Headlines
Former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam no more
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By Raymond KharmujaiShillong, July 27
A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, who rose
from humble beginnings to become one of India's leading scientists and
later a hugely popular president, died here on Monday evening after
collapsing during a lecture at the IIM-Shillong, plunging the entire
country in mourning.
Kalam, who occupied Rashtrapati Bhavan in
2002-07, breathed his last at 7.45 p.m. at the Bethany Hospital where he
was rushed to from the IIM where he was delivering a lecture on
"liveable planet", officials at the premier institute told IANS.
The
83-year-old Kalam, who had been lecturing at the IIM-Shillong since
last year, reached the institute at 5.40 p.m. on Monday. According to
its director Amitabha De, he was taken to the guest house where he
rested for a while and came to the lecture hall at 6.40 p.m.
"Kalam
must have barely spoken for five minutes when he suddenly collapsed,"
De said, recalling the tragedy. "We rushed him to the hospital by 7 p.m.
where he passed away."
Meghalaya Governor V. Shanmuganathan said
the doctors "made enormous efforts to save him but we lost a great
leader". Meghalaya Chief Secretary P.B.O. Warjri broke the news to IANS:
"Kalam is no more."
Doctors at the hospital said Kalam was
brought "almost dead" after suffering a cardiac arrest. Hospital
director John Sailo Ryntathiang said they did their best to revive him.
But he could not be saved.
One of India's most accomplished
scientists, Kalam -- widely known as India's "Missile Man" -- was
awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1981, Padma Vibhushan in 1990 and Bharat
Ratna - the highest civilian honour - in 1997.
The Bharat Ratna
came just a year before Kalam played a key role in India's nuclear test
at Pokhran in Rajasthan in May 1998, soon after Atal Bihari Vajpayee
became the prime minister.
Born on October 15, 1931 in the Hindu
pilgrim town of Rameshwaram in coastal Tamil Nadu, Kalam went on to
become one of the most celebrated aerospace and defence scientists in
the country.
Kalam's early years were, however, steeped in
poverty when, as a mere eight-year-old, he hawked newspapers to
supplement the income of a large family.
There were times when
food was scarce in the family and his hard-pressed mother stretched
every resource to the utmost to keep her five sons and daughters as well
as her boat owner husband and his brother's families fed, clothed and
in good health.
By his own admission, Kalam would wake up much
before dawn to distribute newspapers in the town after collecting
newspaper bundles at the Rameshwaram railway station. The tough routine
lasted a year.
His sister pawned jewellery with a moneylender so
that the studious Kalam could have Rs.600 to join the Madras Institute
of Technology.
Kalam contributed to the development of India's
first satellite launch vehicle and was the architect of the country's
guided missile development programme.
He became the head of the
Defence Research and Development Organisation in 1992. He became the
principal scientific advisor to the Indian government in 1999 with the
rank of a cabinet minister. He held the post till 2001.