Synergy need of the hour: Kalam

He was delivering his address through a video conference at the two-day seminar-cum-exhibition on 'Aerospace Technologies: Challenges in the New Millennium' being organised by city chapter of Aeronautical Society of India (AeSI). The meet is to commemorate the centenary celebrations of the first powered flight.

Kalam said India today had a sizeable work force engaged in aerospace activities.

"In the past many years, the aerospace commune has won many laurels for the country. Nevertheless, it is imperative that we must now take a deliberate pause to recapitulate the lessons learnt from the past failures and successes alike and to plan to face the future challenges," he said.

"Our greatest strength lies in our human resources which I believe every high performing sector must make full use of. We must devise means and ways to attract high quality talent in aerospace and offer them career opportunities. This will auger well for the future to come," he said. Concluding his address, Kalam advised the young scientists to set a goal and sweat out to achieve it.

Earlier in his keynote address, S Krishnaswamy, the chief of air staff, said that civil aviation should be accessible to the common man and act as a catalyst to the nation's growth.

"The Indian aviation should permeate all spheres of life, including recreation and adventure. We need to look at other nations and draw lessons from them," he said.

"But what ails us today is a management policy. To chalk out a strategy for growth, we have to shed the straitjacket approach and look for investments and cohesion. We should optimise infrastructure, professional financing and marketing," Krishnaswamy said.

T Devender Goud, the home minister of Andhra Pradesh, V K Saraswat, the chairman of AeSI Hyderabad chapter, and others participated in the inaugural day proceedings.

Later, a panel discussion on development of Hyderabad as a global aviation hub was conducted.