INDIA 2020

APJ ABDUL KALAM & BOYS.

 Introduction
Agriculture and agro food processing will
require some of the finest inputs from
engineering industries, materials sectors and
even sensors and electronics, in addition, of
course, to the life sciences and
biotechnology.
In the long run, that would be a form
of enslavement to the developed
world. The world today, thanks to the
technologies of transportation and
telecommunication, has become
connected in a much more complex
way.The situation needs to be
changed radically if we are to realize
the vision of a developed India.
The higher the voltage of transmission in direct current the less the transmission
losses. If the T&D losses are cut down to the world level, almost about 70 per cent of
the peak power deficit will be wiped out and there will be no average power shortage
which is estimated to be about 10 per cent. Energy efficiency In the short, medium and
long term, efficiency in the use of energy will be a crucial part of the technological
milieu of all sectors. In the long run the aim should be to avoid excessive subsides
ecause the nation and the people have to realize that electric power is the lifeline of
the country's economy. Other issues There are a number of complex political and legal
issues which are required to be solved to ensure the vision of quality power for all.
THE GDP OF ROAD TRANSPORT WAS 8 per cent between 1980-81 and 1992-93 as
compared to the growth rate of just 3 per cent in water transport. It was only in the
seventh plan that some attention was paid to the development of waterways and water
transport.
The major ports are the responsibility of the central government and the minor ports
that of the state governments. There are good possibilities for India to emerge as an IT
superpower, with a large share of world business and also by being the originator of
many new IT and software systems in the world. For the past few years several
committees and for a have addressed the issues relating to India becoming a major IT
and software player in the world. The prime minister's office has recently set up a
National task force to address the issues involved and speed up the process of
expansion of the IT sector in India. Already the share of the developing world in the
overall IT and software output or activities is at a low percentage. A positive feature of
the Indian telecommunications network is that the proportion of digital lines in the
overall network is close To the world's best. We could witness the following in the
Indian access network by the year 2000.
We would like to see that in the coming years actual achievements in the TIFAC
Technology Vision 2020 reports can the country be geared up for action to realize the
new vision for India 2020 ? A restatement of the vision 241 Let us have a brief overview
of the vision which we envisage for our people India should become a developed
nation by 2020. A developed India means that India will be one of the five biggest
economic powers ,having self reliance in national security. To achieve this status
,several steps are to be taken in agriculture such as making eastern India a granary
and increasing the use of hybrid rice ,as also for improving the other products. A
number of engineering industries and service businesses to grow around the agro food
Sector India to capitalize on the vast mineral wealth to emerge as a major
technological global power in various advanced and commercial materials :steel
,titanium,aluminium,rare earths. The services sector is not only to be money spinner
but will also employ a good proportion of our people often in self skills to super to super
skills While India needs to pay most attention to making her a developed country
,attention should also be paid to the strategic sectors. The confluence of civilian and
defence technological is leading to a situation where most new technologies are
basically wouldual use' In nature. Our actions Before writing this chapter we had a lot
of discussion amongst Ourselves about the action to be undertaken.
In addition , we are also trying to convince many of the agency heads to mount major mission
oriented projects during the Ninth plan period and we are assisting them in whatever way we
are asked to and we can. Also to be taken in to account are a large number of tiny units in the
informal sector, some of them being almost cottage industries or even one person industries.
If we map the strengths of the Puss with respect to a number of items given for the
Technology vision which we have described in the earlier chapters, we would find that there
would at least be five projects. Much of what we have said for the central PSUs would also be
applicable to the statelevel PSUs are not as strong as the central level PSUs in technology,
management and financial resources. Some private sector industries have taken strides in
technological development and have capabilities which are comparable to those of
international levels. By and large ,by the very nature of the private sector ,there is a good deal
of flexibility in their operations and they also have good management systems.some of the
private sector industries have also instituted good training programmes to upgrade their
personnel. The contribution of this sector has been recognized not only in the consumer
sector, but also in infrastructure and strategic industries. Since it does not have the number of
procedural and institutional constraints of the PSUs, which we hope will be removed in a few
years time ,we feel that the medium and bigsize private sector industries should each own one
major project in a sector to realize a vision for India.
Since it does not have the number of procedural and institutional constraints of the
PSUs, which we hope will be removed in a few years time ,we feel that the medium
and bigsize private sector industries should each own one major project in a sector to
realize a vision for India. Their goal should be to have a global presence and also to
operate on such a scale that a large number of Indians would be benighted and gain
employment. One of them is the formation of and progress made in the Technology
Development Of course ,a number of small industries have to learn how to change
their method of functioning. In the coming months and years, we also, in our small
way, would like t6o concentrate on and remove the bottlenecks in some of these areas
because the people of this sector need help. We are attempting to do this in a number
of places in the country. While we emphasize the Indian core strengths and amade in
India' concepts,these are to ensure employment for our people, to create prosperity for
them and to ensure the longterm viability of such prosperity. A number of MNCs came
to Indian in the past and contributed significantly to it. When asked why many of our
best and brightest have gone abroad to make a living, they opine that this is because
as a nation we have not cared for the talented and meritorious.
We would request the scientists, technologists, scholars, teachers and others to
ponder that in a country which is so poor ,they have been enabled to have worldclass
knowledge. Therefore ,even within the several constraints they face daily ,they should
take it up as a challenge to make India a developed country. They will have to
spearhead the movement by talking about what can be done, encouraging people that
we can overcome the difficulties and offer help to industries ,government
administrators and others that Indian science can help to smoothen the difficulties
arising out of economic development . We have got tremendous opportunities to do
several actions.

