapalli’s well-regarded St Joseph’s College and aerospace engineering at the Madras Institute of Technology.

In 1960, Kalam joined the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). In 1969, he moved to the Indian Space Research Organisation and worked on the satellite launch vehicle project.

In July 1980, one such vehicle deployed the Rohini satellite in orbit. Impressed with his work, the government of Indira Gandhi put him in charge of India’s secret missile programme in the 1980s.

He was responsible for the development of both the Agni and the Prithvi missiles. Between 1992 and 1999, he headed DRDO and was the chief scientific adviser to the prime minister. He was actively involved in the 1999 nuclear tests in Pokhran. Even before that, in 1997, he was awarded India’s highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna.

In 2002, the then National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government nominated him as its candidate for the presidency. He became president of India on 25 July 2002.

Kalam’s record as president was mixed. He was popular with scientists, academics, students (whom he loved), the middle class and the NDA itself. Visiting CEOs of multinational technology companies came away impressed by his knowledge.

In 2003, he conceptualized the PURA (providing urban amenities in rural areas) scheme for developing villages. However, he dragged his feet over several mercy petitions pending before his office (an appeal to the president, seeking a pardon, is the last resort of those sentenced to death in India).

And he didn’t cover himself with glory in doing the government’s bidding and imposing president’s rule in Bihar in 2005 after a stalemate in the state elections.

Kalam’s term as president ended in 2007. He was keen on a second term but realized that he didn’t have the support of the Congress and several of its allies in the ruling United Progressive Alliance.

Kalam was a true Renaissance man. He was passionate about science, played the veena and could quote from the scriptures, including Hindu ones. He wrote several books, including Wings of Fire, Ignited Minds and India 2020.

The bachelor also liked to spend time with young people. He was a visiting professor at several Indian Institutes of Management.

He would have liked the way it all ended—Kalam collapsed while delivering a talk at Indian Institute of Management Shillong. He was 83.

The government will declare seven days of national mourning, PTI reported, quoting Union home secretary L.C. Goel.

“He was a great scientist who contributed immensely in the filed of science and technology as well as space. I have lost a marg darshark," PTI quoted Prime Minister Narendra Modi as saying. “He was a source of inspiration for the whole country, particularly the youth. Even in his last days, he remained connected."

“His warmth, humility and simple ways endeared him to one and all. He had a special love for children and sought to constantly inspire the youth of our country through motivational speeches and personal interaction," PTI quoted President Pranab Mukherjee as saying.

PTI contributed to this story.

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Published: 27 Jul 2015, 08:37 PM IST
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