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Abdul KalamDr. Abul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam (Tamil ஏ. பி. ேஜ. அப்துல் கலாம்), born October 15, 1931, Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu, India), usually referred to as Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, is the President of India. He is also a notable scientist and an engineer. CareerAbdul Kalam was born at Dhanushkodi, Tamil Nadu, to a working class Tamil Muslim family. He received his degree in aeronautical engineering from the Madras Institute of Technology in 1958. He joined India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) upon graduation to work on a failed hovercraft project. In 1962, Kalam moved to the Indian Space Research Organisation, where his team successfully launched several satellites. He made a significant contribution as Project Director to develop India's first indigenous Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-III) which successfully placed the Rohini satellite into the near earth orbit in July 1980. In 1982, Kalam returned to the DRDO as director, focusing on guided missiles. He was responsible for the development and operationalisation of the AGNI and PRITHVI missiles. This earned him the sobriquet "India's missile-man". In July 1992, Kalam became scientific advisor to India's defence minister. As the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Indian government, he held the rank of a Cabinet Minister. His work led to the successful Pokhran-II nuclear tests in 1998, which reiterated India's position as a nuclear weapon state. HonoursDr. Kalam has the unique distinction of having received honorary doctorates from at least thirty universities, as also India's three highest civilian honours - the Padma Bhushan in 1981; the Padma Vibhushan in 1990; and the Bharat Ratna in 1997. On July 18, 2002, Kalam was elected President of India by an overwhelming majority (upwards of 90%); he took office on July 25.
Political viewsSomething of Kalam's probable views on certain issues can be surmised from positions espoused by him in the past. His book "India 2020" strongly advocates an action plan to develop India into a knowledge superpower and into a developed nation by the year 2020. Kalam is credited with the view that India ought to take a more assertive stance in international relations; he apparently regards his work on India's nuclear weapons program as a way to assert India's place as a future superpower. Kalam continues to take an active interest in other developments in the field of science and technology as well. He has proposed a research programme to increase intelligence using bio-implants. He is a supporter of Open source software over proprietary solutions and believes that the use of open source software on a large scale will bring more people the benefits of information technology. Personal lifeKalam observes strict personal discipline, practicing vegetarianism, teetotalism and celibacy. It is believed that he reads both the Qur'an (the main holy text of his family's faith, Islam) and the Bhagavad Gita (the main holy text of India's majority religion, Hinduism) regularly. Kalam is also a scholar of Tirukkural; in most of his speeches, he quotes at least one kural. Kalam has written several inspirational books, most notably his autobiography Wings of Fire, aimed at motivating Indian youth. Another of his books, ''Guiding Souls: Dialogues on the Purpose of Life reveals his spiritual side. Books
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