Dr Kalam came to Nepal in Nov 16 2008 and presented this lecture on how to bring Nepal to a state of a Developed Nation. Dr Kalam has been the visionary personality of the world, wherever he would go, he would go with a vision for that place and people there. My heartfelt Tribute this great son of the mother Planet.

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Vision of Developed Nepal by Dr APJ Abdul Kalam
Public Lecture by Dr APJ Abdul Kalam at BP Koirala India – Nepal
Foundation (BPKF), Kathmandu
17/Nov/2008 : Kathmandu
Dynamics of Societal Transformation
Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas (PURA)
Results in Integrated development of the nation
I am happy to visit the beautiful country of Nepal. It is a great honour for me to give a
Public Lecture, organized by BP Koirala India – Nepal Foundation at Kathmandu. My
greetings to the organizers and the distinguished guests assembled here and also the
people of Nepal.
Dear Friends, when I see you all in Nepal, I am reminded of my childhood. I was born in
island, I studied in island, I graduated in the east sea coast, worked in east and west sea coast
during the space and defence missions. But whenever I see mountain and hilly region, I am
inspired. It gives me happiness. I travelled from Delhi to Kathmandu. When approaching
Kathmandu, I have seen the beautiful sight of many peaks of the mountains of Nepal, what a
wonderful scene. When I look at the peaks of the mountains, it inspires me to think higher and

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to have a bigger vision. Vision at the peak always gives the guiding light for the nation.
Hence, I feel small aim is a crime. We should aim high, achieve high and also uplift the
people to a higher quality of life with prosperity and peace. My greetings to all of you.
It has been one of my long cherished desires to come to this great nation of diverse, serene
landscape of tall mountains and terrain plains. It is but natural that Nepal has been a place of
tourist attraction, a place of tranquility and a country with great potential to contribute to the
prosperity of the region. Nepal is endowed with eight of the world's ten highest mountains.
India and Nepal both are multi-cultural, multi-linguistic and multi-religious countries. People
of both India and Nepal share common civilizational heritages. I am delighted to be in the
midst of political leaders, judicial experts, bureaucrats, diplomats, academicians, scientists,
engineers, researches, students, member of the media and people from all walks of life of
Nepal.

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In India, Nepal is indeed a greatly admired nation. We both nations have strategic partnership
in multiple areas. As close neighbors, India and Nepal share a unique relationship of
friendship and cooperation characterized by open borders and deep rooted people-to-people
contacts of kinship and culture. There has been a long tradition of free movement of people
across the borders. Nepal and India are major trade partners. Bilateral trade between India and
Nepal has increased substantially since the signing of the Trade Treaty in 1996. With this
ambience, dear friends, I am delighted to address the distinguished audience of Nepal. I would
like to share a few thoughts on “Dynamics of Societal Transformation”, which is based on
the experience of my nation and beyond.
Origins of Life
Ancient human history has been revealed beautifully by Paleo-anthropology. Life
originated 600 million years ago and continental drift occurred 200 million years ago
creating five continents. Mammals evolved 140 million years ago, Hominids that is the
human type, evolved 26 million years ago but modern man only arrived on the scene some
200,000 years ago. He migrated and colonized the world only in the last 50,000 years. The
spoken language is some 10,000 years old while writing evolved only a few thousand years
ago. All this phenomenal progress has been achieved only within the short span of 200 to
400 generations that is in just 5,000 to 10,000 years.

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Newer DNA technologies have given us better insight in retracing the history of man. ‘The
DNA of a human being is his history book ever written’. Intelligence, cognizance, drug
response, behavioral problems are all related to genes: disease gene mapping is progressing at
a faster pace with new age DNA technology. It is probably during the 50,000-30,000 years of
co-existence that societies have evolved adopting newer innovations and cultures.

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Thus the ‘Nature – Nurture’ philosophy holds good even in this Genomic Era: ‘Genes’. While
what we inherit from our parents is the basis, a beautiful ‘building’ can be built over it, with
the environment playing a crucial role in shaping the destiny of the individual and leading to
excellence or otherwise.
Challenges of Modern Society
Advances in genetics demonstrating great similarity in the genome of man and animals
shows that the limbic brain perhaps is the cause for all conflicts within and outside. So
far human society, from origin until now has always been at war within and between
groups and has led to two World Wars. Presently, terrorism and low intensity warfare are
affecting many parts of the world. Simultaneously the brain is intelligent to understand
the price, the humanity has paid because of such conflicts and if only this attention is
diverted to development, the human civilization would have taken a shape leading to
peaceful co-existence.

