VISION 2020 FOR PASSENGER AIRCRAFT Air transportation is a vital component of the communication network which helps to transport

people on business, government officials, leisure travelers, transport of perishable and other goods. The networking helps to establish production centers in the interiors where there is advantage of low cost labor, low raw materials cost and low infrastructural cost. The air transportation while helping growth of interior regions, also helps industry, business sector to produce products at lower costs enabling competitiveness in the global market. The aircraft chosen for operation along with the airport infrastructure provided must be able to provide low cost solutions for transportation of men and materials. It would mean that there is a need for an aircraft whose acquisition and operating costs are low and also it should be capable of being operated from airports with minimal infrastructure and instrumentation facility. It may be pertinent to point out that the infrastructure cost for providing air connectivity between city pairs is lower than that for either road or rail connectivity. Is it a dream or is it possible?

There is a need for new generation of turboprop and turbojet aircraft that are cheaper to acquire and costs less to operate and are independent of costly airport infrastructure and instrumentation. Safe, nearly all weather access to any location in the country with an existing landing facility is a critical need for all round growth. With this goal in mind, I would recommend NAL to become the nodal agency to work on a 70 seater aircraft which should be so designed that with only change in fuselage length should be able to vary the passenger capacity to 50 or 90. With the technology available in the space programme, missile programme, LCA programme and other aircraft programme in the country, definitely realization of design, development and leading to production of 70 seater passenger aircraft before 2020 is possible.

Missions Missions for enabling timely availability of a cost effective state of the art aircraft in service before 2020 are 1. System design: Modular system design leading cost effective variants of passenger aircraft of different capacities. Objective should be to reduce

acquisition cost by 25%, operation cost by 25%, maintenance cost by 50% and emission reduced by 70%. 2. Avionics: Design and development of integrated avionics with COTS technology and open system architecture. 3. Power Plant: Next generation modular power plant for varying thrust condition. 4. Structures: Composite airframe, NLF adoptive wing including structural health monitoring system. Self clean, De-icing and abrasive resistant coating system. 5. Control system: Fly by wire flight control system. Aim for all electric architecture. 6. Maintenance: Advanced maintenance systems using IVHM, SHM and faster trouble. 7. Integrated Health monitoring: Development of integrated monitoring system for all utility system over the entire fleet for enhancing reliability and reduce maintenance cost. 8. Simulator and flight testing: Development of state of the art simulator which will reduce the over all time required for training of the pilots and also reduce the number of hours of flight tests needed for certification for induction into operation.

By, Dr. APJ Abdulkalam www.abdulkalam.com EVOLUTION OF INDIA OF VISION 2020 Let me share with you my unique experience in mid 1990?s on formulation of Indian vision 2020 strategies. I was given the task of chairing Technology Information Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC). I recollect, that in the first meeting of the Council itself, we took a decision that TIFAC must evolve a plan how India can be transformed into an economically developed nation by the year 2020. When the suggestion was mooted everybody was wondering how we can evolve such a long term mission under the then prevailing economic and social conditions of the country. That was the time (1991); the then Prime Minister had just announced the economic liberalization and growth measures for the Indian economy and its impact had just started being felt.

In spite of this, the council with many young members jumped into the idea

and we discussed for one full day on how we can translate the thought into action. At a time when the economy was growing at around 5 to 6% per annum in GDP we had to envisage a growth rate of at least 10% per annum consistently for over 10 years for realizing the development vision of billion democratic people of multi lingual, multi religious and multi cultural characteristics. This really ignited the minds of all of us in the council. We debated and arrived at 17 task teams with over 500 members who had consultations with over 5000 people in various sectors of the economy. Committees worked for over two years resulting in 25 reports which we presented to the then Prime Minister of India on 2 Aug 1996. Transforming India into a developed nation implies that every citizen of the country lives well above the poverty line, their education and health is of a high standard, national security assured and core-competence in certain major areas enabled production of quality goods competitively including for exports, bringing all-round prosperity for the countrymen. This event led to the birth of the book "India 2020: a Vision for the New Millennium". Based on various inputs, the government announced the vision statement that India will become a developed nation by 2020. Such a statement is very rare, since every government is elected only for a period of five years and thinking of over 20 years time frame by the Parliament and the government is a fresh breeze.

