Interaction With School Children at Saifai, Etawah

Learning from our Visionaries

I am indeed delighted to participate in the interaction meet with the Etawah school children at Saifai. When I am in your midst today, I am thinking about Uttar Pradesh. What a great state! It has contributed immensely in different areas of national significance through its personalities. I thought it is a right occasion to remember and celebrate their vital contributions; therefore I have selected a topic for my address as ?Learning from our Visionaries?.

Role models

I am reminded of Sir James Thomason who established Thomason college at Roorkee in 1847 to train civil engineers to facilitate the construction of Ganga Canal linking Haridwar to Kanpur. What a feat for those days and what a vision of this man for our nation! This project, in fact, laid the foundation for the development of Western Uttar Pradesh. They also built one of the earliest locomotives. Today, when we are thinking of Networking of great Indian rivers like Brahmaputa, Ganga, Mahanadi etc. by which 14 Himalayan tributaries of Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers in northern India can be linked to others rivers in the central and southern parts of India which can eliminate the drought condition of some of the central and southern parts and flood condition in northern and eastern parts of India. Interlinking of the rivers is the challenge for the young, which is one of the mega missions, required for transforming India into a developed country by 2020. Uttar Pradesh also produced Mangal Pande, who started the first war of India?s Independence in 1857. Subsequently, it produced many stalwarts who participated in the freedom struggle that culminated in our Independence in 1947. Thereafter it went on to provide many leaders for the country who gave directions to the country in the post independent era.

Uttar Pradesh also inspired the country with leadership in education like Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (Dar-ul-Uloom) were responsible for creating famous educational institutions in this part of the country. It inspired many such movements elsewhere and provided knowledge leadership for the nation. In the Bhakti Movement, this part of the country produced luminaries like Tulsi Das, Vallabacharya, Surdas, Kabir Das, Ravidas etc. from whom spiritual wisdom emanated for the entire country. They provided a unique quality of life to the people. Quality of life need not imply economic prosperity. Prof. Meghnad Saha was associated with University of Allahabad in his crucial years of research in deriving his epoch making theory of thermal ionization. Dr. BN Prasad a famous mathematician of the same University started the Mehta Research Institute of Mathematics and Mathematical Physics. These personalities have provided you the inspiration to become great leaders and should be your role models. How did they achieve great things in life? This was due to their committed thinking and vision for the nation.

Thinking is the Progress

Friends, we should note that human mind is a unique gift. You can try to fathom the marvels of universe. You can enter into it only if you have curiosity and thinking. I suggest to all the young, thinking should become your capital asset, no matter whatever ups and downs you come across in your life. Thinking is progress. Non thinking is destruction to the individual, organization and the country. Thinking leads to action. Knowledge without action is useless and irrelevant. Knowledge with action brings prosperity. I would like you, dear young, to have a mind to explore every aspect of human life. Look at the sky. We are not alone. The whole universe is friendly to us and conspires to give the best to those who dream. Like Chandrasekhar Subramaniam discovered the black hole, today, using Chandrasekar's limit we can calculate how long the sun will shine. Like, Sir CV Raman looked at the sea and questioned why the sea should be blue lead to the birth of Raman Effect. Like, Albert Einstein armed with the complexity of the universe, asked the questions about nature of the universe, the famous equation E=mc2 arrived. When E=mc2 is in the hands of noble souls we got electricity using nuclear materials. In an extreme situation the same equations can be used to develop weapons of mass destruction. Dear Children, you are all in the mission of learning. What learning will give?

?When learning is purposeful, creativity blossoms. When the creativity blossoms, thinking emanates. When thinking emanates, knowledge is fully lit. When knowledge is lit, economy flourishes.?

All your learning must be purposeful and lead to creativity in you, which can give a new direction to your life.

Creativity changes life pattern

What we have seen in science and technology in the last 60 years, the predictions and happenings are going at different rates and phases. What was impossible has happened and what is thought possible has not yet happened and it will happen. Particularly in the field of aeronautics, space technology, electronics, materials, computer science and software products, the world has progressed to new dimensions and India itself is a part of these challenges. Indian bio-technologists with business houses will have opportunity of analyzing the available genomic data and lead to production of drugs for healthcare and early treatment. The bioresearch transforming into technology will lead to higher production of agricultural products. In the coming decades, we may see the birth of unified field theory integrating gravitational forces, electro magnetic forces and general relativity theory, space and time as functions. Young people may also see in their time establishment of habitat or industry in one of our planets or moon by human race. The world may also enter into launch of solar power satellites through reusable launch vehicle (hyper plane) system for electricity needs, as fossil based fuel would become rare in fifty to hundred years. These are possible only through creative minds.

In ancient days, Ptolemaic astronomy is a widely used system in calculating the dynamics of various stars and planets. Assumption by then was that the earth is flat. What a scientific struggle had to take place to prove that the earth is spherical in shape orbiting around the sun. The three great astronomers Copernicus, Galileo and Kepler had to give a new dimension to the world of astronomy. Today we take it granted that earth is a globe orbiting around sun and the sun orbits in the Milky Way. All the technological advancements we have today are the outcome of scientific exploration of scientists of earlier centuries. At no time, man was beaten by problems. He strives continuously to subjugate impossibility and then succeeds.

Impossibility to possibility

Human flight is nothing but creativity of human mind and it undergoes several struggles to achieve excellence. In 1890, a great well-known scientist Lord Kelvin, who was the President of Royal Society of London said, ?any thing heavier than air cannot fly, and cannot be flown.? With in two decades Wright Brothers proved man could fly of course at heavy risk and cost. On the successful completion of Moon Mission in 1961, Farnbraun, a very famous rocket designer, who built Saturn-V, to launch the capsule with astronauts and made moon walk a reality, in 1975 said, ?If I am authorized, I will remove the word impossible?. Children you must remove impossibility from your dictionary and make difficult task as a possible venture.

Ten point Oath

1. I will pursue my education or the work with dedication and I will 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 at least 10 saplings and shall ensure their growth through constant care.

4. I will visit rural and urban areas and permanently wean away at least 5 persons from addiction and gambling.

5. I will constantly endeavor to remove the pain of my suffering brethren.

6. I will not support any religious, caste or language differentiation.

7. I will be honest and set an example for others to follow.

8. I will work for becoming an enlightened citizen and make my family righteous.

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

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

My best wishes to all of you