The Hindu Business Line : Kal ka newspaper boy, aaj ka Kalam

STORY so far: All peace seems to be lost at the workplace because of viruses that have been hitting the computer systems the world over, in quick succession. Even as the EDP support-staff lose sleep erecting stronger firewalls and running newer vaccines, I slip off to attend a seminar on information security. With soaring demand predicted for security professionals for the IT world, I think CAs stand a good chance of getting their due importance, if only they updated their knowledge about hackers, cyber law and such stuff.

Episode 49

The only `kalam' I used to know as a school student taking up the regular exams of the Dakshin Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha was in the sequence of sentences such as kalam kahan hai, kalam davat mein hai, and so forth to learn the lingo through a Q&A — where is the pen, it is in the inkpot, where is the inkpot, it is on the table, where is the table, it is on the floor and that is the end of that snatch.

The Arabic word kalam means "speech," but more broadly it means "natural theology" or "philosophical theism", I learn from a site that discusses KCA (for the `Kalam Cosmological Argument' by philosopher William Lane Craig. "The distinctive feature of kalam-style cosmology is its stress on the impossibility of the actual infinite," it explains. "Put simply, kalam arguments try to demonstrate that the existence of an actual infinite is impossible and that even if it were possible, the universe itself is not actually infinite and, hence, must have had a beginning.

That may be going a bit above the head, but our first citizen Dr Kalam is down to earth. Elsewhere, the Finance Minister, Mr Jaswant Singh, was exhorting industry captains to make the country a hub of all financial activities, assuring support if they were serious enough "to conquer the world market", Dr Kalam was in Hyderabad on a different mission. I had reached the town only the previous evening, weeks after I had attended the info security seminar, to coordinate the company's media activity on the occasion of the President's visit to the premier body in vaccine development. Our company had high stakes in anything that happened in the field of immunology, because of the close relationship that the advancements there had with our current research. It was sad that on a day when the nation remembered its `father', the headlines were more about violence that had been targeted at the State's CM. There was the shadow of this shock in the public events, but time is a great healer. More than that, here was a man who was so passionate about his mission to develop the country, and who was so simple.

I was reading about the second phase of `herbal gardens' at the Rashtrapati Bhawan. The first phase, developed under the supervision of the National Medicinal Plants Board, had been inaugurated a year back. It has 130 species of rare plants and its aim was "to promote awareness among people, especially children and farmers, about their benefits".

Interestingly, the gardens have a special corner designed for the visually impaired. Here are plants that can be identified by touch and smell; also there are Braille boards and pathways with clear direction.

The occasion that brought me here was to be in the Indian Immunologicals Ltd (IIL). Many do not know that this is a wholly-owned subsidiary of National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) that many know only for its dairy products. Now, IIL is getting into the development of human vaccines, with a new plant and R&D centre set up and the outlay was Rs 50 crore. "What are the diseases you are targeting at?" I asked a scientist, when we were waiting for the dignitary to arrive. "Our plant is designed to develop and manufacture various human vaccines," he began. "We are looking at Recombinant Hepatitis B, measles, diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus." I was still curious. "You have been all along in veterinary field. What are the volumes you are contemplating?" He said confidently: "200 million doses of each vaccine per annum."

During the function, Dr Amrita Patel, Chairman of both NDDB and IIL, spoke on how the future of medicine would be driven by biotechnology. "Today 36 per cent of therapeutic products are derived from biotechnology and this is bound to increase." To suit the country's needs, and grass-root reality, they were talking about producing "thermostable products". I nudged my neighbour and asked, "What's that?" He whispered: "Such medicines do not require a cold storage."

It used to be said that Presidents are to be revered, but here was somebody who deserved to be heard too. I was waiting for what Dr Kalam had to say, knowing fully well that he would not simply be giving a formal speech shorn of any insight. He spoke of "combination vaccine" — and if such a thing emerged from focussed clinical research and multi-centric trials, Kalam could well become the darling of all babies who now have to endure different vaccines at different intervals.

Another idea that I could understand — being an accountant rather than a scientist — was that food crops had the potential as vaccines. "Researchers have to convincingly propagate genetically modified plants and application of vaccine element through food," said the President, and I could visualise that sometime in future it would be possible for us to be cured of diseases by grazing on a palak variety a few times a week.

I am back after the Hyderabad trip, where I could work out some of the strategic details for getting into outsourced research for IIL. Their chief was impressed with the company profile I presented. The media spoke about the possible areas where my company could associate with the new work, and I could observe that our scrip was making steady gains.

When I was discussing with the boss, on my return, one of the topics that sprang up was Dr Kalam again. "Did you read, Swati, about the first foreign tour of Kalam?" boss asked me. "He must have been travelling umpteen times," I remarked. "No," said the boss. "You probably don't know that he had expressed a desire not to travel abroad till he completed a visit to every Indian state. In the 15 months since he assumed office, he has covered all but six States, many of them more than once." I shrugged, "Yet, these trips are real jolly occasions, where the host countries would put up a show or two of its dancers to showcase their tradition and culture." The boss smiled, "That is the popular belief. In the past a presidential tour abroad was essentially a leisurely, sightseeing expedition, with some work thrown in. But this trip would have several innovations, and be more business-like. He is packing in a great deal of official engagements, such as lecturing in universities, meeting children. There is almost no time for sightseeing. "But his guards let him down," I said, sadly. "Don't talk about that, Swati," said the boss bitterly. "I am sure that the President may even think of discarding the whole tradition of having the elite horsemen around, as being less functional and more ornamental. Don't you remember how he favours innovative laws?" I could recollect how when delivering the first convocation address at the National Academy of Legal Studies and Research University (NALSARU), Dr Kalam spoke of redefining jurisdiction in a way that any crime committed against India by `anyone from anywhere' should be punishable by Indian law. "The legal community must enable formulation of progressive and innovative laws for digital economy that will be one of the vital components of a developed nation," he said. "In the digital world, crime may originate from a strange place even outside our own shores and may damage organisational wealth which will be in digital form in multiple locations".

I was sure that if the CA Institute invited Dr Kalam for some occasion, he would have something interesting and innovative to say about the profession too.

(To be continued)

Swati_CA@hotmail.com

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication

Stories in this Section
Grooming in law for wannabe secretaries

Employer is not bound to morph into an ITO

Kal ka newspaper boy, aaj ka Kalam

Don't lead if you don't have the right to lead