Address And Interaction With The School Children, Jaipur

I am indeed delighted to interact with the students of Jaipur schools. My Greetings to Principals, Teachers, Parents and students from 34 schools.

Dear Children, you are all in the mission of learning. Learning gives capacity building.

"When learning is purposeful, creativity blossoms.

When the creativity blossoms, thinking emanates.

When thinking emanates, knowledge is fully lit. When knowledge is lit, the society is enriched."

Shaping the young minds will have an everlasting impact in all through their life. I would like to narrate to you how great scientists got shaped when they were young.

Teacher's influence

In Albert Einstein life, we find that his interest in science started early, beginning with his encounter with magnetism, which he called "the first miracle". He was given a compass by his father and Einstein was endlessly fascinated by the fact that invisible forces could make object move. This experience made a lasting impression on him. His interest in compasses was reinforced when he found a caring mentor to hone his ideas. At the age of 12, he experienced second wonder in a little book given by his mentor Max Talmud with Euclidean plain Geometry which he called "Holy Geometry Book". Einstein called this his "second miracle". Here Einstein made contact with the realm of pure thought. Without expensive laboratories or equipment, he could explore universal truth, limited only by the power of human mind. Mathematics became an endless source of pleasure to Einstein especially if intriguing puzzle and mysteries were involved.

Einstein's father was in an electro chemical business. Being in the midst of electro magnetic contraptions awakened an intuitive understanding of electricity and magnetism in Albert Einstein. It sharpens his ability to develop graphic, physical pictures that would describe the laws of nature with uncanny accuracy. This trait, the ability to see everything in terms of physical pictures, would mark one of Einstein's greatest characteristics as a physicist.

Freedom to Learn: Though born in Germany, Einstein moved to Zurich Polytechnic Institute in Switzerland. The entry into the polytechnic did not require a high school diploma, just a passing grade on its tough entrance examination was sufficient. Einstein failed in the entrance examination but he did exceptionally well in the Maths and Physics section. That impressed the Principal and he promised to take him during the following year without an entrance test. The message we get from this experience is about having a flexible system of admission. Also an ability to spot the aptitude of the student in a particular subject and nourishing the talents. In addition, Einstein enjoyed the liberal atmosphere of the Swiss school. This is a great message for our school system, particularly, for principals and teachers to spot the best and educational administrators to simplify the procedure.

Simplicity in description: Einstein got in terms of simple physical picture - speeding trains, falling elevators, rockets and moving clocks. These pictures would unerringly guide him through the greatest ideas of the twentieth century. He wrote "All physical theories, their mathematical expression notwithstanding, ought to lend themselves to so simple a description that even a child could understand". This is a very important message for all physics researchers and physics teachers. Here the birth of famous simple, elegant and very powerful energy equation E=MC2, which decided war and peace system of the world.

Now let me talk about Srinivasa Ramanujan, how he has shaped himself in his tender age, so that a genius well ahead of time took birth.

A genius well ahead of time

Srinivasa Ramanujan lived only for 33 years and did not have formal higher education or means of living. Yet, his inexhaustible spirit and love for his subject made him contribute to the treasure houses of mathematical research - some of which are still under serious study and engaging all-available world mathematicians' efforts to establish formal proofs. Ramanujan was a unique Indian genius who could melt the heart of the most hardened and outstanding Cambridge mathematician Prof G H Hardy. In fact, it is not an exaggeration to say that it was Prof. Hardy who discovered Ramanujan for the world. Professor Hardy rated various geniuses on a scale of 100. While most of the mathematicians got a rating of around 30 with rare exceptions reaching to 60, Ramanujan got a rating of 100. There cannot be any better tribute to either Ramanujan or to Indian heritage. His works cover vast areas including Prime Numbers, Hyper geometric Series, Modular Functions, Elliptic Functions, Mock Theta Functions, even magic squares, apart from serious side works on geometry of ellipses, squaring the circle etc. One of the tributes to Ramanujan says that, 'every Integer is a personal friend of Ramanujan'. Ramanujan's contribution was the singular contribution in the field of mathematics that resulted in to the evolution of number theory.

Creative imagination

On 22nd March 2005, when I was attending the Shankar's International Children's competition at New Delhi, I was going through the Shankar's Children's Art Number - Volume 55 which depicts the work of children from sixty eight countries. The children have exhibited a great talent in painting, in poems and writing stories and articles. I have found a creative imagination of a 13 year old Aardhra Krishna. She has worn her thinking cap on and let her imagination fly. She has visualized how the earth will look like around 3000 AD. In her imagination, the citizens are forced to migrate to Mars and have made Mars the home to a flourishing civilization. This advanced civilization, which was man made comes suddenly under threat created by nature in the form of an asteroid of Jupiter. The asteroid from Jupiter was coming towards Mars and Mars was in danger of extinction. The scientists on Mars come up with a very innovative plan of a barrage of nuclear cannons to attack the oncoming asteroid. The bombardment destroys the asteroid and the year 3000 sees a Martian civilization surviving from the fury of the nature by scientific innovation. What a beautiful scientific thinking of Aardhra Krishna?

