[India_Vision_2020] [DR.KALAM NEWS] Dimensions of India Vision 2020 - Origin of India Vision 2020 ~ India Vision 2020

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Origin of India Vision 2020
Friends, first let me share with you my unique experience in mid 1990's on formulation of Indian vision 2020 strategies. I was given the task of chairing Technology Information Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC). I recollect, that in the first meeting of the Council (itself, we took a decision


that TIFAC must evolve a plan how India can be transformed into an economically developed nation by the year 2020. When the suggestion was mooted everybody was wondering how we can evolve such a long term mission under the then prevailing economic and social conditions of the country. That was the time; the then Prime Minister had just announced the economic liberalization and growth measures for the Indian economy and its impact had just started being felt.


In spite of this, the council with many young members jumped into the idea and we discussed for one full day on how we can translate the thought into action. At a time when the economy was growing at around 5 to 6% per annum in GDP we had to envisage a growth rate of at least 10% per annum consistently for over 10 years for realizing the development vision of billion democratic people of multi lingual, multi religious and multi cultural characteristics. This really ignited the minds of all of us in the council. We debated and arrived at 17 task teams with over 500 members who had consultations with over 5000 people in various sectors of the economy. Committees worked for over two years resulting in 25 reports which we presented to the then Prime Minister of India on 2 Aug 1996. Transforming India into a developed nation implies that every citizen of the country lives well above the poverty line, their education and health is of a high standard, national security assured and core-competence in certain major areas enabled production of quality goods competitively including for exports, bringing all-round prosperity for the countrymen. This event led to the birth of the book "India 2020: a Vision for the New Millennium". Based on various inputs, the government announced the vision statement that India will become a developed nation by 2020. Such a statement is very rare, since every government is elected only for a period of five years and thinking of over 20 years time frame by the Parliament and the government is a fresh breeze. Now let me present the current ambience of the nation.

Current Ambience in India
Indian economy was growing at an average of 9% per annum till the last year. Now this year, Indian economy has got affected due to global economic turbulence. I was asking myself, what type of innovation is needed to enrich the Indian economy and other world economies in the present circumstances. I had discussions, on this subject, with many


experts. It came to light that the Indian economy will be less affected due to the world financial crisis. This is due to (i) The liberalization process in India has its checks and balances consistent with the unique social requirements of the country. (ii) The Indian banking system has always been conservative which has prevented the crisis (iii) The Indian psyche is generally savings oriented and living within means is part of the mind set. These three causes have reduced the effect of global turbulence in the Indian economy. However, there is reduction in export and reduction in outsourcing. The drop in annual growth rate of GDP could be around 2 to 3%. This is the time we need innovation in our thinking to rejuvenate the agricultural sector particularly through value addition and the small and medium scale industries and enterprises for making higher levels of contribution to the GDP, particularly in the Agriculture, Rural development and imaginative products. I foresee possibilities of creating new markets through rural potential and employment, giving rise to interesting possibilities of Public-Private-citizen partnerships.


India's performance in IT sector, Pharma, small scale industries and the infrastructure has brought a new dimension to the Indian economy. With its credible legal framework in place, robust banking system, dynamic financial system, its skilled manpower and dynamic 540 million youth force India has become an attractive proposition for the world order. The recent general elections in India with over 700 million people eligible to vote using electronic voting machine is an important national achievement.


At the domestic level, India is focusing on bringing sustainable development through rural and urban infrastructure, quality education, healthcare, environmental up-gradation, bringing vibrancy in the public institutions for better and enhanced delivery of essential public services on time, reforming the financial system for better global integration and a proactive regulatory system. is critical to the success of India becoming a Global player. 60 years of democratic vibrancy in providing leadership to the nation gives confidence to manage the socio-economic turbulences and providing the leadership to the one billion people in a democratic, multicultural, multi-linguistic and multi-religious environment. Now, let me give my visualization of India during the year 2020.

Distinctive profile of the nation
1. A Nation where the rural and urban divide has reduced to a thin line. 2. A Nation where there is an equitable distribution and adequate access to energy and quality water. 3. A Nation where agriculture, industry and service sector work together in symphony. 4. A Nation where education with value system is not denied to any meritorious candidates because of societal or economic discrimination. 5. A Nation which is the best destination for the most talented scholars, scientists, and investors. 6. A Nation where the best of health care is available to all. 7. A Nation where the governance is responsive, transparent and corruption free. 8. A Nation where poverty has been totally eradicated, illiteracy removed and crimes against women and children are absent and none in the society feels alienated. 9. A Nation that is prosperous, healthy, secure, devoid of terrorism, peaceful and happy and continues with a sustainable growth path. 10. A Nation that is one of the best places to live in and is proud of its leadership.

Integrated Action for developed India
To achieve the distinctive profile of India, we have the mission of transforming India into a developed nation. We have identified five areas where India has a core competence for integrated action: (1) Agriculture and food processing (2) Education and Healthcare (3) Information and Communication Technology (4) Reliable and Quality Electric power, Surface transport and Infrastructure for all parts of the country and (5) Self reliance in critical technologies. These five areas are closely inter-related and if progressed in a coordinated way, will lead to food, economic and national security. During my visits to different parts of the country and during my discussions with many citizens, the results of such


integrated efforts have started becoming visible. One major mission is the development of infrastructure for bringing rural prosperity are through Provision of Urban Amenities in Rural Areas (PURA) through creation of three connectivities namely physical, electronic, knowledge leading to economic connectivity. The number of PURA for the whole country is estimated to be 7000 covering 600,000 villages where 700 million people live. There are number operational PURA in the country initiated by many educational, healthcare institutions, industry and NGO's.


