Outgoing President Kalam recaptures his vision of India 2020

New Delhi, June 23 (UNI) ''By 2020, India should be one of the best places to live in.'' Spelling out his distinctive profile of the nation by that period, outgoing President A P J Abdul Kalam today called up on the media to become an active partner in development.

It should be a "Media for a billion people", factually reporting their problems and successes, said Dr Kalam.

In a country with 70 per cent of its population living in 600 thousand villages across the length and breadth of the country, media has to be sensitive in reporting the progress and problems relating to rural areas, he said.

He advised news organisations to set up standards of reporting and editing and encourage their journalists to do research on the issues they were reporting on.

For example, Dr Kalam said, before any issue is discussed in foreign newspapers, they send it to an internal research group where data is studied, verified and factual news is generated and sent for publication.

He pointed out that when there was a critical comment in the US about outsourcing to India, an American journalist stayed here and studied the issue and found out that the companies engaged in Business Process Outsourcing (BPOs) were using imported equipment from USA and Europe, which provided an indirect market for their hardware industries.

Immediately this was reported in the Indian media in a big way, he said.

''Media has to continously monitor and report progress periodically to assess the efficacy of our system in reducing the people living below poverty line, which is estimated to be 220 million now,' said Dr Kalam interacting with journalists of a news agency.

He advised them to take up the theme of a Developed India by 2020 as their primary mission.

By that period India should be a nation where the rural and urban divide has reduced to a thinline and illiteracy, inequality, poverty and backwardness were removed, he said.

''It should be a nation where agriculture, industry and service sector work together in symphony, and which was the best destination for the most talented scholars, scientists, and investors.... A nation where the governance is responsive, transparent andcorruption free,'' he said.

''To achieve this the journalists must become development partners in the programme of PURA (Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas), energy independence mission, celebrate every aspect of success of the nation particularly in rural areas, work towards promotion of a corruption free society, help in the creation of enlightened citizens,'' and promote harmony in the nation, said Dr Kalam, who would be demiting office next month.

UNI