The assignment which Kalam could not give to IIM students

Kolkata, Jul 28: Working tirelessly even on his last day, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam had planned a surprise assignment for the students of IIM Shillong on finding innovative ways to end disruption in Parliament.

Kalam's close aide Srijan Pal Singh, who was with him on his last day, said while travelling from Delhi to Shillong they were discussing about disruptions in Parliament. "He was very worried and said he had seen the tenures of many governments but disruption keeps on happening every time.

He had told me to prepare a surprise assignment question for the students which would be given to them at the end of the lecture," Singh, who co-authored two books with Kalam, told PTI from Shillong. He said the former President wanted students to come up with three innovative ideas to make Parliament more productive and vibrant.

"We had also decided to include this topic of disruptions in Parliament into our next book 'Advantage India' which would be released in September-October. I'll do that now before the book comes into the market," the IIM Ahmedabad alumnus said. When asked about Kalam's last wish, he said Kalam always wanted a billion smiles on a billion faces in the country.

"He wanted rural India to develop and also he kept on talking about youth empowerment. Now his ideas are more alive as the man who was leading it from the front is no more," he said.

The only regret the 'Missile Man' had in his life was not being able to provide facilities like 24-hour electricity to his parents during their lifetime "That is I think one regret he always had in his life," Singh said.

PTI