Kalam launches 'Lead India 2020'

Hyderabad, Aug 15 (UNI) Former President A P J Abdul Kalam today launched a Second National Movement titled ''Lead India 2020'' to achieve the vision of a developed India by 2020.

Addressing over 50,000 members of ''Lead India 2020,'' an organisation dedicated to realising Dr Kalam's vision, at Sangareddy near here, he called upon youth to strive to build a nation where the rural-urban divide was reduced to a thin line.

The youth should ensure a world where there was equitable distribution of wealth and adequate access to energy and water, where agriculture, industry and services sector worked together in symphony, where education with value system was not denied to meritorious students because of socio-economic distribution.

Administering a pledge to the youth, Dr Kalam wanted them to transform India into corruption-free society where governance was responsive and transparent and make it the world's best global destination for scholars, scientists and investors alike.

He wanted them to ensure best of healthcare facilities for all and eradicate poverty and illiteracy in the country where crime against women and children were absent.

Stressing the need for uplift of over 220 million poor, he called for Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas(PURA).

Taking a cue from the Periyar Maniammai College in Tamil Nadu, which was on the process of creating vibrant PURA, he wanted ''Lead India 2020'' to develop PURA clusters, to reinforce agriculture, emphasise agro-processing, development of rural craftsmanship dairy, fishing, silk production so that the non-farm revenues were generated in rural areas based on the core competence of the region.

Administering a pledge to teachers, Dr Kalam wanted teachers to ignite in students full commitment to elevate average student to a higher performance by developing in them the spirit of inquiry and filling them with great thoughts.

''When there is righteousness in heart, there will be beauty in character. When there is beauty in character, there will be harmony in home.

''When there is harmony in home, there will be order in the nation. When there is order in the nation, there will be peace in the world,'' he observed, adding that righteousness in heart could be imparted only by teachers and parents in children.

He wanted the students to have courage to think differently,invent and travel into explored paths to confront various problems.

UNI