Abdul Kalam, fondly known as the \u201cpeople\u2019s president\u201d during his term as India\u2019s 11th president from 2002-2007, gave several presentations at Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ during the past week. His speaking topics ranged from harnessing solar energy and sustainable development to a world free from war \u2013 all with the overarching goal to \u201cimprove the quality of life of the human race,\u201d Kalam said.<\/p>\n
The India Center at Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½, whose creation was announced earlier this year, along with the Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ Global Perspectives Office, hosted the visiting dignitary. During his stay, Kalam addressed more than 700 students, faculty, staff and members of the community at Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½. All of his presentation materials are available through the Speeches\/Lectures section of his website.<\/p>\n
Kalam opened his visit to Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ on Sept. 27, with a classroom presentation titled \u201cWorld Space Vision,\u201d in which he suggested that harnessing solar energy from the sun could promote global energy independence for all countries, rich and poor alike. Kalam\u2019s background is in aerospace engineering, which gives him special insight into the subject.<\/p>\n
Later that same day, the former president met with a group from Sangam, the Indian student association at Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½, for a special lecture called the \u201cDynamics of Leadership.\u201d He stressed the importance of competitiveness, creativity and integrity, concluding the presentation with the following advice: \u201cWork with integrity, and succeed with integrity.\u201d<\/p>\n
The second and third days of Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ presentations on Sept. 28 and Oct. 1 focused on the themes of energy independence and sustainable development. Kalam stressed the importance of alternative and renewable sources of energy, such as solar power, electric and bio-fueled vehicles, and windmill technology, proposing that these steps could help lead to environmental restoration and eventual global peace.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, Kalam concluded his visit to Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ with a presentation entitled \u201cWorld Without War: Is it Possible? World Vision 2030.\u201d During the program opening, Pallavoor \u201cVaidy\u201d Vaidyanathan, The India Center\u2019s interim director, informed the audience that the former president\u2019s talk on world peace appropriately was on the late Mahatma Gandhi\u2019s birthday. The public forum, which was preceded by a musical performance by professor Nandkishor Muley and his students, drew an audience of about 450.<\/p>\n
In his final Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ speech, Kalam called for the establishment of global enterprises to provide water, education, health care and energy for the world\u2019s population, in an effort to promote peace. Arguing that wars arise from factors such as fear, greed and anger, Kalam stressed the importance of conquering these emotions, urging the audience not to \u201clet the problem become your master, but rather become the master of the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked how to motivate the world population to avoid war, he answered: \u201cVision makes the nation. If there is righteousness in the heart, then peace will follow.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to The India Center and the Global Perspectives Office, sponsors and partners included The India Group, Anil and Chitra Deshpande India Program Endowed Fund, Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ Diplomacy Program, Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ Student Government Association, Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ International Services Center, Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ Political Science Department, Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ History Department, Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ LIFE, Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ Book Festival 2013 in association with the Morgridge International Reading Center and the Global Connections Foundation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Abdul Kalam, fondly known as the \u201cpeople\u2019s president\u201d during his term as India\u2019s 11th president from 2002-2007, gave several presentations at Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ during the past week. His speaking topics ranged from harnessing solar energy and sustainable development to a world free from war \u2013 all with the overarching goal to \u201cimprove the quality of life of the human race,\u201d Kalam…","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":41537,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-twocol.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[6614,8636],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-41536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinions","tag-global-perspectives-office","tag-nandkishor-muley"],"yoast_head":"\n