Shed complexes and develop confidence, says Kalam to students

Pune, June 8 (UNI) President A P J Kalam today called upon students and young minds to shed complexes and develop confidence by believing in the spirit of victory as all advances in technology in various fields have emerged only through the spirit and enthusiasm of young to think and be creative.

Addressing a gathering at the first convocation of the Defence Institute of Advanced Technology (DIAT) Deemed University, on the topic ''Research-Teaching-Research'', the President said, the most important part of the education in DIAT is to imbibe confidence among the students and the spirit of ''we can do it''. The students, when they go to their parent establishment, they will have two great qualities--confidence of using indigenously designed and developed system and the importance of building capacity to promote self-reliance in defence technology.

''I think, we have developed an inferiority complex. I think what is needed in India today is the destruction of that defeatist spirit. We need a spirit of victory, a spirit that will carry us to our rightful place under the sun, a spirit, which will recognize that we, as inheritors of a proud civilization, are entitled to a rightful place on this planet. If that indomitable spirit were to arise, nothing can hold us from achieving our rightful destiny,'' Dr Kalam said.

The President talked of his Su-30 MKI experience and said, it is a high performance, high payload carrying capacity, long range fighter system. ''When the flight advanced and I was in the cruise phase, I realized that Indian Air Force has a unique fighter system in the world. It can be made into a force multiplier through the use of three BrahMos Missile, two on the wings and one under the belly. With mid-air fueling capability, Su 30 MKI integrated with BrahMos configuration will be the best fighter in the world at least for a decade. Of course the aircraft has to go through certain modifications,'' he added.

The 21st century is about the management of all the knowledge and information we have generated and the value addition we bring to it.

This is required for sustained promotion of quality research and development. The capacities which are required to be built are research and enquiry, creativity and innovation, use of high technology, quality and evaluation management and interfacing with the user services,'' Dr Kalam pointed out.

UNI DWN KU RAI2007