Turning Points by A P J Abdul Kalam

helps maintain a clean environment.
    2)  Vision 2020: Adopt a resolution that India will be transformed into a safe, prosperous, happy and economically developed nation before the year 2020 using National Prosperity Index (NPI) as a measure.
    You will agree with me on the importance of making these Bills a reality in a time-bound manner.
    These are issues that I consider so important that I address them at some length later in the book as well.

    I had a unique experience in Rashtrapati Bhavan. Whenever I asked for any data or information about a particular state or institution from a ministry or department of the government, the Planning Commission or the state government itself, accurate and latest information flowedfrom the concerned agency without the need for sending any reminder from the President’s Secretariat. This access to information was immensely useful to me for preparing my addresses to the nation, Parliament and assemblies of different states, public and private sector establishments and universities. It was an enormously useful facility that was not earlier used in the same way.
    Another core competence we had built in Rashtrapati Bhavan was a virtual conference and virtual meeting facility which enabled us to have brainstorming sessions with experts from different organizations located in distant areas. During my tenure in Rashtrapati Bhavan, I had addressed twelve state assemblies and presented the missions for the prosperity of the states. The data collection, analysis, synthesis, expert inputs, brainstorming sessions leading to the preparation of missions for prosperity usually took over fifteen days to a month. Virtual conferences for this preparation were normally conducted from the Rashtrapati Bhavan multimedia facility from 8 p.m. to midnight, when the experts were generally available for consultation. The states which were covered are: Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Sikkim and Puducherry.
    The criteria for selecting the missions for prosperity of the state started with the study of its socio-economic profile such as per capita income, literacy level, population below poverty line, unemployment level, infant mortality level rate, maternal mortality rate and the core competency of the state in the agriculture, industry and services sectors. For example, the missions identified for Bihar were 1)agriculture and value addition to farm produce; 2) education and entrepreneurship; 3) human resources; 4) Nalanda International University; 5) health care mission; 6) flood water management; 7) tourism; 8) infrastructure; 9) exclusive economic zone; and 10) e-governance. Ten missions were evolved to enable Bihar to increase the per capita income from Rs 6,300 (2005-06) to Rs 35,000 by 2010 and also to create an investment friendly climate leading to large-scale employment avenues for the 10 million unemployed/underemployed as on 31 December 2005. Bihar should aim at realizing the goal of 100 per cent literacy and employment by the year 2015. The government has taken up many schemes and I am happy to find that Bihar is the fastest growing state in the country today. Also, the number of people going out of the state to find work has considerably reduced which clearly brings out that large-scale value-added employment generation has taken place in Bihar.
    There was good participation from the legislators. The presentations led to the initiation of many action-oriented programmes in the states. After the address to the assembly, I also addressed the vice chancellors of the universities of the state, and the chambers of commerce on the same theme.
    In Kerala, Malayala Manorama translated the mission for Kerala’s prosperity into Malayalam, conducted district-level workshops and sought the opinion of experts on the methods by which the missions can be implemented with success and the recommendations were sent to the legislative