By, Dr. APJ Abdulkalam www.abdulkalam.com

National Missions and opportunities Dear friends, while thinking on typical important missions that will bring societal transformation through competitiveness and propel the vision 2020 missions of India, we could find common grounds for new challenges and opportunites for investments in India. They are the following:

Agriculture and food processing: We are in the mission of generating 400 million tones of food grains with reduced land, with reduced water and with

reduced workforce from the present 200 million tonnes. New technology needed in agriculture area from seeds to cultivation to grain, food process and marketing. Value addition in the farm produce will be the focus in our 11th plan period for the reason that it will have impact in the increase in productivity and economic growth. This entire chain will enable employment particularly in rural areas in a big way.

Infrastructure: At this juncture, infrastructure development is a crucial area for development in India. India is aspiring to build hundred million homes within next ten years. The infrastructure development in metropolitan and tier-2 cities needs to be enhanced in the form of new bridges, airports, marketing complexes and industrial units. 40% of the rural areas need to be covered with all weather roads; we need to double the present national highways ratio per 100 square kilometer area. Simultaneously, we are in the process of developing ports, railway systems and airports. For example, the Indian Construction Industry employs over 31 million people for its asset generating activity of around $80 Billion (Rs. 310,000 crore) which includes expenditure of $50 Billion (Rs. 200,000 crore) incurred by the Government. This will need development of specialized quality human resource in all the spectrum of infrastructure activity.

Energy: When I addressed to the nation in 2005, I have set a goal of realizing Energy Independence (coming out of fossil fuel) by the year 2030. When our population may touch 1.4 billion people, demand from power sector will increase from the existing 130,000 MW to about 400,000 MW. This assumes an energy growth rate of 5% per annum. Electric power generation in India now accesses four basic energy sources: Fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas and coal; Hydroelectricity; Nuclear power; and Renewable energy sources such as bio-fuels, solar, biomass, wind and ocean. We need a major thrust in solar energy and wind energy for generating over 120,000 MW by 2030 through these two renewable energy sources. Similarly we are planning to harness over 65,000 MW from hydro power sources and 50,000 MW from nuclear energy sources.

Water Mission: We have a mission on the Networking of Rivers and the task team is evolving the plan of action. Meanwhile, I have also suggested to the state governments interlinking of rivers and other water sources within the state. Number of state governments is actively pursuing this mission. This mission will eliminate the periodical problem of floods experienced in a number of river basin states and manage the draught in most of the time and ensure availability of water and power throughout the year. In addition nation has to embark on water harvesting and desalination of sea water as national missions. Simultaneously another major mission is to create and strengthening the inland waterways programmes and convert into smart waterways.

Sustainable Rural Development through PURA: In India, the development of a rural sector is very important. Government, private and public sectors have been taking up rural development in parts. For example, starting an education institutions, starting a healthcare centers, laying roads, building houses, building a marketing complex, giving a communication link in a particular rural area have been taken up in the past as individual activities. We have a rural development programme PURA which envisages an integrated development plan with employment generation as the focus, driven by provision of the habitat, healthcare, education, skill development, physical and electronic connectivity and marketing.

PURA Mission: The entire country will have 7000 PURAs (Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas) encompassing over 600,000 villages. The theme of PURA, apart from concentrating on reinforcing agriculture, will emphasize on agro processing, development of Rural Craftsmanship, dairy, fishing, silk production, so that the non-farm revenue for the rural sector is enhanced, based on the core competence of the region. Also the rural economy will be driven by renewable energy such as solar, wind, bio-fuel and conversion of municipal waste into power. In this approach, the aim is to make sustainable development using the core competence of the rural sector. The programmes which I have mentioned above has social, research and technological content. It has substantial amount of business opportunities leading to economic growth in the globalized scenario.

By, Dr. APJ Abdulkalam www.abdulkalam.com

Integrated actions for development

The integrated actions for development of the country are: Education with value system for all leading to entrepreneurship and employment opportunities, Healthcare and Nutritional Security for all, containment of population growth rate to be within a small band and excellent infrastructural facilities including water and energy to be addressed on priority for maintaining the momentum of the economic growth.

Development of agriculture, agro-food processing industries and down

stream marketing network would be useful in providing good returns to the farmers. Progressive shift of the workforce from agriculture to manufacturing sector and to the service sector should take place through well conceived industrial and service sector growth. Due to the need for doubling of agricultural production in a decade through technological and managerial inputs in reduced area and training of the farmers in soil enriching, pre and post harvesting and marketing, it has become necessary to reduce the manpower to be deployed for agriculture, resulting in their availability for manufacturing and service sectors. Physical, electronic and knowledge connectivities of seven thousand PURA clusters will result in economic development of the region as a whole By, Dr. APJ Abdulkalam www.abdulkalam.com Regional development leads to the best Within the fabric of Indian federal structure, the region based development gives momentum to the growth and provides equality of opportunities to all the member states of the region. This approach reduces the disparities and conflicts among the states in a federal structure. How? I strongly believe that conflicts can be prevented only by missions for development, unambiguous communication of benefits of such missions to stakeholders, and a transparent management structure executing such missions in a timely and effective manner, so that the stakeholders experience the progress continuously. In regional development, best will come out of the region and the state or province will benefit from the best from the region.

