Corruption is a cancer engulfing India, says Kalam

Abdul Kalam suggests chemotherapy to cure the ills afflicting political, bureaucratic and judicial systems

Dubai, Feb 4m2011 (Gulf News)i: Corruption is a cancer-like situation engulfing India's political-bureaucratic-judicial system, requiring an urgent 'chemotherapy', former Indian president Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam said in an exclusive interview with Gulf News.

Stamping out corruption - which is causing pain and anguish among citizens - is one of the biggest challenges that India faces, as the country is poised to be a developed nation, he said. During his recent three-day visit to Dubai, he spoke to Gulf News on a wide range of topics. Below are the excerpts:
GULF NEWS: As a country poised to be a superpower, what are the three biggest challenges India faces and what are the possible solutions?

Dr A.P.J Abdul Kalam: We are not aiming to be a superpower, but by 2020 India has to be transformed to an economically developed country by eradicating poverty that affects over 300 million people.

Water management is one of the main challenges. We have water bodies, but sometimes there are floods and at other times drought. Connecting them and forming a network of rivers is a possible solution.

Secondly, India has 600,000 villages and hence bridging the rural-urban divide is vital. Projects such as PURA (provide urban amenities in rural areas) could give physical, electronic and knowledge connectivity to lead them to prosperity.

Thirdly, establishing a corruption-free India is a major challenge. I propose a youth brigade as the solution. "I can do it. We can do it. India will do it", should be the spirit.

Recently there have been allegations of corruption even against those who held the highest judicial position. Your thoughts?

Among people from every cross section of the society - youth, senior citizens, civil society leaders, thought leaders, political leaders, senior executives, judiciary - whom I have met, there is a sense of anguish, despair and concern over the deteriorating democratic values and value system which is increasing day after day. Hence there is need for urgent extraordinary corrective actions.

If the situation is allowed to continue then we cannot prevent the people taking to the streets and there will be a catastrophic ripple effect, which the nation cannot bear at this moment when India is poised to become a developed nation. The leadership across the country irrespective of their profession or political affiliation will have to put the country, its development and its pride above their individualism.

A cancer-like situation is engulfing the political-bureaucratic-judicial system, which is harmful for growth. Certainly the country needs chemotherapy at this critical hour.

People with national spirit, leaders with impeccable track records, ignited youth with bubbling aspiration to make the nation develop cannot be watching silently. They should unite to bring back the governance in its track and steer the nation forward.

Your view on India's relationship with its neighbours. Do you perceive any threats to Indian security in the immediate future?

Peace comes from economic prosperity and military strength. The day India finds itself weak in these areas then there could be a security challenge. So, we need to develop on these strengths adequately. Of course, neighbours need to be peaceful for India to be peaceful. We need to work with each other according to our competencies. Although India will soon be one of the countries in the world with the highest youth population, do you think the apathy of educated youth to politics will hinder our progress?

I see progressive interest among students and youth towards politics. But as a profession it is not gaining momentum because they see how people are performing. If they cannot find good role models they will develop a prejudice against politics. We need inspirational leadership.

Which sector could benefit from more investment in research and development?

Agro processing. We produce 236 million tonnes of food now. But our farmers are not happy because of their low and unstable income. Add value to agricultural products to overcome this.

Clean and affordable energy is another sector. We generate 130,000 MW power mostly from fossil fuel. Each litre of fuel used to run a car generates 2.5kg of carbon dioxide. Clean energies such as solar, wind, nuclear, bio fuels and hydro energy should be promoted.

Another is ensuring sustainable and clean drinking water to all.

Do you endorse the view that nuclear energy is the best form of energy to meet our growing demands and that the huge investments required for developing it can be justified in terms of benefits?

Yes. Nuclear energy is clean energy. Moreover, India has the largest reserves of thorium and hence in future we will need to focus on the development of thorium based plants. Our demand is that nuclear power generation is above 50,000 MW of power, so that its large scale cost will come down with our own nuclear material and research on thorium.

How do you rank India's position in the world on space technology? What is its future?

India holds a unique position. We are recognised by all space powers as a nation where space technology is used for societal applications and needs. Our space efforts has been and will be for the welfare of people - communication, broadcasting, meteorology, remote sensing for variety of applications and tele-medicine and tele-education.

With consistent efforts India has built an end-to-end system with application, space craft and launch vehicle systems.

Future space exploration of all countries will be to understand the solar system and the planetary systems ultimately leading to a second habitat and possibility of acquiring resources and solar power. These would require reducing the cost of access to space from the present $20,000 (Dh73,448) kilograms of orbital payload to about $2,000. That would require the combined efforts of all major space faring nations, including India and could enable revolutions in sectors such as solar power from space.

India is perhaps the best country protecting the rights of its Muslim population anywhere in the world. But, unfortunately this reality is not known to many Muslims in other countries. What is your opinion?

We are a secular democratic country and all citizens are equal. When India suffered terrorism, the world was not in tune with India's problems. Now the world realises the seriousness of international terrorism.

Our media, leaders and embassies have to play a pro-active role in uniting minds and hearts, which go beyond religion, caste and region.

We have to stress on how as a democracy of a billion people from multiple cultures, religions and languages, we are going stronger and stronger in our democratic practices and how people are generally living peacefully.

Bachelor Abdul Kalam's family of one billion

"I belong to a great family of a billion people," Dr A.P.J Abdul Kalam said, sharing a lighter moment with Gulf News about remaining a bachelor at 80 years of age. Asked about a typical day in his life, he said he felt there were no typical days but only unique days in his life.

"Every day I learn new things, meet new people and listen to new ideas," he said. He presented three different scenarios - one in an urban setting, another in a rural area and the third at home.

"One day, for instance, I visited a village called Warana, a valley in Maharashtra. There I saw how PURA (provide urban amenities in rural areas) project helped eradicate poverty among 300,000 people," he said. "Another day is like the one I spent in Dubai, meeting a lot of children, attending events and presenting my ideas," he said.

"T he third type of day is an interesting day at my home in Delhi. I start off my day with a four-kilometre walk and write poetry. Night is the time I write books."

He presented Gulf News with a poem, called The great tree in my home, which he wrote about a conversation between him and a Terminalia tree at his residence.

"This tree is 109 years old. During my morning walks, I ask the tree what its mission in life is. That is the theme of the poem," he said. Dr Abdul Kalam also teaches in universities and guides three research students.

Expats asked to focus on host country's welfare

There is a tendency for non-resident Indians to become overtly concerned about doing something for their mother country, however, they should rather focus on the welfare of their host country, Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam observed.

"Indian expatriates in the UAE should focus more on giving back to the UAE community, since they earn their bread and butter from here", he said. Also, they should help in the welfare of fellow expatriates, he added.

Dr Abdul Kalam called on the youth to learn from history citing the example of Shaikh Zayed, who "had the courage to imagine the impossible". "History echoes to us that those who have the courage to imagine the impossible, the few unique personalities who broke all human limitations of thought and action are engraved timelessly in humanity."

This holds true in every field of human efforts including science, technology, environment, medicine, arts, sports, industry or even in developmental politics, he said.

Asked if reverse brain drain effect would be a reality with India's high-paced economic growth, he said: "I do not believe in brain drain. Those abroad can contribute in a big way by mind power and bringing knowledge power to India".