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We have to analyze why wars have occurred so far in the human history and see, how do we
avoid future conflicts. Paucity of resources, inequitable growth within countries and different
parts of the world, deprivation, depleting resources, ego are among the reasons for conflicts
along with remnants of hatred from historical fights. So it becomes necessary to analyze
potential sources of conflicts in the 21st century for us to spot problem zones and avoid
conflicts, as far as possible. Man is fighting a war on all fronts - environmental degradation
and diseases on one side and terrorism on the other side. Now let me discuss, how we can
promote unity of minds.
Unity of Minds
I was studying the classic “Dialogues of Plato”, where Plato brings out “our aim in
founding the State was not the disproportionate happiness of any one class, but the greatest
happiness of the whole” 2400 years ago. Similarly, during the same period Tamil poet Saint
Thiruvalluvar said,

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That is, "the important elements that constitute a nation are: being disease free; wealth; high
productivity; harmonious living and strong defence". We have to find how we can provide all
these elements to all the citizens of the nation on an equitable basis for happiness for all. This
may result in an extremism free world, a peaceful world. I would like to first discuss with you
my personal experience in exploring what brings happiness to the human beings.

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During the year 2003, I visited one of the Indian states, Arunachal Pradesh, I visited a
Buddhist monastry at Tawang 3500 m. altitude. I stayed and spent some time nearly for a day.
I observed a unique situation in all the villages nearby where young and experienced were all
radiating happiness in spite of severe winter environment. Then, I visited the 400 years old
Tawang monastery itself and there also I saw monks of all age groups in a state of serenity. I
was asking myself what is the unique feature of Tawang and surrounding villages which
makes people and monks to be at peace with themselves. When the time came, I asked the
Chief Monk, how in Tawang villages and monastry, I am experiencing peace and happiness
being radiated by everyone. There was a pause, the chief monk smiled. He said, "You are the
President of India. You will be knowing all about us and the whole nation. Again I said, "It is
very important for me, you please give me your thoughtful analysis".
There was a beautiful golden image of Lord Buddha radiating smile and peace. The Chief
Monk assembled nearby all his nearly 100 young and experienced monks. The Chief Monk
and myself were sitting amidst them. The Chief Monk gave a short discourse, which I would
like to share with you. Chief Monk said, "In the present world, we have a problem of distrust,
unhappiness transforming into violence. This monastery spreads: when you "Remove “I” and
“Me” from your mind, you will eliminate ego; if you get rid of ego, hatred towards fellow
human beings will vanish; if the hatred goes out of our mind, the violence in thinking and
action will disappear; if violence in our mind is taken away, peace springs in human minds.
Then peace and peace and peace alone will blossom in the society". I realized the meaning of
beautiful equation for peaceful life, but difficult mission for the individual is how to remove
the ethos of “I” and “ME”. For this, we need the education inculcated in the young age as
propagated by our philosophers.

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In my search for evolving a peaceful and prosperous society, I got part answer. My search for
real truth continues. I saw an ancient Christian monastery in Bulgaria, where I had a
discussion with highly experienced monks on the message of Tawang. The Monk added that
forgiveness is also the foundation of good life. Similarly in the birth place of Swami
Vivekananda, I explained the Tawang experience to the disciples and they too felt the
Tawang experience indeed is beautiful and they added "Trait of Giving " will add to peace
and happiness. Then I visited Ajmeer Sharif where I participated in the Friday Namaz. Here,
the Sufi expert told me that Almighty's creation, the man, has been challenged with another
powerful creation of Shaitan.
Only good deeds lead to good thinking, good thinking results into actions radiating love as
commanded by Almighty. While talking about good deeds, I am reminded of the advice given
to Gandhiji by his mother. She says,
"Son, in your entire life time, if you can save or better someone's life, your birth as a
human being and your life is a success. You have the blessing of the Almighty God".
This advice has made a deep impact in the mind of Gandhiji, which made him to work for the
humanity throughout his life. During the 100th birthday of His Holiness Sree Sree
Shivakumara Swamiji of Sree Siddaganga Math, Tumkur, Karnataka, a southern state of
India - a message of “Giving” came to my mind celebrating his contribution, which I would
like to share with you

