{"id":724,"date":"2015-07-28T05:27:03","date_gmt":"2015-07-28T05:27:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/?p=724"},"modified":"2015-07-28T15:31:34","modified_gmt":"2015-07-28T15:31:34","slug":"former-president-abdul-kalam-father-of-indias-missile-programme-dies-at-83","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/?p=724","title":{"rendered":"Former president Abdul Kalam, father of India\u2019s missile programme, dies at 83"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"former-president-apj-abdul-kalam-passes-away-in-shillong\"<\/a>Former Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, known as the father of the country\u2019s military missile program, has died after collapsing while delivering a lecture, a top state official said. He was 83.<\/p>\n

The president from 2002 until 2007, he was a scientist and science administrator for four decades before that, mainly at the state-run Defence Research and Development Organisation and the Indian Space Research Organisation. He played a key organizational and technical role in India\u2019s nuclear program.<\/p>\n

He also served as a scientific adviser to the prime minister.<\/p>\n

Kalam fell sick Monday while addressing the students of the Indian Institute of Management in the Meghalaya state capital, Shillong, said P.B. Warjri, chief secretary of the state. He was rushed to the hospital, but was declared dead after doctors could not revive him, Warjri said.<\/p>\n

The federal government would declare national mourning for seven days for him, said federal Home Secretary L.C. Goyal.<\/p>\n

Kalam\u2019s body was being flown to New Delhi yesterday MON for burial.<\/p>\n

India\u2019s President Pranab Mukherjee said \u201cKalam would be long remembered for his passion for science and innovation and his contribution as an eminent scientist, administrator, educationist and writer.\u201d
\n Prime Minister Narendra Modi said \u201chis death is a great loss to the scientific community. He took India to great heights. He showed the way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was an inspiration to an entire generation,\u201d Home Minister Rajnath Singh tweeted.<\/p>\n

Sonia Gandhi, the president of opposition Congress party, described Kalam as \u201cone of the greatest scientific minds, a scholar statesman and a true patriot who inspired millions of young and old alike by his works and deeds.\u201d<\/p>\n

After his presidential term ended, Kalam travelled to remote schools and colleges, speaking to students and inspiring them to follow their dreams.<\/p>\n

Even after he left office, he received hundreds of emails each day from high-school students and other young people seeking his advice. He would reply to most of the children who wrote to him.<\/p>\n

Kalam received several prestigious awards, including Bharat Ratna, India\u2019s top civil honour conferred by the government.<\/p>\n

He played a crucial role when India tested its nuclear weapons in 1998.<\/p>\n

He authored several books, notably \u2018Wings of Fire\u2019, \u2018India 2020\u2019 and \u2018Ignited Minds.\u2019<\/p>\n

Kalam had a humble beginning. His father owned boats which he rented out to local fishermen. Kalam used to describe himself as \u201cMade in India,\u201d as he never trained abroad.
\nSource: PTI\/AP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, known as the father of the country\u2019s military missile…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":725,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[17,5,9,29,10,16,6,31,33,2],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["http:\/\/southasiantimes.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/former-president-apj-abdul-kalam-passes-away-in-shillong.jpg",310,233,false],"thumbnail":["http:\/\/southasiantimes.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/former-president-apj-abdul-kalam-passes-away-in-shillong-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["http:\/\/southasiantimes.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/former-president-apj-abdul-kalam-passes-away-in-shillong-300x225.jpg",300,225,true],"medium_large":["http:\/\/southasiantimes.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/former-president-apj-abdul-kalam-passes-away-in-shillong.jpg",310,233,false],"large":["http:\/\/southasiantimes.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/former-president-apj-abdul-kalam-passes-away-in-shillong.jpg",310,233,false],"1536x1536":["http:\/\/southasiantimes.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/former-president-apj-abdul-kalam-passes-away-in-shillong.jpg",310,233,false],"2048x2048":["http:\/\/southasiantimes.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/former-president-apj-abdul-kalam-passes-away-in-shillong.jpg",310,233,false],"enternews-featured":["http:\/\/southasiantimes.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/former-president-apj-abdul-kalam-passes-away-in-shillong.jpg",310,233,false],"enternews-medium":["http:\/\/southasiantimes.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/former-president-apj-abdul-kalam-passes-away-in-shillong.jpg",310,233,false],"enternews-thumbnail":["http:\/\/southasiantimes.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/former-president-apj-abdul-kalam-passes-away-in-shillong.jpg",310,233,false]},"author_info":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"http:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/?author=1"},"category_info":"Stories<\/a>","tag_info":"Stories","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=724"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":726,"href":"http:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724\/revisions\/726"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}