Diverting Asteroids

In 4th July 2005, one important event took place in space. That was the impact of the NASA spacecraft called deep impact smashing into the comet Tempel-I, with enough force to create football stadium sized crater with a depth of a 14 storey building. The spacecraft was navigated by an Indian Shyam Bhaskaran - the deep impact traveled 431 million kms in 172 days escaping from the earth orbit and intercepted the comet at a straight distance from earth at 134 million km. the comet was orbiting around the Sun every five and half years. This is a land mark in space exploration. This event is important to divert asteroids which may hit the earth in future. One such large asteroid 1950 AD is expected to hit the earth on March 16, 2880 AD and nearly one third of the earth will be damaged. Like the "Deep Impact" one spacecraft is required to be sent with high energy material to divert or break the asteroid to move it out of the present orbit. Can you see the relationship between these two events, how the creative imagination of Aardhra Krishna and the "Deep impact". We have seen the imagination of the child in march 2005, and the reality in July 2005.

Hence, the creative thinking in the mind of the young is a realizable proposition towards achieving the national mission. I am confident that 540 million youth of the nation is a powerful resource compared to any other resource on the earth, under the earth and above the earth. I am sure, with this powerful resource in India, certainly our country can become a developed nation well before 2020. What is needed is a building an enlightened citizen with the value system. Righteousness in heart gives beauty in the character. Beauty in the character brings harmony in the home. One of the evils, which hinder the growth of the nation, is corruption.

Make your home righteous

Home generates enlightened citizens. If such an evolution does not take place, difficult situation arises as we are witnessing. Eradication of corruption in public life requires a movement and this movement has to start from home and school. Only three people can help in eradicating corruption. They are father, mother and primary school teacher. If they inculcate righteousness among the youth nobody can change them in their later life. Hence we need this movement in all our homes for eradicating corruption in public life. Dear students, I would like all of you start a movement starting from your home. You have a great tool in your hand that is love and affection towards your parents. Use love and affection and set your home as a righteous home.

Now I would like to share with you a beautiful divine hymn about righteousness. It reads as follows:

Where there is righteousness in the heart,

There is beauty in the character.

When there is beauty in the character,

there is harmony in the home.

When there is harmony in the home,

There is order in the nation.

When there is order in the nation,

There is peace in the world.

It is a beautiful connectivity between heart, character, nation and the world. In a society we have to build righteousness among all its constituents. For the society as a whole to be righteous we need creation of righteousness in family, righteousness in education, righteousness in service, righteousness in career, righteousness in business & industry, righteousness in civil administration, righteousness in politics, righteousness in government, righteousness in law and order, righteousness in justice. In addition to righteousness in multiple dimensions in the society, indomitable spirit is essential for realizing the vision of developed India.

Conclusion: Enlightened Citizenship

When we think of national development, I am clear what is needed is the evolution of enlightened and visionary leaders amongst us in all walks of life whether it be politics, administration, religion, business, education or science which has a bearing on the evolution of our nation and the society. And, enlightened leadership is all about empowerment. When a child is empowered by the parents, he gets transformed into a responsible citizen. When a teacher is empowered with knowledge, a guru emerges. When women are empowered, a stable society gets established. When the political leaders of a nation empower the people through visionary policies, the prosperity of a nation is assured. When religions are empowered to become a spiritual force, peace and happiness blossoms in the society. It is thus, the need of the hour to develop enlightened leadership amongst various sections of our society who will have a vision and a commitment to peace, progress and development. When a leader of any institution empowers the people working with them, such leaders are created who can change the course of their institution, thereby the state and the nation. Empowerment by enlightened leaders will lead to the creation of enlightened citizens who have a strong value system. I believe if the majority of the people become enlightened citizens, they will spread the righteousness in right earnest. If they do, I am very confident that we will have a Developed Nation before 2020.

Now, I would like to administer a six point oath to the students. Are you ready?

Six Point Oath

1. I will pursue my education with dedication and I will excel in it.

2. I will plant at least 5 saplings and shall ensure their growth through constant care.

3. I will constantly endeavor to remove the pain of my suffering brethren.

4. I will work for becoming an enlightened citizen and make my family righteous.

5. I will lead an honest life free from all corruption and will set an example for others to adopt a transparent way of life.

