India would be a superpower by 2012: Kalam
PTI | Updated: May 2, 2008, 7:30 IST
UDHAGAMANDALAM (TN): Former President A P J Abdul Kalam on Friday lauded ISRO's scientists for successfully launching the PSLV-C9 to put 10 satellites in orbit.
Besides, the Chandrayaan-I unmanned moon mission by the year end would add another feather in the country's space programme, Kalam, here to participate in a school function, said.
India has become very advanced in space technology, he said, adding the country would become a superpower by 2012.
"Though I have envisioned India to become a superpower by 2020, the attitude and the confidence of the youth, to conquer everything in the right spirit, would make the country a global leader and superpower within five years," Kalam said.
Dreaming Of A New India
Talk about an "Indian century" and "resurgent India" no longer expresses dreams or hopes, but expectations. But what do these mean? What do we want India to be? One dream, shared by many, is of Superpower India.
Our history during the last millennium, when invaders dominated India, makes this an understandable aspiration. Investments in armaments and in sustaining a large military force have already made us a major power in the region.
Our strong technological capabilities have added an altogether new dimension in the last few years, certain to propel us into the global power league in a few years.
Becoming a superpower in the next two or three decades is, therefore, well within the realm of possibility. Another dream, probably a reaction to centuries of poverty, is of being an economic power.
This is further fuelled by the prevailing climate of consumerism and materialism, promoted by media, advertising and retailers. Even conservative projections of likely growth rates point to India's emergence as a major economic force within the next two decades.
The question is only whether it will meet or beat the Goldman Sachs projections. Therefore, barring some major catastrophe, India is well on course to achieving economic superstardom.
These desires of military might and economic clout are probably reactions to our history of powerlessness and poverty. Yet, looking ahead not at this year or even this decade, but beyond, is this our vision for India?
Is our goal limited to getting where others are already, to play "catching up", or do we have different and more ambitious dreams? President Kalam has often proclaimed the goal of becoming a developed country by 2020.
This is itself an ambitious and laudatory goal, but we may want to look even beyond this. India carries a historical baggage of caste discrimination, exploitation, gender discrimination and illiteracy, and more recent ills like communal problems, crime and corruption.
For such a society, mere economic development at a macro-level will not be adequate; if anything, it may intensify some of its woes, particularly crime.
India plans manned space mission in 2016
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman Madhavan Nair.
New Delhi, India (CNN) -- Indian researchers have announced plans to send their astronauts to space in 2016.
The cost of the proposed mission is estimated at $4.8 billion, said S. Satish, spokesman for the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).
Studies have begun on the design of the crew capsules that will be used to put a pair of astronauts 300 kilometers aloft for seven days, he said. The project budget has been sent for federal approval, he added.
A training facility for astronauts will also be built in southern India as part of the program, which Satish said would be solely Indian.
In 1984, Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian to explore space in what was a joint mission with the then Soviet Union.
In 2008, India launched its first unmanned mission -- Chandrayaan-1 -- to the moon that dropped a probe onto the lunar surface.
In 312 days, Chandrayaan-1, meaning moon craft, completed more than 3,400 orbits and met most of its scientific objectives before vanishing off the radars abruptly last year, according to the space agency.
The craft carried payloads from the United States, the European Union and Bulgaria. One of its aims was to search for evidence of water or ice and identify the chemical composition of certain lunar rocks.
The Chandrayaan-1 mission came to be seen as the 21st century, Asian version of the space race between the United States and the USSR -- but this time involving India and China.
Satish said the agency was also planning to send a second version of Chandrayaan in 2012.
India held its first rocket launch from a fishing village in southern India in 1963.
Now, the South Asian nation lists more than 60 events as "milestones" in its space program, which includes the successful use of polar and geosynchronous satellite launch vehicles.
Indian scientists say their country has the world's largest constellation of remote-sensing satellites.
These satellites, according to the Vikram Sarabhai Space Center, capture images of the Earth used in a range of applications -- agriculture, water resources, urban development, mineral prospecting, environment, forestry, drought and flood forecasting, ocean resources and disaster management.
Another major system, or INSAT, is used for communication, television and meteorology.
India, however, maintains competition does not drive its space ambitions.
