JOIN USHe blasted the primary school syllabus as being “bad” and said that it was time for the syllabus to be changed which increased the scope for expression of creativity.
Kalam, who was in the City on Friday, addressed a group of fresh management graduates on “Creative leadership” at the City-based Alliance Business School. Interacting with the young graduates, Kalam said “teaching was the only thing” he knew well.
Giving examples of great leaders with whom he had worked, Kalam said what India needed was “employment generators and not employment seekers.” He added that all great leaders were also creative managers of people.
Besides sharing his experience on great leaders and giving the youngsters a reading list, Kalam listed eight characteristics of creative leaders and challenged the eager graduates to stick to at least three of them.
He added that the need of the hour was to produce leaders with “intellectual capacity to understand that the nation was bigger than himself or herself.” He urged the youth to become political leaders and said that the country lacked courageous political leaders. Courage is an integral characteristic of all creative leaders, he added.
In his address, Kalam also spoke about the need to bridge the urban-rural divide if India had to achieve its vision of being a developed nation by 2020. Urban and rural populations must have equitable access to water and other energy forms, he said.
He added that the 2020 vision for India relied heavily on the nation’s success in achieving rural connectivity. There has to be “electronic, knowledge and economic connectivity” to help bridge the gap between populations living in urban and rural areas.
Fire at BIO, venue shifted
The scheduled tape cutting programme by the former president APJ Abdul Kalam to mark inauguration of the newly purchased equipment, as part of HCG Cyber Knife Centre, installed at the ground floor of the new building of Bangalore Institute of Oncology (BIO) was cancelled following a fire mishap in the BIO old building.
Kalam launched the Centre at Kanteerava Indoor Stadium without visiting the BIO new building. The mishap occurred at the second floor of the old building, adjacent to the new building, where records and other papers were kept. Reason for the mishap is stated to be electric short circuit and no one was injured in the accident, said the SR Nagar Police.
The incident occurred around 4.28 pm, while Kalam’s programme was scheduled at 5.30 pm. Some hospital staff noticed thick smoke inside the store’s room, which was locked. They immediately alerted the fire personnel. Twenty two firemen rushed to the spot in four fire tenders and took two hours to put off the fire.