A P J Abdul Kalam, former President of India, is now on Facebook.
When
the former President made up his mind to get on the social networking
site, little did he realise that there were already more than 10 other
Kalam profiles already existing. Hence, for authenticity, his official
address on FB will be: www.facebook.com/OfficialKalam. Like his famous
missile launch campaigns, Kalam quietly ran the trial run of his
new-found-love a month ago and late on Saturday night (February 4),
decided to make the site live. Giving him company in the hour of
networking was his Man Friday and IIM-Ahmedabad grad Srijan Pal Singh.
“I
travel across Indian cities and villages meeting thousands of people, a
majority of whom are youth, who are great innovators and social
entrepreneurs. Through my social networking page, I want to enlighten
the nation about such wonderful initiatives, ideas and people who are
silently shaping the future of this country. I look forward to a
constructive discussion on such initiatives which would be vital for
achieving the vision for an economically-developed India by 2020,” Kalam
said.
He said that his FB page will be a tool to promote a spirit of ‘What Can I Give’ among the citizens, especially the youth.
“I
would be sharing all the examples and ideas from the nation, of those
people who have been giving to the society, nation or environment to
create smiles, happiness and peace. I am calling this ‘The What Can I
Give Diary’ which will be regularly uploaded on the page,” says Kalam.
Hinting
that his FB mission will be one for a cause, Kalam said that he is keen
to bring forth the problems and opportunities of rural India to a
larger audience. “I have come across cases where farmers have suffered
in bad seasons due to poor technology and in good seasons due to bad
management. Can we bring forth these problems and evolve solutions with a
national participation through social networking? Or can we use the
social networking platform to discuss, improve and replicate some of the
successful initiatives in villages for empowerment of the farmer and
underprivileged communities?”he asks.
When
asked how often would he get on to FB, Kalam said: “Every day.” When
probed about the ‘other Kalams’ on FB, he said: “Such pages will always
exist. We will try and merge them into one common page over a period of
time.”
