The Former President of India DR. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam ‘s Speech in Hyderabad during July 2007 .

Why are we in India so embarrassed to recognize our own strengths, our achievements?

We are such a great nation. We have so many amazing success stories but we refuse to acknowledge them. Why?

We are the first in milk production. We are number one in Remote sensing satellites.

We are the second largest producer of wheat. We are the second largest producer of rice.

Look at Dr. Sudarshan , he has transferred the tribal village into a self-sustaining, self-driving unit. There are millions of such achievements but our media is only obsessed in the bad news and failures and disasters. I was in Tel Aviv once and I was reading the Israeli newspaper. It was the day after a lot of attacks and bombardments and deaths had taken place. The Hamas had struck. But the front page of the newspaper had the picture of a Jewish gentleman who in five years had transformed his desert into an orchid and a granary. It was this inspiring picture that everyone woke up to. The gory details of killings, bombardments, deaths, were inside in the newspaper, buried among other news. In India we only read about death, sickness, terrorism, crime.

Why are we so NEGATIVE? 

Another question: 

Why are we, as a nation so obsessed with foreign things?

We want foreign T. Vs, we want foreign shirts. We want foreign technology.

Why this obsession with everything imported.

Do we not realize that self-respect comes with self-reliance?

I was in Hyderabad giving a lecture, when a 14 year old girl asked me for my autograph. I asked her what her goal in life is. She replied: I want to live in a developed India .

For her, you and I will have to build this developed India . You must proclaim. India is not an under-developed nation; it is a highly developed nation.

WE say that our government is inefficient.

WE say that our laws are too old.

WE say that the municipality does not pick up the garbage.

WE say that the phones don’t work, the railways are a joke,The airline is the worst in the world, mails never reach their destination.

WE say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is the absolute pits.

WE say, say and say. What do WE do about it? WE walk out of the airport and you are at your International best.

In Singapore WE don’t throw cigarette butts on the roads or eat in the stores
.
WE are as proud of their Underground links as they are.

WE would not dare to speed beyond 55 mph (88 km/h) in Washington.

WE wouldn’t chuck an empty coconut shell anywhere other than the garbage pail on the beaches in Australia and New Zealand.

Why don’t WE spit Paan on the streets of Tokyo ?

WE who can respect and conform to a foreign system in other countries but cannot in our own.

WE who will throw papers and cigarettes on the road the moment you touch Indian ground.

If WE can be an involved and appreciative citizen in an alien country, why cannot WE be the same here in India ?

Once in an interview, the famous Ex-municipal commissioner of Bombay , Mr.Tinaikar , had a point to make. ‘Rich people’s dogs are walked on the streets to leave their affluent droppings all over the place,’ he said. ‘And then the same people turn around to criticize and blame the authorities for inefficiency and dirty pavements. What do they expect the officers to do?

Go down with a broom every time their dog feels the pressure in his bowels?

In America every dog owner has to clean up after his pet has done the job. Same in Japan .

Will the Indian citizen do that here?’ He’s right. We go to the polls to choose a government and after that forfeit all responsibility.

We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect the government to do everything for us whilst our contribution is totally negative.

We expect the government to clean up but we are not going to stop chucking garbage all over the place nor are we going to stop to pick a up a stray piece of paper and throw it in the bin.

We expect the railways to provide clean bathrooms but we are not going to learn the proper use of bathrooms.

We want Indian Airlines and Air India to provide the best of food and toiletries but we are not going to stop pilfering at the least opportunity. This applies even to the staff who is known not to pass on the service to the public.

When it comes to burning social issues like those related to women, dowry, girl child! and others, we make loud drawing room protestations and continue to do the reverse at home.

Our excuse? ‘It’s the whole system which has to change, how will it matter if I alone forego my sons’ rights to a dowry.’ So who’s going to change the system?

What does a system consist of ? Very conveniently for us it consists of our neighbours, other households, other cities, other communities and the government. But definitely not me and YOU. When it comes to us actually making a positive contribution to the system we lock ourselves along with our families into a safe cocoon and look into the distance at countries far away and wait for a Mr.Clean to come along and  work miracles for us with a majestic sweep of his hand or we leave the country and run away.

Like lazy cowards hounded by our fears we run to America to bask in their glory and praise their system.

When New York becomes insecure we run to England .

When England experiences unemployment, we take the next flight out to the Gulf.

When the Gulf is war struck, we demand to be rescued and brought home by the Indian government.

Everybody is out to abuse and rape the country.

Nobody thinks of feeding the system.

Our conscience is mortgaged to money.

Dear Indians,

I am echoing J. F.Kennedy ‘s words to his fellow Americans to relate to Indians,

Let us do what India needs from us.

–Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalaam