The passing away of the ‘People’s President’ and the ‘Missiles Man’ A.P.J. Abdul Kalam has shocked the Soliga tribal people in the B.R. Hills, who fondly remember him as he used to frequently visit the Vivekananda Girijana Kalyana Kendra (VGKK) there, when he was working as scientist at the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

In fact, Dr. Kalam’s first visit to Chamarajanagar district was in 1998 and the last one was on October 16, 2006, when he participated in the silver jubilee celebrations of the VGKK. Incidentally, the day had a special significance as it coincided with the 76th birthday of Dr. Kalam.

Dr. Kalam was attracted by the beautiful environment of B.R. Hills. The tribal reminisce the way Dr. Kalam interacted with their children, including the youths. He was pleased to see the establishment of the New Tribal Hospital and development of roads, besides creation of facilities for their education. It was Dr. Kalam’s ideology to have “One Village One Product” for a comprehensive development of 128 tribal podus. He had advocated this ideology to ensure that the products produced by the tribal people by using modern technology could become viable and competitive commercial products at national and international levels.

Dr. Kalam had suggested the tribals in the B.R. Hills to embark on a bamboo mission. According to him, the mission should envisage an integrated programme of expansion bamboo plantations, their scientific management and promotion of value-added products of bamboo at community levels, besides development of entrepreneurial skills of tribal people. He had also suggested cultivation of Jatropha in about 1,000 acres of land, particularly on wastelands in hilly regions, to bring about rural prosperity through production of bio-diesel.

Another novel programme suggested by Dr. Kalam to VGKK was to consider creation of B.R. Hills PURA, encompassing all the 128 tribal hamlets and the 20,000-population. According to him, PURA was “providing urban amenities to rural areas”, envisaging provision of physical, electronic and knowledge connectivity for achieving economic connectivity. This would, according to Dr. Kalam, bring into focus the development of skills in cottage industry, dry-land agriculture, production of honey, handicrafts and processed food for which core competence was existing among tribal communities. The most important aspect of PURA concept was to create market avenues for the products.

His visit on October 16, 2006 to participate in silver jubilee celebrations of the VGKK coincided with the 76th birthday of the ‘People’s President’

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Karnataka / Correspondent / Chamarajanagar – July 30th, 2015