New type of Sri Lanka in the making - Kalam
Diasna MUDALIGE
A new type of Sri Lanka is in the making, and a land of unity and
prosperity is taking shape, former President of India and renowned
Professor of Aerospace Engineering Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam told the media
at the Taj Samudra hotel yesterday. He explained that these were some of
the main impressions he is taking back to India following his recent
visit to Sri Lanka on the invitation of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
He said that his main task in Sri Lanka was to participate in the
launch of the 10-year National Action Plan and declaring of 2012 as the
Year of Trilingual Sri Lanka, which is a brain-child of the President.
He said he had extensive interaction with a tight cross-section of
the Sri Lankan public including the State in the course of which he
exchanged views about the development process and connected matters in
Sri Lanka.
The focus of Prof Abdul Kalam's discussion in the area of development
was his ‘PURA’ concept which is being tried out in India and which is an
acronym for 'Provide Urban Amenities to Rural Areas'.
Answering to a question he said that he had suggested to the Sri
Lankan President a formula of enabling three days of fishing entirely
for Sri Lankan fishermen and three days of fishing entirely for Indian
fishermen during the week as a way out of the issues which have arisen
in the fisheries sector between India and Sri Lanka. Elaborating on the
issue, Prof Kalam said that the fish is nutritious for the people and
that fishermen are drawn to the areas where fish flourish most. Citing
the case of Iceland, he said that a fisherman in Ice land earns
approximately 40,000 USD per month from his livelihood.
He expressed that the Icelandic fishermen store, pack and sell their
goods in the high seas itself to buyers and thereby earn a substantial
income. He also said that he had discussed the 13th Amendment and
connected matters with the Sri Lankan President and that he had
suggested that the North and East be empowered constitutionally as an
approach to resolving the issues in the area.
He said that youth affairs is one of his favourite areas. He told the
youth of Sri Lanka that their intent should be to supremely
self-confident and that Sri Lankan youth were just that. Speaking on the
question of poverty alleviation, Prof Kalam said that the Sarvodaya
methodology needed to be considered by the State and suggested that it
works along with the Sarvodaya.
Speaking on the issues with related to the plantation community, Prof
Kalam said that trilingualism has the potential to empower this
community. Once the language barriers are overcome through the adoption
of bilingualism the communities of Sri Lanka could work together towards
the national well being,? he noted. He said that the plantation
community should be constitutionally empowered to play a significant
role in Sri Lanka. Commenting on the advisability of setting up private
universities, he said that universities should face competition and that
setting up private universities of the type of foreign universities
could serve this end. The value of a university is judged by its
research and not by teaching alone. 'The competition in the research
field will benefit universities,' he remarked.
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