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“Radiating message on Giving”
“O my fellow citizens,
In giving, you receive happiness,
In Body and Soul.
You have everything to give.
If you have knowledge, share it.
If you have resources, share it with the needy.
Use your mind and heart,
To remove the pain of the suffering,
And, cheer the sad hearts.
In giving, you receive happiness.
Almighty will bless all your actions.”
What message do we get from all these experiences? All these experiences give an insight
that human beings can attain lasting peace and happiness only when they rise above their
selves and work towards serving others without external temptation. Is it utopian goal or is it
practicable in day-to-day life? I have come across many incidents where people have,
irrespective of their normal professional affiliations, have come forward for great societal
missions by giving.
Federalism in societal development
Friends, I would like to start with my experience of meeting people from different parts
of my country and different parts of the world. I have seen that whether the countries are

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big or small; developed or developing; whatever be the geographical location there are
certain common aspirations. What are they? People would like to have education, good
habitat, food security, quality affordable healthcare, copious water and energy,
contribute to development and to be free from obstacles to growth like extremism. The
technology has made a connected world. Whether it is an individual or a family or a
village or a nation – big or small, the societal transformation is a function of individual
and environment. For example the world leaders are meeting at different places to find
lasting solutions to the current economic crisis faced by the world. A decision taken at
the remote location of the world can impact the whole world. In such a connected world,
I firmly believe the fastest transformation can take place if the core competence of
individual nations can be brought together to the mutual benefit of the nations.
What is going to be crucial is how to preserve the individual unique characteristics and at the
same time contribute to and benefit from a federal society. The youth of nations wherever
they are, aspire to live in a developed nation, in a peaceful atmosphere and contribute to peace
and prosperity of the world. Where does peace come from? I remember a divine hymn:

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Righteousness
Where 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 an order in the nation.
When there is order in the nation,
There is peace in the world.
Evolution of enlightened citizenship
Now, I would like to put forth to this important gathering, a methodology for evolving a
happy, prosperous and peaceful society in our planet, which I call as “Evolution of
Enlightened society”. How do we create such an enlightened society, which will have
three components (a) Education with value system (b) Religion transforming into
spirituality and (c) Economic development for societal transformation.

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This doctrine of evolution of enlightened citizenship, I have presented to both houses of our
Parliament, European Union Parliament on special invitation and many other heads of
countries and received constructive feed back. Let me present.
Education with value system:
We have seen that the seeds of peace in the world have their origin in the righteousness in
the heart of every individual. Such righteous citizens lead to the evolution of enlightened
society. Education with value system has to be so designed that the righteousness in the
heart is developed in young minds. That should be the mission of education. The prime
learning environment is five to seventeen years of age. This reminds me of an ancient
Greek teacher's saying, "Give me a child for seven years; afterwards, let God or devil
take the child. They cannot change the child". This indicates the power of great
teachers and what they can inculcate in the young minds. Parents and teachers must
inculcate moral leadership amongst children. It requires the ability to have insights into
the uniqueness and universality of human consciousness. True education is the
acquisition of enlightened feelings and enlightened powers to understand daily events and
to understand the permanent truth linking man, to his environment, human and planetary.

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While I was in college, I remember the lectures given by the highest authority of a Jesuit
institution Rev Father Rector Kalathil of St. Joshep’s college, Tiruchirappalli, Southern India.
Every week on Monday, he will take a class for an hour. He used to talk about good human
beings present and past and what makes a good human being. In this class, he used to give
lectures on personalities such as Buddha, Confucius, St. Augustine, Califa Omar, Mahatma
Gandhi, Einstein, Abraham Lincoln and moral stories linked to our civilizational heritage. In
the moral science class, Father Kalathil used to highlight the best aspect of, how the great
personalities have been evolved as good human beings through parental care, teaching and
companionship of great books. Even though these lessons were given to me in 1950’s during
my college days, they inspire me even today.
It is essential that in the schools and colleges, lectures are given by great teachers of the
institution once in a week for one hour on civilizational heritage and derived value system.
This may be called as Moral Science Class that will elevate the young minds to love the
country, to love the other human beings and elevate them to higher planes.
Now, let me take up the area that is transforming religion into spiritual force. Many in the
world believe, it is a difficult mission. I would like to share an experience that I have
witnessed which has convinced me that it is possible.
Religion Transforming into Spirituality: Universal Mind
Religion has two components, theology and spirituality. Even though theology is
unique to every religion, the spiritual component spreads the value to be inculcated by

