Kerala owes as much to former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam as he probably owed to the State having lived and worked in the State capital for 20 years.
Exactly 10 years ago, Kalam presented the State with a 10-point development agenda aimed at making the State an economic powerhouse by 2015.
On that day, Kalam had turned the Kerala Legislative Assembly into a virtual classroom, urging the statesmen and women gathered to identify the State’s core capacities and get into the mission mode to tap its potential to the full.
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He had proposed 10 different missions, including development of tourism, waterways and deep-sea fishing, development and marketing of knowledge products and pharmaceutical products, creation of an army of nurses and paramedics to meet the rising demand at national and global levels, setting up of exclusive economic zones to attract NRIs and other investors, value addition to tea, coffee, spices, coconut and fruits, and use of space technology for industrial development to achieve its development goals.
Core competence
During the 52 minutes that he spoke, the entire House sat in rapt attention as he pointed out that Kerala’s most important core competence was the ‘unity of minds’ it had achieved.
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Kerala had blended multiple religions and multiple cultures into a unique culture of its own. “We have to collectively see how these multi-dimensional strengths of Kerala, its secular ethos, bounty of natural resources, and excellent human resource can be used for making Kerala a model,” he said.
10 years ago, Kalam presented Kerala with a 10-point development agenda aimed at making the State an economic powerhouse by 2015.