Plain Talk

By Mursi Saad El-Din

---

India has a unique phenomenon. Most of its presidents and prime ministers have combined political expertise with literary abilities. Ghandi's works are a standing example of this happy combination. Prime Minister Nehru's Letters to my Daughter, is an example of belles lettres, written in beautiful English.

And now A. P.J. Abdul Kalam, President of India, has joined the ranks. I have just received three books written by the President of India: India 2020, A Vision for the New Millennium, Wings of Five, an Autobiography and Ignited Minds: Unleashing the Power Within India.

While the President's autobiography is important, following his life and his scientific achievements. It is India 2020, which reflects the rise of India to be a candidate to become a First World nation. The book starts with the question whether this can happen within the next twenty years.

India 2020 is dedicated to a ten-year-old girl who came up to the President for his autograph. "What is your ambition? he asked her, "I want to live in a developed India," she replied without hesitation. This sets the author wondering "what are the obvious indicators which make the country developed?"

He lists these indicators as the wealth of the nation, the prosperity of its people and its standing in the international forum. Besides those there are other indicators regarding the wealth of a nation in terms of Gross National Product, Gross Domestic Product, the Balance of Payments, Foreign Exchange reserves, rate of economic growth, per capita income, etc.

But the author contends that while economic indicators are important, they provide only a part of the picture. The numbers, says the authors, impressive though they may appear, can veil considerable human misery, especially that of the common people. In other words, the quality of life for them.

The author quotes Ghandi's simple criterion that "every action proposed and contemplated, should in its implementation wipe the tears of the poor and downtrodden person." Ghandi emphasized that "only when we have wiped the tears from the faces of all, have we truly arrived as a nation."

Then came Nehru with his stringent vision for the elimination of ignorance, illiteracy, poverty, decease and inequalities of opportunities. The task of realising such a vision appears to be deficient, but at the time of India's independence they did not appear so. The author asks "Are we as a nation still inspired by the vision of our tryst and destiny? Are we as a nation still inspired by that vision offered fifty year?"

His answer is that it does not make sense to achieve a developed status without a major and continuing uplifting of all Indians who exist today and of the many more millions who would be added in the years to come.

The author then moves on to what he calls strategic strength. He believes that globalisation, which means integration with world economy, brings the influence of external forces in the Indian society. Some may believe that these forces are beneficial "in terms of developing our core competencies in areas in which we have comparative advantage, but it is clear that the developed countries have set up several non-tariff barriers which strike at the root of ideal competition based on market forces."

National security is another issue dealt with in the book. Here we must remember that President Abdul Kalam was the scientist responsible for the development of India's first satellite launch vehicle and was chairman of the Technology Information, Forecast and Assessment Council. This means he is an expert on issues relating to security.

In a lecture on his vision of national security he said "a nation is made great by its people, and people in turn become important as heirs of that great nation. By importing non- strategic systems for defence, a nation will not be able to defend both its economic freedom and security, as this will only perpetuate the dependence on other nations."

He goes on to say that a country's strength to protect its security and evolve an independent foreign policy is dependent on the degree to which a nation is able to underpin this with self- reliance in defence systems. A developed India, says Abdul Kalam should be able to boplster its strategies.