Address to the Students at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Shar

INSPIRATIONAL AND VISIONARY LEADERSHIP

I am delighted to be here today with you, the young and vibrating minds of our nation, who have the potential of contributing constructively towards shaping a bright future and transforming India into a developed nation. To drive home this point, I would like to share with you a few experiences regarding "Inspirational and Visionary leadership".

Space Visionary

Friends, have you heard about Thumba? It is in Kerala on the sea shore. This is the place from where Indian space programme commenced. It is a big story how Thumba was selected for space program. Prof Vikram Sarabhai, a Cosmic Ray Scientist and Homi Bhabha a Nuclear Scientist were searching for a place from where they can launch sounding rockets for atmospheric research, ionospheric research and meteorological research. After seeing various places, they came to a conclusion that Thumba is the right place as it is very close to the Equator which will help the space research in equatorial zones. That's how NIKE CAJUN - a two staged rocket was launched in Nov 1963. That was a Indo-US cooperation Program. Within six years time, Prof Vikram Sarabhai unfurled the space mission for India that should build Satellite Launch Vehicle capability, to put India's communication satellite in the geo-synchronous orbit and remote sensing satellite in the polar orbit. Also, he envisaged that launch vehicles built in India should be launched from Indian soil. This one visionary thought led to intensive research in multiple fields of science and space technology. Today, India with her 25,000 scientific technological and support staff in multiple space research centres have the capability to build any type of satellite launch vehicles, any type of rockets and launch it from Indian soil. Sriharikota is the fortunate place in India where all the space launches take place. I had the fortune to be part of Prof Vikram Sarabhai's vision and my team and myself to participate in India's first satellite launch vehicle programme to put the satellite in the orbit.

Nobility in leadership

Two decades ago while I was working at ISRO, I had the best of education which won't come from any university. I will narrate that incident. I was given a task by Prof. Satish Dhawan to develop the first satellite launch vehicle SLV-3, to put ROHINI Satellite in orbit. This was one of the largest high technology space programmes undertaken in 1973. The whole space technology community, men and women, were geared up for this task. Thousands of scientists, engineers and technicians worked resulting in the realisation of the first SLV-3 launch on 10th August 1979. SLV-3 took off in the early hours and the first stage worked beautifully. But the mission could not achieve its objectives, as the control system in 2nd stage malfunctioned. There was a press conference at Sriharikota, after the event. Prof. Dhawan took me to the press conference. And there he announced that he takes responsibility for not achieving the mission, even though I was the project director and the mission director. When we launched SLV-3 on 18th July 1980, successfully injecting the Rohini Satellite in to the orbit, again there was a press conference and Prof. Dhawan put me in the front to share the success story with the press. What we learn from this event is that the leader gives the credit for success to those who worked for it, and he absorbs the failures. This is the leadership. The scientific community in India has the fortune to work with such leaders, which resulted in many accomplishments. This success generated great happiness among all my team members.

Marvels of Universe

Friends, we should note that human mind is a unique gift. You can enter into Marvels of Universe only if you have curiosity and thinking. I suggest, thinking should become your capital asset, no matter whatever ups and downs you come across in your life.

• Thinking is progress.
• Non thinking is stagnation to the individual, organization and the country.
• Thinking leads to action.
• Knowledge without action is useless and irrelevant.
• Knowledge with action brings prosperity.

Look at the sky. We are not alone. The whole universe is friendly to us and conspires only to give the best to those who dream and work. Like Nobel Laureate Subramaniam Chandrasekar discovered the black hole through a quest, why most of the stars shine and few die. Today, using Chandrasekar limit we can calculate how long the sun will shine. Like, Sir CV Raman looked at the sea and the sky, and questioned why the sea should be blue? This led to the birth of Raman Effect, he found the blue of the sea was due to the molecular scattering of light and was not a case of reflection of the sky in water as most people imagined. Like, Albert Einstein, armed with the complexity of the universe, asked the question how the universe was born. The famous equation E=mc2 arrived, which can be used for the generation of electricity using nuclear materials and also lead to nuclear weapons. In India during 1960's one important event took place, Prof. Vikram Sarabhai gave a vision for the nation on the space programme. He said, India should build her own rocket system, build communication and remote sensing satellites, integrate and launch from Indian space launch centers and put them into the geosynchronous orbit and sun synchronous orbit. Today India can build any type of rocket systems and satellite and launch in a specified orbit.

