The President of India DR. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam 's Speech in Hyderabad .

Why is the media here so negative?
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.
Lookat Dr. Sudarshan , he has transferred the tribal village into aself-sustaining, self-driving unit. There are millions of suchachievements but our media is only obsessed in the bad news andfailures and disasters.
I was in Tel Aviv once and I was reading the Israeli newspaper. It wasthe day after a lot of attacks and bombardments and deaths had takenplace. The Hamas had struck. But the front page of the newspaper hadthe picture of a Jewish gentleman who in five years had transformed hisdesert into an orchid and a granary. It was this inspiring picture thateveryone woke up to. The gory details of killings, bombardments,deaths, were inside in the newspaper, buried among other news.

InIndia we only read about death, sickness, terrorism, crime.. Why are weso NEGATIVE? Another question: Why are we, as a nation so obsessed withforeign things? We want foreign T.Vs, we want foreign shirts. We wantforeign technology.

Whythis obsession with everything imported. Do we not realize thatself-respect comes with self-reliance? I was in Hyderabad giving thislecture, when a 14 year old girl asked me for my autograph. I asked herwhat her goal in life is. She replied: I want to live in a developedIndia . For her, you and I will have to build this developed India Youmust proclaim. India is not an under-developed nation; it is a highlydeveloped nation.
Do you have 10 minutes? Allow me to come back with a vengeance.

Got 10 minutes for your country? If yes, then read; otherwise, choice is yours.
YOU say that our government is inefficient.
YOU say that our laws are too old.
YOU say that the municipality does not pick up the garbage.
YOUsay that the phones don't work, the railways are a joke. The airline isthe worst in the world, mails never reach their destination.
YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is the absolute pits.

YOU say, say and say. What do YOU do about it?

Takea person on his way to Singapore . Give him a name - 'YOURS'. Give hima face - 'YOURS'. YOU walk out of the airport and you are at yourInternational best. In Singapore you don't throw cigarette butts on theroads or eat in the stores. YOU are as proud of their Underground linksas they are. You pay $5 (approx. Rs. 60) to drive through Orchard Road(equivalent of Mahim Causeway or Pedder Road) between 5 PM and 8 PM.YOU come back to the parking lot to punch your parking ticket if youhave over stayed in a restaurant or a shopping mall irrespective ofyour status identity… In Singapore you don't say anything, DO YOU? YOUwouldn't dare to eat in public during Ramadan, in Dubai YOU would notdare to go out without your head covered in Jeddah.
YOU would not dare to buy an employee of the telephone exchange inLondon at 10 pounds (Rs.650) a month to, 'see to it that my STD and ISDcalls are billed to someone else.'YOU would not dare to speed beyond 55mph (88 km/h) in Washington and then tell the traffic cop, 'Jaanta haimain kaun hoon (Do you know who I am?). I am so and so's son. Take yourtwo bucks and get lost.' YOU wouldn't chuck an empty coconut shellanywhere other than the garbage pail on the beaches in Australia andNew Zealand
Why don't YOU spit Paan on the streets of Tokyo ? Why don't YOU useexamination jockeys or buy fake certificates in Boston ??? We are stilltalking of the same YOU. YOU who can respect and conform to a foreignsystem in other countries but cannot in your own. You who will throwpapers and cigarettes on the road the moment you touch Indian ground.If you can be an involved and appreciative citizen in an alien country,why cannot you be the same here in India ?

Oncein an interview, the famous Ex-municipal commissioner of Bombay , Mr.Tinaikar, had a point to make. 'Rich people's dogs are walked on thestreets to leave their affluent droppings all over the place,' he said.'And then the same people turn around to criticize and blame theauthorities for inefficiency and dirty pavements. What do they expectthe officers to do? Go down with a broom every time their dog feels thepressure in his bowels?
In America every dog owner has to clean up after his pet has done the job. Same in Japan .
Willthe Indian citizen do that here?' He's right. We go to the polls tochoose a government and after that forfeit all responsibility.
We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect the government to doeverything for us whilst our contribution is totally negative. Weexpect the government to clean up but we are not going to stop chuckinggarbage all over the place nor are we going to stop to pick a up astray piece of paper and throw it in the bin. We expect the railways toprovide clean bathrooms but we are not going to learn the proper use ofbathrooms.
We want Indian Airlines and Air India to provide the best of food andtoiletries but we are not going to stop pilfering at the leastopportunity.
This applies even to the staff who is known not to pass on the service to the public.

Whenit comes to burning social issues like those related to women, dowry,girl child! and others, we make loud drawing room protestations andcontinue to do the reverse at home. Our excuse? 'It's the whole systemwhich 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 ofour neighbours, other households, other cities, other communities andthe government. But definitely not me and YOU. When it comes to usactually making a positive contribution to the system we lock ourselvesalong with our families into a safe cocoon and look into the distanceat countries far away and wait for a Mr.Clean to come along & workmiracles for us with a majestic sweep of his hand or we leave thecountry and run away.
Like lazy cowards hounded by our fears we run to America to bask intheir glory and praise their system. When New York becomes insecure werun to England When England experiences unemployment, we take the nextflight out to the Gulf. When the Gulf is war struck, we demand to berescued and brought home by the Indian government. Everybody is out toabuse and rape the country. Nobody thinks of feeding the system. Ourconscience is mortgaged to money.

DearIndians, The article is highly thought inductive, calls for a greatdeal of introspection and pricks one's conscience too…. I am echoing J.F. Kennedy's words to his fellow Americans to relate to Indians…..

'ASK WHAT WE CAN DO FOR INDIA AND DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE TO MAKE INDIA WHAT AMERICA AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES ARE TODAY'

Lets do what India needs from us.

Forward this mail to each Indian for a change instead of sending Jokes or junk mails.

Thank you,

Dr. Abdul Kalam

I humbly request you to forward this to every Indian…… ……… ……… …