President Kalam's inaugural address at the Pan IIT 2006, Mumbai

I am very fortunate to have just attended President Abdul Kalam's inaugural address at the convention of PAN IIT 2006, Mumbai. Dr. Kalam is an inspiration to our country and it was sheer delight to see such a techno-savvy President who knew more about technology and its future direction than most IITians in the room , no wonder he got a standing ovation from the attendees.

In his speech,President Kalam touched upon Brand IIT and why it means nothing to most people in the country, the Convergence of technologies i.e. ICT, Bio-Tech and NanoTech. He also spoke about infrastrucutre development, energy creation, CNT (conventional photo voltaic) based solar cells for higher efficiency and various technology applications for the benefit of India.

Development of technologies and their convergence have significant influence on the society in terms of knowledge, health care, governance and economic development. To maximize the synergy between the various components of education, healthcare, e-governance, rural development we need to establish connectivities among them. These

connectivities will certainly bring seamless access and information flow among the various domains leading to maximization of GDP and productivity; hence, there is need for establishing the GRIDs namely Knowledge grid, healthcare grid, e-governance grid and the PURA (Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas) grid. This interconnecting grid will be known as societal grid. Knowledge sharing, knowledge utilization and knowledge re-use is very vital by all constituents of the society for promoting non-linear growth. Details of

Societal Grid are:

1. Knowledge GRID - Inter connecting universities with socio-economic institutions, industries and R&D organizations.

2. Health Care GRID - Inter-connecting the Health Care institutions of Government, Corporate and Super specialty hospitals, research institutions, educational institutions and ultimately, Pharma R & D institutions.

3. e-Governance GRID - Inter-connecting the Central Government and State Governments and District and Block level offices for G2G (Government to Government) and G2C (Government to Citizen) connectivity.

4. PURA GRID - Connecting the PURA Nodal centers with the Village Knowledge Centres and Domain service providers.

We have, so far discussed all the four connectivities required for the societal transformation. With this transformation, India is poised for creating the World Knowledge Platform for promoting synergy amongst partner nations.

The highlight of the speech to me was his detailed narration of creating a Societal Grid which will connect our Billion People

Here is how he described it

Technology to Society - Societal Grid

Development of technologies and their convergence have significant influence on the society in terms of knowledge, health care, governance and economic development. To maximize the synergy between the various components of education, healthcare, e-governance, rural development we need to establish connectivities among them. These

connectivities will certainly bring seamless access and information flow among the various domains leading to maximization of GDP and productivity; hence, there is need for establishing the GRIDs namely Knowledge grid, healthcare grid, e-governance grid and the PURA (Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas) grid. This interconnecting grid will be known as societal grid. Knowledge sharing, knowledge utilization and knowledge re-use is very vital by all constituents of the society for promoting non-linear growth. Details of

Societal Grid are:

1. Knowledge GRID - Inter connecting universities with socio-economic institutions, industries and R&D organizations.

2. Health Care GRID - Inter-connecting the Health Care institutions of Government, Corporate and Super specialty hospitals, research institutions, educational institutions and ultimately, Pharma R & D institutions.

3. e-Governance GRID - Inter-connecting the Central Government and State Governments and District and Block level offices for G2G (Government to Government) and G2C (Government to Citizen) connectivity.

4. PURA GRID - Connecting the PURA Nodal centers with the Village Knowledge Centres and Domain service providers.

We have, so far discussed all the four connectivities required for the societal transformation. With this transformation, India is poised for creating the World Knowledge Platform for promoting synergy amongst partner nations.

Amazing Vision, at ITVidya.com we are committed to work on the Knowledge grid, where we facilitate creation of knowledge, dissemination of knowledge, knowledge sharing and re-use of knowledge.

Further to Societal Grid, he spoke about India's role in the global knowledge creation and participation in the World Knowledge Network to collectively combine and innovate on the strengths of participating nations.

He also touched upon Entrepreneurship and why we need more entrepreneurs so that there are more employment generators to service the employment seekers.

He concluded his speech by giving few key suggestions to IITiians..following is the extract of the concluding part of his speech.

I have the following suggestions for the participants of this Convention of Pan IIT 2006.

1. IITs must be able to identify hidden Ramanujans beyond its selection process and nurture them for the world.

2. IITs must work closely with the university system in India and abroad to build a continuous stream of great teachers.

3. The Pan IITians have a unique experience of entrepreneurship. They can use this to enable every IIT and every university to become an employment generator by cashing in their technology into a product and marketing it.

4. Pan IITians can also take on very focused missions with time frame which can immediately touch the Indian society. Some of them are:

a. Creating a high quality design for providing low cost two room water efficient, electricity efficient dwelling units with proper sanitation and drainage facilities for the needy in urban and rural areas. The cost of the two room dwelling unit should not exceed Rs. 1 lakh. India may need over hundred million units in the next five years. This technology can also be used by other countries.

b. Suggesting strategies to reduce the overall cost of construction in India for high value projects by 20% through IT application in planning, design, project management and optimum use of quality manpower.

c. Developing world wide information system of the availability of quality manpower, quality construction aids, specialized software tools, standard costs of construction in different countries.

d. Designing and developing economic sizes of wind energy plants which can be used for lifting water from 30 meter level and serve the needs of farmer having small holdings in a region with an average wind speed of 8 to 10 km per hour.

e. Strengthening the research work on the development of high efficiency (at least 50%) CNT based photovoltaic solar cells in partnership with academia and research laboratories. Aim should be to realize commercial production within three years. Extending the vision of science and technology to the emerging area of convergence of technologies.

f. Preparing a technology road map for energy independence for India in partnership with TERI.

5. Pan IITians can create a consortium to prepare a plan of action for inculcating innovation and creativity among the engineering graduates in the country.

With these words, I inaugurate the Convention of Pan IIT 2006 and my best wishes to all the members for success in the mission of inspiring and involving Indian youth for transforming India into a developed nation well before 2020.

The entire speech and powerpoint presentations are available on President of India's website.

Certainly a must read for all to participate in the future of our nation under the able leadership of our President.

The IITians also collectively urged the President to continue his term as President as long as he can. Like many, I am a big fan of Dr. Kalam, and look forward to his continued energy and contribution to India.

Regards,
Ajay Sanghani
CEO, ITVidya.com
Cell : 098200 20753