I am delighted to interact with the children of RCI and Kanchanbagh schools. My greetings to all of you. During my interaction with six hundred thousand children in different parts of the country both urban and rural areas and e-mails and letters received from many citizens of our nation, I realize our children have a dream. Their dream is to live in a prosperous, happy and safe India. How do we build a new India of their dream? To realize this dream certain unique qualities are essential. Now I would like to talk to you on the topic "Make Impossible is Impossible".

My message

Dear Children, you are all in the mission of learning. What learning will give?

"When learning is purposeful, creativity blossoms.

When the creativity blossoms, thinking emanates.

When thinking emanates, knowledge is fully lit.

When knowledge is lit, economy flourishes."

Launch of EDUSAT

Dear Children, I would like to recall an event of launching geo-synchronous vehicle on 20th September 2004. It is a huge three stage controlled and guided rocket system weighing 400 tonnes. This world class rocket system has put a communication satellite called EDUSAT (Education satellite) in the geosynchronous orbit. This rocket has capability to inject a satellite of one thousand Kg in the orbit with the velocity of 10.2 kilometers per second. This means speed of the satellite is 36 times the speed of modern passenger jet aircraft. That means you will be surprised to know it will take less than five minutes to travel from Delhi to Chennai instead of two and half hours by a jet. Do you know what geosynchronous orbit is? Geosynchronous orbit refers to the path of the satellite around the earth at an altitude of 36,000 kilometers in equatorial plane with the same rotational velocity of earth. The satellite now beams the education programmes throughout the day and night.

Objective of EDUSAT

The prime objective of the EDUSAT programme is to provide support to education through low-cost ground segments and to reach the un-reached people of India to every nook and corner. The satellite is specially configured to have multiple beams covering different regions of India. This is a satellite operating in Ku band in 17 Giga hertz frequency band facilitating the use of small transmit/receive ground terminals. It provides communication coverage through five regional beams and a national beam.

This system will be primarily for school, college and higher level of education; however it will also support non-formal education. In the initial phase EDUSAT will cover about 100 to 200 classrooms per beam. The EDUSAT, when fully operational will have a capacity of 30 uplinks and about 5000 remote terminals per uplink. EDUSAT is expected to provide one-lakh fifty thousand ground terminals in its full capacity.

For example, suppose a mathematics teacher takes a class at Bhimavaram, Andhra Pradesh, it is beamed to EDUSAT satellite in real time and the students in the class rooms at Bagribari village in West Bengal will see the teacher and hear the lessons. Students from the various parts of the country -a village school in Bihar, a village in Orissa, North East, Punjab will also hear his/her teaching and can ask the questions in sequence. Hence a good teacher teaching anywhere in the country in any language can be heard, seen and interacted. Nowhere in the world an exclusive education satellite is in the orbit today, except India?s. This great scientific achievement has been made possible due to our great Indian space Scientists and partner institutions. Friends, we are witnessing how a space vision by Prof. Vikram Sarabhai has been transformed into reality leading to benefit to society. Prof. Vikram Sarabhai was indeed my role model when I started my professional career as rocket engineer. I want students of Hyderabad to be linked through satellite so that you all can interact freely. I am working on this project and talking to civic bodies of various towns and cities so that this goal could be achieved soon. Subsequently, on 5th May 2005 when CARTOSAT-I was injected in the polar orbit of 618 km., it has become a world class earth mapper. This satellite can give you the pictures of RCI and your position in the community hall.

Nothing is impossible

Human flight is nothing but creativity of human mind and it undergoes several struggles to achieve excellence. In 1895, a great scientist Lord Kelvin, who was the President of Royal Society of London said, "any thing heavier than air cannot fly, and cannot be flown." Within a decade, Wright Brothers proved man could fly of course at heavy risk and cost.

On the successful completion of Moon Mission in 1969, Von Braun, a very famous rocket designer, who built Saturn-V, to launch the capsule with astronauts and made moon walk a reality, in 1975 said ?If I am authorized, I will remove the word impossible".

In ancient days, Ptolemaic astronomy is a widely used system in calculating the dynamics of various stars and planets. Assumption by then was that the earth is flat. What a scientific struggle had to take place to prove that the earth is spherical in shape orbiting around the sun. The three great astronomers Copernicus, Galileo and Kepler had to give a new dimension to the world of astronomy. Today we take it for granted that earth is a globe, orbiting around the sun, and the sun orbits in the Milky Way. All the technological advancements we have today are the outcome of scientific exploration of scientists of earlier centuries. At no time, man was beaten by problems. He strives continuously to subjugate impossibility and then succeeds.