I have been addressing this visualization in different parts of the country. I have seen many motivated youth and experienced have formed self help groups to give their contribution in some sectors of development, in addition to their professions. Having talked about the societal transformation aspects with respect to our nation, let me now come to some global perspectives of development.

A brief look at current global perspectives of development
While every nation is making efforts to accelerate development process, particularly the gaps in economic growth between societies are still eluding both nationally and globally. I personally believe that core strengths of nations have to be brought together to make the results of development to reach common citizens faster. The software industry has demonstrated how specialists across oceans and continents can work for common visions. Many universities have strategic alliances with a number of universities in various parts of the world. Technology as a non linear tool has enhanced human potential in ways no one could have imagined in the previous centuries. Globalization has its impact both on the developing and developed countries.

Global Sourcing
There are several challenges that are faced by the humanity as a whole, whether they are developed or developing. Clean environment, abundant energy, abundant supply of water, empowerment of people with education and


health care, availability of globally employable human resources, preservation of human culture and value system are all global challenges as well as opportunities rather than just national issues. They require thinking globally and acting globally and locally. Global sourcing has acquired prominence in the last few decades driven by market exploration elsewhere with potential cost advantages, skill utilization and business strategies. The communication revolution has enabled a rapid growth of global sourcing. Innovation in working together can result in global sourcing as a source of benefit to the entire human kind.


Global sourcing should be seen as an activity to create knowledge workers and leaders who are beyond the realm of narrow borders of geography, disciplines and products. Global sourcing should be seen as a methodology to combine the core competence of organizations and nations to design develop products, processes and human resources for solving the major problems facing the planet earth. It should be realized that such working together would not only enable world-class products of optimum performance, cost and time, but also provide a sense of security to the world.. Hence, national industries have to transform themselves from the export oriented domestic enterprises into a Globally Integrated Enterprise using technology, innovation and its core competence in a borderless world. Natiopns can mutually think and put into action from the industrial society to become the knowledge system powerhouse.

Globally Integrated Enterprise (GIE)
How to leapfrog into a Globally Integrated Enterprise from the present form is the challenge today before all of us. To achieve a non-linear growth, it is imperative that the enterprises should be globally competitive and should have global presence with competitive products, systems and solutions. When we focus on the transformation towards GIE, we should understand its characteristics such as the following: a. Having the same brand worldwide b. Having the best leaders from the global talent pool c. Adaptation of uniform quality standards and processes worldwide d. Global R&D with its research centers worldwide based on the core competence of research and its available potential for the growth of research

Having a Global mindse
Hence it is essential that the enterprises from different nations should adopt the global mindset to spread their wings to further their reach by and should be the key agents of change in dispersing technology widely adopting latest technologies enriching all the sectors of the economy thereby promoting economic progress in the developing world. Let me now come to the topic of creative leadership which is needed for meeting the challenges of 21st century.

Creative Leadership
Dear friends, I have seen three dreams which have taken shape as vision, mission and realization. Space programme of ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization), AGNI programme of DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organization) and PURA (Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas) becoming the National Mission. Of course these three programmes succeeded in the midst of many challenges and problems. I have worked in all these three areas. I want to convey to you what I have learnt on leadership from these three programmes


For success in all the missions, it is essential to have creative leaders. Creative leadership means exercising the vision to change the traditional role from the commander to the coach, manager to mentor, from director to delegator and from one who demands respect to one who facilitates self-respect. For a paradigm shift in warfare and graduating towards a borderless world, we need large number of creative leaders and statesmen in the world.

Unity of Minds
Dear friends, economic prosperity alone cannot lead to happy and peaceful society. The society has got to be built around a noble value system based on its civilizational heritage with unity of mind in diversity as focus in a democratic environment. With this in view, in India we have launched a mission to bring unity minds among the multi-cultural, multi-religious and multi-lingual citizens through a foundation called FUREC (Foundation for Unity of Religion and Enlightened Citizenship) in partnership with fifteen prominent religious leaders. As a part of this declaration, we are undertaking four projects and activities, namely (1) Celebration of inter-religious festivals; (2) Multi-religious projects; (3) Education in and with the ambience of unity of religions; and (4) Inter-faith dialogue. This institution is progressing well and promoting unity of minds particularly among the youth of the nation.

Conclusion
What are the opportunities for humanity to progress and work together for a peaceful world? Borderless world has enabled human beings ways to communicate with people world over. This by itself is a boon to understand and work together. It has brought in a sense of togetherness to fight global poverty, diseases and overcome illiteracy. It has opened up avenues for healthy competition and cooperation. Such initiatives themselves can pave the way for regional and global cooperation for welfare of human beings and reduce potential conflicts. Of course borderless world has also given rise to some new challenges. The human ingenuity has the power to combat such new challenges and make the best use of the opportunities for ensuring peace and development. Is this possible? Like bits and bytes in computers, the fundamental basic block for peace and harmony is "Righteousness of the heart" As we hear quite often:

Righteousness
Where there is righteousness in the heart
There is beauty in the character.
When there is beauty in the character,
There is harmony in the home.
When there is harmony in the home.
There is an order in the nation.
When there is order in the nation,
There is peace in the world.


It is a beautiful connectivity among heart, character, nation and world. In a society we have to build righteousness among all its constituents. For the society as a whole to be righteous we need creation of righteousness in family, righteousness in education, righteousness in service, righteousness in career, righteousness in business & industry, righteousness in civil administration, righteousness in politics, righteousness in government, righteousness in law and order, and righteousness in justice.