When we say a federation of states what does it mean? They should have a shared vision; the shared vision emanates and penetrates from the individual, society, province, region and the nation. In such a federation, I visualize where the individual states produces best of grains and best of fruits and vegetables in a region, other states in another region produces the best of agro-processed food, a state produces best of minerals and processed metal products in the other region, the other states are best in craftsmen products in a region, one state best in hardware, another state is best in software and knowledge products, another state is best in automobile systems and components, one state may be best in shipping and marine products, some states may be best in tourism, group of states are best for Pharma research, healthcare and bio-products, some states have core competence in aerospace and high-tech products, some states are best for art, apparel, jewellery and fashion products. When you concentrate the development on regional basis based on the regional core competence the

overall productivity of the region is leveraged, since there is no sub-optimal performance by any individual states. Overall planning at the central level has to focus on regional development to bring harmony in progressive development of the states. By, Dr. APJ Abdulkalam www.abdulkalam.com

Ambience In The Nation 2007 In Indian history, our nation has come across a situation, all at a time, an ascending economic trajectory, continuously rising foreign exchange reserves, increasing domestic investment with investors? confidence rising steadily, global successes of Indian managerial and entrepreneurial talents, global recognition of technological competence, energy of 540 million youth, umbilical connectivities of more than 25 million people of Indian origin in various parts of the planet and the interest shown by many developed countries to invest in our engineers and scientists through setting up of new Research and Development Centres in India. The distinction between the public and the private sectors and the illusory primacy of one over the other is vanishing. Also, there is a trend that many young people are opting for creating new enterprises instead of being mere employees.

Providing leadership for the one billion people with multi-cultural, multilanguage and multi-religious backgrounds is indeed the core competence of our nation. Our technological competence and value systems with civilisational heritage are highly respected by the world community. Also, Foreign Institutional Investors find investing in India attractive as the returns are high and assured. Indian industrialists are also investing abroad and opening new business ventures. Our Gross Domestic Product which stands at U.S. $ seven hundred and twenty nine billion is poised to grow at 10 percent annually which along with various other concurrent actions, will enhance the welfare of farmers, workers, professionals and unleash creativity of entrepreneurs, business persons, scientists, engineers and all other constituents of society. Today due to the open sky policy and competitiveness air travel has become affordable for the growing middle class. The Railways have introduced many improvements and people can book tickets through Internet. The revolution in travel has not only connected people but also boosted tourism and the economy. Tele-density in the country has gone up to 18 percent. Mobile telephones are reaching the common man and serving their needs. The One India Plan has made calling across the country easy and affordable. Our ICT sector is exporting more than U.S. $ twenty four billion and the Indian Pharma industry is ranked 4th in the world and exports nearly U.S. $ four billion of products. Our U.S. $ Forty four billion automobile industry is growing at the rate of 17 percent per annum. Our total exports in the last 8 months has crossed U.S. $ Eighty billion.

Our aerospace and aeronautical achievements are commendable. Six remote sensing satellites of various resolutions and spectral bands are providing valuable services in monitoring and management of natural resources. These have been further complemented with CARTOSAT-II launched on 10th January 2007 by PSLV-C7 along with the Space Capsule Recovery Experiment (SRE) and two other foreign satellites. The SRE after performing micro gravity experiments in orbit, has since been successfully recovered in Indian waters, leading to another technological milestone. Today, we have nine geo-stationary satellites in orbit including an exclusive EDUSAT for education. The country has successfully used advances in space technology and telecommunication towards creating tele-education as well as telemedicine networks and village resource centres. SAKSHAT: The One Stop Education Portal has been launched by the Government to serve the quality education needs of 11th and 12th class students spread in any part of the country. Broadband has reached up to the block level in all the Districts. Students from abroad are coming to India for academic programmes, training and internship and many foreign institutions have started collaborating with Indian universities and academic institutions. India?s experience has resulted in providing the Pan African e-Network connecting 53 countries. The country has operationalised two strategic missile systems. A state-of-the-art super sonic cruise missile system has also entered into commercial production with an international partner. The number of people living below poverty line has come down to 22 percent and our literacy rate will soon touch 75 percent. Our unemployment is around 9 percent of the employable population of 400 million people. The Central Government has launched comprehensive rural development programmes called Bharat Nirman Programme, Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission and Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme with substantial outlays for bringing the fruits of development equitably to all sections of society irrespective of where they reside. Implementation of PURA programmes has been undertaken by number of State Governments and private institutions in the country resulting in a number of operational PURAs. The Central Government is planning to introduce two PURA Clusters in each district across the country as a first phase. People from all walks of life can be guiding forces and they can be partners in executing national development programmes and ushering in a good way of life. The State Governments have also launched a number of missions including rural and infrastructure development activities towards realising the goals of Vision 2020. By, Dr. APJ Abdulkalam www.abdulkalam.com