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human beings for promoting a good human life and welfare of the society, while
pursuing the material life. I would like to share an experience how the religion and
science came together in a big mission.
It was during early 1960’s, the founder of Indian Space Research Programme Prof. Vikram
Sarabhai with his team, had located a place technically most suited for space research after
considering many alternatives. The place called Thumba in Kerala, was selected for space
research as it was near the magnetic equator, ideally suited for ionospheric and electrojet
research in upper atmosphere. I was fortunate to work with Prof Vikram Sarabhai for about
eight years.

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The major challenge for Prof Vikram Sarabhai was to get the place in a specific area. As was
normal, Prof. Vikram Sarabhai approached the Kerala Government administrators first. After
seeing the profile of the land and the sea coast, the view expressed was that, thousands of
fishing folks lived there, the place had an ancient St Mary Magdalene Church, Bishop's House
and a school. Hence it would be very difficult to give this land and they were willing to
provide land in an alternative area. Similarly the political system also opined that it would be
a difficult situation due to the existence of important institutions and the concern for people
who were to be relocated. However there was a suggestion to approach the only person who
could advise and help. That was the Bishop “Rev Father Peter Bernard Pereira”.
Prof Vikram Sarabhai, approached the Bishop on a Saturday evening, I still remember. The
meeting between the two turned out to be historical. Many of us witnessed the event. Rev
Father exclaimed, “Oh Vikram, you are asking my children’s abode, my abode and God’s
abode. How is it possible?” Both had a unique quality that they could smile even in difficult
situations. Rev Father Peter Bernard Pereira asked Prof. Vikram Sarabhai to come to church
on Sunday morning at 9.00 AM. Prof. Vikram Sarabhai went to the church again on Sunday
with his team. At that time the prayer was progressing with the recitation of Bible by Father
Pereira. After the prayer was over, the Bishop invited Prof. Vikram Sarabhai to come to the
dais.
The Rev Father introduced Prof Vikram Sarabhai to the mass, “Dear children, here is a
scientist, Prof. Vikram Sarabhai. What do sciences do? All of us experience, including this
church, the light from electricity. I am able to talk to you through the mike which is made

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possible by technology. The treatment to patients by doctors comes from medical sciences.
Science through technology enhances the comfort and quality of human life. What do, I do,
as a preacher? I pray for you, for your well being, for your peace. In short, what Vikram is
doing and what I am doing, are the same - both science and spirituality seek the Almighty’s
blessings for human prosperity in body and mind. Dear Children, Prof Vikram says, he would
build within a year, near the sea-coast, alternative facilities to what we are having. Now dear
children, can we give our abode, can we give my abode, can we give the God’s abode for a
great scientific mission?” There was a total silence, a pin drop silence. Then all of them got
up and said ‘Amen’ which made the whole church reverberate.
That was the church where we had our design centre, where we started rocket assembly and
the Bishop’s house was our scientists’ working place. Later the Thumba Equatorial Rocket
Launching Station (TERLS) led to the establishment of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre
(VSSC) and the space activities transformed into multiple space centers throughout the
country. Now this church has become an important centre of learning, where thousands of
people learn about the dynamic history of the space programme of India and the great minds
of a scientist and spiritual leader. Of course, the Thumba citizens got the well equipped
facilities, worshiping place and educational centre in an alternate place at the right time.
When I think of this event, I can see how enlightened spiritual and scientific leaders can
converge towards giving reverence to the human life. Of course the birth of TERLS and then
VSSC gave the country the capability for launch vehicles, spacecraft and space applications
that have accelerated social and economic development in India to unprecedented levels.