6. I will always be a friend of the mentally and physically challenged and will work hard to make them feel normal, like the rest of us.

7. We the children of Rajasthan promise that we will work hard with honesty to transform our State into a developed State. Happy and prosperous Rajasthan will make happy and prosperous India. My best wishes to all the students, teachers and parents.

May God bless you.

Question and Answer Session

1. Is there any life on the Mars? Is there any life on any other planet like the earth?. When will Indians reach on the Moon?

- Pooja Vijai, X, Govt. Girls Sr. Sec. School, Malvia Nagar, Jaipur.

Ans: So far, we have not found any sign of life in the Mars. Our solar system the Sun has got nine planets. In our planet earth we have developed life. Whereas in our galaxy alone there are millions and millions of stars. Each star may have number of planets, the probability of advanced society and less advanced society being there is a possibility.

2. Sir, How can the youth of today maintain balance between so-called modernity and our rich cultural values?

- Akanksha Singh, XII India International School, Jaipur.

Ans: We should use all the modern tools like computer, ICT, Internet etc. for enhancing our knowledge base. However, we should not forget our cultural values and civilizational heritage. This has to be deliberately preserved by the youth. The home and the school must assist the student to maintain this balance.

3. What will be the place of Rajasthan in your "water mission" as it is the most critical problem of our State?

- Kumari Arati, XII, Govt. Girls Sr. Sec. School, Gandhi Nagar, Jaipur.

Ans: Rajasthan finds a very important place in the Water Mission of interlinking of rivers. Rajasthan must also make use of water harvesting methods to save the water during rainy days. Also, they must have comprehensive plan for creating watershed management as is being done by Bharatiya Agro Industries Foundation (BAIF) to conserve and make use of the water whenever required.

4. Sir, You are a scientist, poet and president of the largest Democratic Republic of the world. It is quite contrary in nature. How do you coordinate among them?

- Rinkle Patel, XII Vivekanand Sr. Sec. School, Babu Nagar, Jaipur.

Ans: Each of these task is a specialized work. I use all the talents available in different fields to co-ordinate these specialized activities.

5. Sir, your book "Wings of Fire" an autobiography consists of "Vision-2020". It tells how India will go ahead in the sphere of science and technology.

How is it possible in the present political administrative and financial conditions?

- Surendra Singh Chaudhar, IX Govt. Sr. Sec. School, Bajaj Nagar, Jaipur.

Ans: The ambience of the nation is very positive for the economic prosperity leading transforming India into a developed nation well before 2020. There is a roadmap to achieve this vision. We should now concentrate on mission mode project in a time bound manner to bring all round sustainable growth. All of us must have the attitude that "we can do it."

6. Sir, in your book "Ignited Minds" you have said that for our nation to develop, citizens should improve their ideology. What are your views about the ideology of the present youth? Are they really transforming to the extent you aspired them to?

- Keshav Bansal, IX Class, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Vidhya Ashram, Jaipur.

Ans: Our youth are aspiring to live in a developed, prosperous, happy, peaceful and safe State. And they are willing to work for it. The transformation process is on and we will definitely realize our aspirations.

7. What is the beneficial use of space garbage?

- Rashi Modi, Seeling Modern High School, Durgapura, Jaipur.

Ans: There are methods by which space garbage can be collected from the space without allowing it to go through the reentry face. Once collected many of the components used in the life expired spacecraft can be used for other fabrication purposes. Also, the material testing can provide value information for the design of future spacecrafts.

8. Today science is aheading fast to its extreme top, but humanity is degrading rapidly in morality. Can science help in checking this degradation in morality? And if so, how?

- Sophia Sharma, XII Rajvansh Public Sr. Sec School, Tonk Fatak, Jaipur.

Ans: Creating an enlightened citizen with value system is essential need of the hour. Character building at the tender age by the parents and the teachers in a right atmosphere is the foundation for the rest of the career path. Righteousness gives beauty in the character. All the other things will follow based on this basic characteristic.

9. Sir, a major stress in the lives of the youth today is to make the right career choice. What according to you is the right age and right way to choose one's career?

- Jannat Dewan, XII Seedling Public School, Jawahar Nagar, Jaipur.

Ans: First you find your core competence and "write a page on what you would like to be remembered for. This will give you the direction which you have to take for reaching your goal. Work constantly towards it. Career will automatically follow.

10. Sir, students are under too much stress regarding examinations and their performance in them. What would you advise them?

- Nidhi Badaya, M.G.D. Girls School, Jaipur.

Ans: Along with studies participate in games, music, arts and cultural activities. Plan and study well. Put your full concentration on the studies. If you regularly do it you will have adequate knowledge and there will be no stress regarding examination. You will definitely excel.