According to the laws of aerodynamics the bumblebee should never be able to fly. Because of the size, weight, and shape of its body in relationship to the total wing span, flying is scientifically impossible. The bumblebee, being ignorant of scientific theory, goes ahead and flies anyway. I would like the youth assembled here to take a lesson from these examples and work to make everything possible.

Diverting Asteroids

A few days back 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.

Conclusion: Empowerment

When a child is empowered by the parents at various phases of growth, the child gets transformed into a responsible citizen. When a teacher is empowered with knowledge and experience, good young human beings with value systems emerge. When an individual or a team is empowered with technology, transformation to higher potential for achievement is assured. When a leader of any village empowers his or her people, leaders are born who can change the nation in multiple areas. When women are empowered, society with stability gets assured. When the political leaders of the nation empower the people through visionary policies, the prosperity of the nation is certain. When religions are empowered and become spiritual force, peace and happiness will blossom in people's heart. Empowerment of various layers of management structure is indeed the best instrument to maximize the performance of a given fund to the developmental tasks. I am sure empowered children of this school will play an important role in transforming India into a developed nation.

My best wishes to you all for success in your educational career. May God bless you.

Now I would like to answer some of the questions asked by the students.

Question and Answer Session

1. With recent occurrence of tsunami and torrential rains in Mumbai, what can the Government to remove the insecurity of the citizens?

- Sarat Chandra, Class IX

Ans:Firstly, we should have a early warning system. Secondly, the infrastructure has to be built in such a way that there is fast clearance after the event is over. For example, the drainage system requires total review which is responsible for clogging Mumbai city. Residents are also required to be responsible to ensure that the inlet and outlet to water bodies are not choked.

2. To make the students aware of the career prospects and opportunities, is it not essential to have a qualified counselor in every school?

- Venkatesh, Class IX

Ans: Yes, one of the teachers can be trained to become a counselor for advising students on career prospects. Also, nowadays there are number of career counseling agencies who can advice students based on scientific aptitude testing.

3. Health services to remote locations like RCI need to improved to alienate the suffering of needy people. Why not Apollo DRDO hospital can be tasked to extend its facility to RCI fraternity?

- E. Vamsi Krishna, Class X

Ans: Apollo DRDO hospital was built for providing medical cover to the DRDO laboratories located in this area. I am sure this facility must be extended RCI fraternity.

4. When can we reap the benefits of inter-linking the rivers in order to ward-off the twin problems?

- Prannoy Pandey, Class X

Ans:Feasibility study is being prepared for inter-linking of rivers. It will take some time before we reap the benefits from this project.

5. Why is that technological development alone is considered as a measure of the progress of the country? Why not its culture and literature?

- Sai Kiran, Class VIII

Ans:For the development of the nation we need culture and literature apart from technology. Technology is a non-linear tool. It provides faster economic growth. Economic growth is only one dimension of development.

6. The transport system of remotely located RCI is inadequate. Why not we go for and extend the Multi Modal Transport System (MMTS) in order to fully utilize the fast mass transport technology?

- Surabhi, Class X

Ans: This is a good suggestion. There was some discussion between the State Government and Delhi Metro.

7. What is your advice to the youth in the coming years? What do you expect from them?

- Amaresh, Class IX

Ans: You excel in your studies. Fix a goal in life. Acquire knowledge and experience. When you are working towards the goal you will definitely encounter some problems. Don�t let the problem to defeat you. You become master of the problem, defeat it and succeed. I expect all of you to become enlightened citizens and contribute towards the development of the nation.

8. What was your favorite subject in the school?

- Diwakar, Class VI

Ans: Mathematics.

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

TEN POINT OATH

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

2. From now onwards, I will teach at least 10 persons to read and write those who cannot read and write.

3. I will plant at least 10 saplings and shall ensure their growth through constant care.

4. I will visit rural and urban areas and permanently wean away at least 5 persons from addiction and gambling.

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

6. I will not support any religious, caste or language differentiation.

7. I will be honest and endeavour to make a corruption free society.

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

9. 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.

10. I will proudly celebrate the success of my country and my people.

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