APJ Abdul Kalam drew the biggest crowd at the Zee Jaipur Literature Festival for his session 'The Visionary: Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam' on Saturday evening. Bibek Debroy, Professor at the Centre for Policy Research, moderated the session with the former president which attracted the largest crowd at the festival this year. The session followed close on the heels of Kalam's session earlier in the day, titled 'Ignited Minds', that also drew a packed house at the 'Ford Samvad' venue of the Diggi Palace.
APJ Abdul Kalam drew the biggest crowd at the Zee Jaipur Literature Festival for his session 'The Visionary: Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam' on Saturday evening. Bibek Debroy, Professor at the Centre for Policy Research, moderated the session with the former president which attracted the largest crowd at the festival this year. The session followed close on the heels of Kalam's session earlier in the day, titled 'Ignited Minds', that also drew a packed house at the 'Ford Samvad' venue of the Diggi Palace.
An ecstatic crowd gave the former president a rousing welcome as he stepped onto the stage at the Rajnigandha Front Lawns. Kalam began the session by asking the audience to repeat after him as he said, "When there is righteousness in the heart there is beauty in the character, when there is beauty in the character there is harmony in the home, when there is harmony in the home there is order in the nation, when there is order in the nation there is peace in the world."
The popularity of Abdul Kalam was apparent as crowds milled at the entry to the venue eventually leading the organisers to close the gates. The session revolved around the ideas for change Kalam has outlined in his latest book, A Manifesto for Change: A Sequel to India 2020. He took several questions from an enthusiastic audience. Outlining his vision for creating a skilled workforce, he said, "Cut down 20% of the syllabus for 9-12 std and introduce skill-based professional courses. We need to create employment generators instead of employment seekers."
He talked of the need for a 'world knowledge platform' to deal with global issues such as climate change and epidemics that affect multiple nations.
Kalam called on the youth to be fearless and dream big. "Any work you do there will be problems. Problem should not be your captain, you should be the captain of the problem," he advised. "Dreams transform into thoughts, Thoughts result into action," he added. Taking from his 'What Can I Give Movement', Kalam asked the youth to ask themselves what they can give to society. "All the trouble that we're going through comes from 'What I can take'," he said.
For those who could not ask a question, Kalam gave the audience his email ID for an 'autograph, photograph and answers'.
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