Economic development: Transforming India into a developed nation There is a need to lift up the economic conditions and lifestyle of over 220 million people out of the one billion plus population. One of the reasons for this situation is that large part of the growth comes from manufacturing and services sector. The agriculture has been growing just at 1.6%. If we have to uplift the 220 million people living below poverty and provide improved quality of life, we have to ensure that the agriculture sector grows at least at 4% per annum. For providing this growth, we have to spread the development process to the rural sector. That is what the PURA (Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas) programme involving 4 connectivities namely Physical, Electronic and Knowledge leading to Economic connectivity envisages. Hence, the entire country should have 7000 PURAs encompassing over 600,000 villages. The theme of PURA, apart from concentrating on reinforcing agriculture, will emphasize on agro processing, development of Rural Craftsmanship, dairy, fishing, silk production, so that the non-farm revenue for the rural sector is enhanced, based on the core competence of the region. Also the rural economy will be driven by renewable energy such as solar, wind, bio-fuel and conversion of municipal waste into power. In this approach, the aim is to make sustainable development using the core competence of the rural sector.

In India, the development of a rural sector is very important. Government, private and public sectors have been taking up rural development in parts. For example, starting an education institutions, starting a healthcare centers, laying roads, building houses, building a marketing complex, giving a communication link in a particular rural area have been taken up in the past as individual activities. During the last few decades, it is our experience, that these initiatives starts well, just like heavy rain resulting into multiple streams of water flow. As soon as the rain stops, few days later all the streams get dried up because there is no water bodies to collect the surplus water and store it at the right place. For the first time, PURA envisages an integrated development plan with employment generation as the focus, driven by provision of the habitat, healthcare, education, skill development, physical and electronic connectivity and marketing. By, Dr. APJ Abdulkalam www.abdulkalam.com

Growth Competitive Index Indian economy is in the ascent phase. Of course, technology is one of the very important factors, which has helped in our economic growth. Today, India is ranked 43 in Growth Competitive Index. Switzerland is ranked 1,

Finland is ranked 2, Singapore is ranked 5, US is ranked 6, Korea 24, UAE 32 and China 54. If India has to graduate from the present ranking in competitiveness index of 43 and become equal to economically developed nations, we should note that India will have to depend on the technologies derived from basic Indian scientific research. The present growth has been achieved by the use of technologies developed elsewhere based on scientific discoveries and patents generated before 10 to 15 years. Definitely, latest technologies resulting from latest scientific results will not be available from developed countries to India atleast for a decade. Hence, research is very vital, particularly, basic science which will result in the latest technology required for meeting Global Competitiveness by Indian firms. Now let us look at the areas of research, which will not only enable India to face Global Competitions but also lead to finding solutions to the problems faced by humanity. Why we have to be competitive, it is to realize the goals of vision 2020 and make India a developed India before the year 2020. By, Dr. APJ Abdulkalam www.abdulkalam.com

Global Human Resource cadre

At present India has five hundred and forty million youth under the age of 25 which will continuously be growing till the year 2050. In the coming decades, India needs large number of talented youth with higher education for the task of knowledge acquisition, knowledge imparting, knowledge creation and knowledge sharing. Between now to 2050, two important events will be taking place in our country, India would have become a developed nation by 2020 through an integrated development plan in 5 key areas where India has core competence. India would also have realized Energy independence by 2030. During this period, the youth population which accounts for 54% of the total population of the country will be continuously growing till 2050, which will be unique to India. The youth power is indeed a great power, particularly the ignited mind of the youth is the most powerful resource on the earth, above the earth and under the earth. This presents an opportunity to develop a "Global Human Resource Cadre" which will be an essential resource for not only for India but for many countries in the world. Anna University will have to work towards increasing the through put of the university education system from the existing 10% to 15% by the year 2015, 20% by the year 2020, 25% by the year 2025 and 30% by the year 2030. By, Dr. APJ Abdulkalam

