Anapneo

Meeting with His Excellency, The President of India

When I got an invitation from the University of Mumbai to attend the inauguration of its 150th Anniversary celebration at the hands of His Excellency, the President of India I was really jumping with joy. I was invited as one of the young achievers to participate in the Leadership Tomorrow Summit(18-20th July 2006) which was also being inaugurated on the day by the President and I was asked to send one question that I wanted His Excellency to answer during the interactive session with him.

The President had time to take only ten questions and guess what friends, my question made it … I was thrilled when he announced my name. We had no knowledge as to who the president will call out. But when he called out my name I was really happy that he chose to address my query. Because my question is one of those questions that the majority of politicians try to ignore. But one can hardly call Dr.A.P.J.Abdul Kalam a politician … his own definition of an ideal politician describes him well i.e. “one who plays 70% developmental politics and 30 % political politics” where ‘political politics’ helps first and foremost in getting elected and then protecting one’s chair and “developmental politics” as concentrating on the development of the nation.

My question to him was;

“We are proud to have two highly qualified leaders as our President and the Prime Minister and India is clearly benefiting from their knowledge, bright ideas and efficiency. So when can we finally look forward to having a qualified team of politicians to run the economy of this country with a population of over one billion? Why is the eligibility criterion for a Member of Parliament so low when even the post of a clerk or a receptionist demands a higher standard? Are there any steps being taken in this regard?”

The moment I reached the middle of the second sentence all the students present started clapping to register there support to the question and then the teachers also joined them. I was really surprised. I guess my question was really tongue in cheek as there were some ministers present on the dais including the Union Minister of Human Resource and Development, the Chief Minister of Maharashtra , the Governor of Maharashtra and State Minister of Higher Education. They were all smiling.

The very fact that he chose to bring this question out was a great step from his side. Although he does not have the executive /legislative power to reform the system he facilitates any sort of positive change in all the ways he can. He replied that he was hopeful that the time will come gradually when youth will take over and welcome such positive changes.

I am really looking forward to the Summit tomorrow where we will get to interact with some eminent speakers like
Barkha Dutt, Omar Abdullah , Kumar Mangalam Birla, Milind Deora, Gautam Singhania, Nachiket More, Rajdeep Sardesai, Leander Paes, Pulela Gopichand, and many more from the field of Journalism, Civil Services, Politics, Sports, Art and Literature, Business etc.

The entire speech and his answers to the questions can be viewed on the following link;
The President of India's Website.

http://presidentofindia.nic.in/scripts/eventslatest1.jsp?id=1253

http://presidentofindia.nic.in/

He has addressed all the 22 selected questions on the site.