Mars

Mars, the fourth planet from the Sun, is more like Earth than any other body in our solar system. It has mountains and valleys, polar ice caps, and dry riverbeds. It has seasons, an atmosphere with clouds, winds and dust storms, and a solid rocky surface. Compared to all the other known planets besides our own, Mars also has a moderate climate- summertime temperatures at the Martian equator are comparable to those of winter in Antarctica! As a result, Mars is the only place other than the Moon that humans can think realistically about exploring.

The differences between Mars and Earth, however, are many. Mars is only half as large as our planet. Its thin atmosphere is comprised of about 95 percent carbon dioxide, with nitrogen and argon next in abundance. The sunlight that reaches Mars is only half as intense as that on this planet, and Mars' atmospheric pressure and density are about 100 times less than Earth's. These two factors combine to make Mars a very cold place--in winter it often falls to minus 118°C (minus 180°F).

I witnessed the spectacle of the red planet when it was closest to the earth in 29 August 2003. It was a beautiful sight in our night sky. Because it was so close to Earth and so bright, it makes an easy target for anyone who looks to the southeast after sunset. It is convincing that Mars will become a sought after planet for human exploration for wealth and habitat, in a few decades. New technological advances in space research, material science, and communication and transportation technology will make it possible. India's moon mission has to lead another purposeful mission to Mars.

What inspires you?

All of us know about Kalpana Chawla, the first Indian woman to go in space. She is a great source of inspiration for all our youngsters. She used to say that she is a daughter of the galaxy. She said, inspiration comes to her every day from people in all walks of life and that she is inspired and motivated by seeing somebody who just goes all out to do something. She was particularly inspired by the amount of efforts put by her teachers to carry out their courses, the extra time they took to do experiments with the students and also just the compliments they used to give the students for coming up with ideas, new ideas. She was also inspired by explorers, probably that is the reason she was so thrilled to go on exploratory mission.

Indomitable Spirit

For success in any mission what we need is indomitable spirit. Let us study the characteristics of indomitable spirit. It has two components. The first component is that there must be a Vision leading to higher goals of achievement. I would like to recall a couplet from Thirukkural by the Poet Saint Thiruvalluvar written 2500 years ago.

Quote:

It means that whatever may be the depth of the river or lake or pond, whatever may be the condition of the water, the lily flower always comes out and blossoms. Similarly, if there is a definite determination to achieve a goal even if it is impossible to achieve, the man succeeds.

Many of us have gone through large programmes and projects. We would have experienced that success is not in sight and there are many hurdles. The same poet reminds us at this point of time through another couplet:

It means successful leaders can never be defeated by problems. They become master of the situation and defeat the problems.

I consider these two Thirukkurals characterize the indomitable spirit.

What can I do for you?

Every one of us has gone through the various phases of education from childhood to profession. A scene appears in front of me. A child, a teenager, an adult and a leader. How does each one react to a particular situation? The situation is human need. The child asks, "What can you do for me"? The teenager says, "I want to do it alone". The young person proclaims, "let us do it together". The leader offers, "What can I do for you". So, the principals have got a tremendous responsibility to transform a child into a leader - the transformation of 'what can you do for me' to 'what can I do for you'. That will demand a principal to be a visionary with an inspiring capability. Also the principal has to ensure that teachers impart learning to the children in such a way as to bring out the best in them and for this, he has to be a good teacher himself. I am sure, the best of creativity among the students will emerge by integrated influence of principals, teachers, and parents on students.

Now, I would like to administer an oath for attaining enlightened citizenship. Would you repeat with me?

Ten point oath for enlightened citizenship

1. I will love whatever profession I take up and I will try to excel in it.

2. From now onwards I will teach at least 10 persons to read and write those who cannot read and write.

3. I will plant ten saplings/trees and ensure their growth.

4. I will go to rural and urban areas to reform at least five persons from the habits of addiction and gambling.

5. I will take responsibility for removing the pain of ailing persons.

6. I will participate in the mission of realizing the economic strength of India by combining it with an education with value system and by transforming religion into a spiritual force.

7. I will not support any differentiation on account of community or language.

8. I will lead an honest life free from all corruption and will set an example for others to adopt a transparent way of life.

9. I will always be a friend of the mentally and physically challenged and I will work hard to make them feel normal.

10. I will celebrate the success of my country and my people.