M A I N   N E W S

Guard against fanaticism: Kalam
Ravi S. Singh
Tribune News Service

Gurgaon, April 19
The President, Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, today gave a wake-up call to the nation urging it to be on guard against any religious or individual fanaticism and suggested the elevation of religion into spiritualism as one of the measures to make the nation prosperous.

Dr Kalam was at Bhoda Kalan, about 20 km from here, to inaugurate the Northern India Complex — the “Om Shanti Retreat Centre” — of the Prajapita Brahma Kumari Ishwariya Vishva Vidyalaya and to inaugurate the one-day convention on “Evolution of a good human being” at the centre. He said, “We should not allow any religion or individual fanaticism to endanger our nation. The nation is very important compared to any individual or party or religion.”

He said the evolution of good human beings was a big challenge for the world community. According to him, the mission had components of a combination of learning with value systems, religions graduating into spiritual movements and poverty eradication by attaining economic prosperity resulting in high employment potential.

The President then pondered whether the measures would eliminate communal clashes, and cross-border terrorism or international terrorism and would these be able to remove the violence in the mind and the body.

Dwelling on terrorism, he said it resulted from various factors like differences in ideologies, religious fanaticism, discrimination and enmity between organisations and nations. Constant deprivation led to frustration and frustration on provocation led to alienation. Alienation could manifest itself in two forms — passivism and activism. Activism could manifest itself in constructive or destructive modes. Constructive mode led to development and destructive mode led to terrorism, violence and aggression, he said.

Without naming any country, he alleged that certain nations had been indulging in cross-border terrorism, adding that the country needed to collectively address these sources of disturbances by formulating visionary policies for national development and by executing mission projects with hard work and sweat.

Making a fervent case for the economic resurgence of India so that it soon attained the status of developed nation, he suggested that in order to catapult itself among the first four powerhouses in the world commercially and economically, the country must target a GDP growth of 9 per cent annually and people below poverty line must be reduced to near zero. The road map for achieving higher status included achieving near-total self-reliance in defence weapons and equipment. The country should also have the right place in world fora, he added.

He listed agriculture and food processing, reliable and quality electricity for all parts of the country, education and healthcare, information communication technology and strategic sector as the country’s core competence for integrated action. Other areas like advanced sensors and materials needed a push. The nation had a plan towards 70 per cent self-reliance in a decade in defence equipment. The five areas were closely inter-related and would lead to food and economic security. A strong partnership between research and developments education, industry and the community as a whole with the government departments would be essential to realise the vision, he added.