We do not say that largescale liberalization and empowerment have to be done in our
academic system and national laboratories and wait for it to take place. There are a
number of avenues available in the government system including the recently
constituted Technology Development Board to promote commercializable technology
development. Let these actions be taken.
THE GOVERNMENT’S ROLE

There is a central government with many ministries and departments

,there are many state governments and there are many government
agencies. In any modern country,the government to be present to create
enabling environment ,to ensure law and order,and to conduct activities
of public good. There is rightly a general feeling in the country that there
is an over presence of the government. But the government surely also
has many officers who themselves feel bad about the situation.

There is a need now to look at the country as a whole. Though in

principle, the government is considered as one , in practice, there are
many departments and divisions in the departments and there are a
number of officers or staff. During the past fifty years India’s
development has greatly depended on the government. It was the
strength of the country and also its weakness.
Many initiatives were taken by the government. Let the past mistake be
redeemed as we act towards making the country a developed one, and the
only one totally free of poverty. In addition, we believe that many departments
within the government have talent and capabilities. This is not only true
technocrats, but also of administrators and other staff .

We believe that each of departments should mount a major mission which will
consist of a number of projects in a particular sector with which they are
broadly concerned. If necessary they should work with multiple departments.
The blueprints are available in terms of Technology Vision 2020 document.
Otherwise, a pervasive cynicism, now evident in the system, will continue.

.
There are social service organizations. Some NGOs are large; some are tiny ,
oneperson operations; others are registered and have ‘ government recognition’ for tax
benefits etc. Still other shun any organized institutional framework. If we look at all of
them, we can capture the spirit, the energy and the very texture of a resurgent India.
We have seen a number of persons who have a sacrificed brilliant careers to carry on
the struggle.

Despite the multifarious approaches, the NGOs collectively represent a large part of
India. We believe NGOs have an immense role to play, not merely as
consciencekeepers but also in creating a mood to think a head and create a climate for
a developed India . NGOs have many creative people full of energy.
A positive media

The media plays an important role in any modern society in molding

public option. It has its own constraints. It also has to create headlines,
look for something shocking, exciting or thrilling. But pokhran, or an
Indian victory in a cricket match, or some other positive event does not
occur every day. We do not at all believe that the press role is not to
criticize and not to highlight problems. There is also at times a need to
exaggerate event a day! Devote a part of the paper to say something
good about India which is real and not false.
Rediscovering our gurus

If you are a teacher in whatever capacity, you have a very special role to play, because more
than anybody else you are shaping generations. There was a time in this country when
teachers were respected as gurus. Now, however, the teacher’s is often a neglected lot. We
are aware of the need to solve their problems, but even given these, we request that
teachers do two things.

Secondly, they should update their own knowledge because the student is only as good as
the teacher .
Political system and the parliament

In fact all the panchayats also come under this 73 rd amendment, the ruling
party, the opposition party and also all the political activists have got a great
role to play. Technologies are changing at a rapid pace across the world. This
vision statement to the nation is essential. It will trigger the birth of a
movement for a prosperous India.

We have described many actions that are possible. Writers of textbooks can
make a point of adding a few pages on a developed India and emphasizing
that all of us have a role in making it. A great nation is made of contributions
from a large number of ordinary persons. Recently a powerful administrator
was talking to us about the applications of technologies and information
technology, In particular for the agricultural sector.
2020 and the fact that it cannot be achieved without selective injection of technologies
of water management such as drip irrigation, controlled used of fertilizers,
micronutrients and pesticides and many postharvest technologies. All these
technologies are multidisciplinary for example, a drip irrigation system would involve
plastics, advanced metals, hydraulic system designs, water treatment technologies,
soil analysis system, computers, sensors and even automatic control systems. The
reaction of the administrator was to narrate a whole series of subsidies to the farmers,
the political patronage at village, state and national levels and other issues of law and
order. The generation and use of technologies for national development has to be
initiated politically.

But, we believe, it is equally important that technologies have to be marketed to the

political system. This is not typical of the agricultural scene alone. We have discussed
about the everincreasing role of software and IT in the manufacturing sector. Telco has
been relatively successful in building up an inhouse design capability, though it may
not as yet be at the cutting edge of automobile technology.
For many Indian companies, the dependence on external knows how for design and
technology remains very high. Yes, we have in the agricultural sector visible signs of the
oppressive problems of the pastpoverty and feudalism. There are many actions which need
to be taken. It may not be possible to solve them all at the technological level as the holdings
are so small.
Even while doing these, India has to prepare for higher technological level
actions for realizing the full potential of the landwaterweather system in a
sustainable manner. We need to help a large number of tiny manufacturers
and thousands of small scale units through ancillarisation, marketing channels
as well as technological inputs. Even while doing so, we need to take action to
capture the world markets with high tech manufacturing. We cannot afford to
take our preeminence in the manufacturing world of the future for granted.

Technology Vision 2020 documents contain a rich source of information and

action points. C Subramanian is the architect of India’s food security. He
started the actions through specific demonstration projects and thousands of
farmers saw the successes.
THANK YOU