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Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam



  • Born: 15th October 1931 at Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu.
    • His birth anniversary is celebrated as the National Innovation Day.
  • He was an Indian scientist and politician who played a leading role in the development of India’s missile and nuclear weapons programmes like Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP).
    • He planned programmes to produce a number of successful missiles, which helped earned him the nickname “Missile Man”.
    • In Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), he was the project director of the SLV-III, India’s first indigenously designed and produced satellite launch vehicle.
  • In 1998, he put forward a countrywide plan called Technology Vision 2020, which he described as a road map for transforming India from a less-developed to a developed society in 20 years.
    • The plan called for, among other measures, increasing agricultural productivity, emphasizing technology as a vehicle for economic growth, and widening access to health care and education.
  • He was sworn in as India’s 11th President in 2002 and completed the full term in 2007.
  • Literary Works: Wings of Fire (autobiography), India 2020 - A Vision for the New Millennium, Ignited Minds - Unleashing the power within India, etc.
  • Awards: Among his numerous awards were two of the country’s highest honors, the Padma Vibhushan (1990) and the Bharat Ratna (1997).
  • Death: 27th July 2015 at Shillong, Meghalaya.

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