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Today, among us, Prof Vikram Sarabhai is not there, Rev Peter Bernard Pereira is not there,
but those who are responsible for creation and making flowers blossom will themselves be a
different kind of flower as described in the Bhagwat Gita: "See the flower, how generously it
distributes perfume and honey. It gives to all, gives freely of its love. When its work is done,
it falls away quietly. Try to be like the flower, unassuming despite all its qualities". What a
beautiful message, to the humanity on the purpose of life reflected the spiritual component.
Can we bridge the spiritual component of the religions to bring peace to nations and to the
world?

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Now let us discuss the third important component of enlightened society which is to achieve
economic development for societal transformation with our country’s example.
Economic development for societal transformation.
It is not adequate to have value based education and religion transforming into
spirituality alone to develop enlightened citizens. Nation’s economic development is
powered by Economic growth, economic growth is powered by competitiveness, the
competitiveness is powered by knowledge power and the knowledge is powered by
technology and innovation. Nations have to ensure that there is an economic
development process which provides equitable distribution of wealth to all citizens of
the nation. Effort should be to upgrade the quality of life of citizens living both in rural
and urban areas. This can be accomplished only through people participation in the
development process. It is essential to ensure that the citizens are empowered with
good quality of life encompassing nutritious food, good habitat, clean environment,
affordable healthcare, quality education and productive employment, integrated with
our value system drawn from civilizational heritage leading to the comprehensive
development of the nation that will bring smiles in the faces of 30 million citizens of
Nepal. These are indicators for the growth of the National Prosperity Index.

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To achieve that growth rate, Nepal can identify five areas where Nepal has a core competence
for integrated action: (1) Agriculture and food processing (2) Education and Healthcare (3)
Information and Communication Technology (4) Infrastructure development such as power,
transportation, communication including Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas (PURA)
for the 3,000 villages which envisages provision of Physical connectivity, electronic
connectivity, knowledge connectivity leading to economic connectivity and (5) enhance
tourism. Peace is an essential ingredient for accelerating development. Based on the
experience of the execution of interim plan, Nepal can draw a 10 years vision with the help of
public, private and academic partnership.

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The objective of the 10 year vision would be to realize the following:
a)Increasing the per capita income of Nepal from the present US$380 to at least US$2000.
b)Realizing 100% literacy including the people living in hilly region.
c)Providing value added employment to all the youth of Nepal.
d)Reducing IMR, MMR and providing quality healthcare to every citizen.
How do we realize these objectives?

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For meeting these objectives, the missions for Nepal could include:
a)Large scale plantation of herbs and conversion of herb to drug. Large scale plantation of
floriculture with fragrance.
b)Tourism including eco-tourism, mountaineering tourism and health tourism for attracting 2
million tourists.
c)Large scale commissioning of hydro power-plants and windmills.
d)Commissioning of Software, IT, ITES and electronic intensive industries.
e)Creation of 240 PURA complexes covering the 3,000 villages.

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These missions will lead to provision of large scale employment, enhance literacy, provide
quality healthcare and bridge the rural urban divide of Nepal. The resultant economic growth
will enable “ending of all kinds of discrimination, inequality, exploitation and poverty and
mapping out the destiny of a prosperous Federal Democratic New Nepal” as envisaged by the
Hon’ble President of Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal in his address to the Nepal
Legislature – Parliament on 10 September 2008. The realization of the vision of transforming
Nepal into a developed nation before 2018 can be achieved by energizing and igniting the
minds of 30 million people of Nepal, particularly 16 million youth and unify the actions of
every citizen of the country.
Conclusion
Prosperity of nations is important for the prosperity of the world and promotion of a
peaceful, happy and non-violent society. The centuries of learning from different
civilizations should enable us to formulate ideas and systems to bring prosperity and
reduce disparities. Convergence of the civilization has to be the focus of the world rather
than projection of conflicts of civilizations. One of the main drivers would be human
values bridged by spirituality of religions. We have to find solutions for equitable
distribution of essential requirements such as water, energy and preservation of the
environment. I believe that humanity as a whole has to work with focused national,
regional and international missions as presented by the evolution of enlightened
citizenship which itself will be a major unifying factor and pave the way for peaceful,
prosperous, happy and safe society.

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My greetings and best wishes to all of you friends, for the success in realizing Nepal’s
prosperity and peace. May God bless you.
APJ Abdul Kalam,
17.11.2008