www.abdulkalam.com

National Prosperity Index While we are happy that our economy is in the ascent phase and our GDP is growing at nearly 9% per annum, it is evident that economic growth is not fully reflected in the quality of life of a large number of people, particularly in rural areas and even in urban areas. Hence, we have evolved what is called a "National Prosperity Index (NPI)" which is a summation of (a) Annual growth rate of GDP; plus (b) improvement in quality of life of the people, particularly those living below the poverty line plus (c) the adoption of a value system derived from our civilizational heritage in every walk of life which is unique to India. That is NPI=a+b+c. Particularly, ?b? is a function of availability of housing, good water, nutrition, proper sanitation, quality education, quality healthcare and employment potential. ?c? is a function of promoting the joint family system, creation of a spirit of working together, leading a righteous way of life, removing social inequities, and above all promoting a conflict free, harmonious society. This will be indicated by peace in families and communities, reduction in corruption index, reduction in court cases, elimination of violence against children and women and communal tensions. There should also be progressive reduction in the number of people living below the poverty line leading to its becoming near zero by 2020. All our efforts in improving the national economic performance should be guided by the measured National Prosperity Index of the nation at any point of time.

By, Dr. APJ Abdulkalam www.abdulkalam.com Possible Ambience in 2020 I visualize a prosperous India well before the year 2020. We expect the people below the poverty line to come to near zero and our literacy must be nearly 100%. The Human Development Index of India will be less than 50 against the present 127. Every Indian will have either have a good university degree or quality training with globally competitive employable vocational skill. E-governance would be in position for all Government to Government (G2G) and Government to Citizens (G2C) transactions making the governance system transparent with a National ID card in position. Teledensity will reach over 75%. All our villages will have reliable, uninterrupted quality electric power supply. 600,000 villages will have all three connectivities such as physical connectivity, electronic connectivity, knowledge connectivity leading to economic connectivity through the programme of PURA. The interlinking of rivers and water bodies and use of

technology for water collection, water recycling and water management will result in equitable distribution of water for drinking, irrigation, industry, navigation and as natural beauty. There will be no shortage of water in any part of the country nor will there be disasters due to floods, water logging etc. India would have realized energy security and would be working towards energy independence. Good sanitation facilities will be available in homes in every part of India and for all Indians and tourists. We will be using more of renewable energy such as solar energy, wind power, bio-mass, mini and micro Hydel and thorium based nuclear reactors which are environment friendly energy sources. Through responsive and innovative venture capital systems and entrepreneurial training both in schools and colleges, we will have more enterprises leading to a large number of employment generators rather than employment seekers. Before 2020, A pro-active healthcare system delivered through innovative schemes will provide quality healthcare access at an affordable cost to all the people including those living in remote areas. Everyone will have an opportunity to take up and complete courses of choice in higher education. I am sure you will all see prosperity in the country, which will replace scarcity and controls. In addition to the above economic, social and human development, India will also have a visible global presence in strategic sectors and will contribute to world peace. All our technological and economic advances while enhancing our prosperity would embed our value system derived from our civilizational heritage. This unique combination will make our growth robust and sustainable and will lead to a peaceful, secure, happy and prosperous society. For achieving Vision 2020 from the present ambiance, we need a measurement tool which can guide us in our growth path. Since we are looking for inclusive growth for our one billion people, we need a comprehensive measure of our growth in terms of the National Prosperity Index. By, Dr. APJ Abdulkalam www.abdulkalam.com

Distinctive Profile of India 2020 I visualize the following distinctive profile of India by the year 2020. 1. A Nation where the rural and urban divide has reduced to a thin line. 2. A Nation where there is an equitable distribution and adequate access to energy and quality water.

3. A Nation where agriculture, industry and service sector work together in symphony. 4. A Nation where education with value system is not denied to any meritorious candidates because of societal or economic discrimination. 5. A Nation which is the best destination for the most talented scholars, scientists, and investors. 6. A Nation where the best of health care is available to all. 7. A Nation where the governance is responsive, transparent and corruption free. 8. A Nation where poverty has been totally eradicated, illiteracy removed and crimes against women and children are absent and none in the society feels alienated. 9. A Nation that is prosperous, healthy, secure, devoid of terrorism, peaceful and happy and continues with a sustainable growth path. 10. A Nation that is one of the best places to live in and is proud of its leadership through creative and effective leadership in Parliament, State Assemblies and other institutions of the State. By, Dr. APJ Abdulkalam www.abdulkalam.com