Kalam’s role in India’s defence preparedness huge; scientist

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Dec 22:

India’s defence preparedness has been boosted by the leadership provided by former President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam whose contribution has been immense in making the country strong, a top defence scientist told students of Odisha’s SOA University here on Sunday night.

Dr Kalam was the father of India’s Integrated Guided Missile Development Program (IGMDP) under which the ‘Agni’ series of long-range missiles and other such weapons were given shape,’ R Appavuraj, director of the DRDO-run Proof and Experiment Establishment (PXE) at Chandipur said.

“We have come a long way, while it took the DRDO scientists months to put together the long-range missile, it could be done now in two to three days,” he said at the inauguration of “Chakravyuh-2014”, the tech-fest of the Institute of Technical Education and Research (ITER), the faculty of engineering of the SOA University.

Appavuraj also praised the Central government’s “Make in India” campaign describing it as a game changer which was providing direction to the nation.

The inaugural function, which marked a fiery display by the Aagni Group and a delectable Odissi dance performance by exponent Aruna Mohanty, was also attended by two other speakers, Sadashiv Padhee, vice-president (HR) of Kiroskar Pneumatic Co Ltd who was the chief guest and DP Das, deputy general manager (HR) of L&T Construction who was the guest of honour.

ITER’s Dean, Dr PK Sahoo and Additional Dean and convener of the tech-fest Dr RK Hota also spoke.