APJ Abdul kalam , Former President of India

DR. A.P.J Abdul Kalam

                                                                                         Former President of India                        

 The full name APJ Abdul kalam is Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam was an Indian aerospace scientist and politician who served as the 11th President of India from 2002 to 2007. He was born and raised in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu and studied physics and aerospace engineering. 

Born: 15 October 1931, Rameswaram

Died: 27 July 2015, Shillong

Full Name: Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam

Awards:  Bharat ratna, Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan

Education

Kalam earned a degree in aeronautical engineering from the Madras Institute of Technology and in 1958 joined the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). He soon moved to the Indian Space Research Organiastion, where he was project director of the SLVIII, India’s first indigenously designed and produced satellite Launch Vechile. Rejoining DRDO in 1982, Kalam planned the program that produced a number of successful missiles, which helped earned him the nickname “Missile Man.”

From 1992 to 1997 Kalam was scientific adviser to the defense minister, and he later served as principal scientific adviser (1999–2001) to the government with the rank of cabinet minister. His prominent role in the Country's 1998 nuclear weapons tests established Kalam as a national hero, although the tests caused great concern in the international Community. In 1998 Kalam put forward a countrywide plan called Technology Vision 2020, which he described as a road map for transforming India from a less-developed to a developed society in 20 years. The plan called for, among other measures, increasing agricultural productivity, emphasizing techonology as a vehicle for economic growth, and widening access to health care and education.

In 2002 India’s ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) put forward Kalam to succeed outgoing President Kocheril  Raman Narayanan. Kalam was nominated by the Hindu nationalist (Hindutva) NDA even though he was Muslim, and his stature and popular appeal were such that even the main opposition party, the Indian national Congress, also proposed his candidacy. Kalam easily won the election and was sworn in as India’s 11th president, a largely ceremonial post, in July 2002. He remained committed to using Science and technology to transform India into a developed country. In 2007 Kalam left office and was succeeded by Pratibha Patil, the country’s first woman president.

Kalam wrote several books, including an autobiography, Wings of Fire (1999). Among his numerous awards were two of the country’s highest honours, the Padma Vibhushan (1990) and the Bharat Ratna (1997).

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