A P J Abdul Kalam - Beyond 2020: A Vision for Tomorrows India

Our book Beyond 2020 has fifteen chapters with extensive details on how to take the nation from progress to progress by pushing through missions on industries, services and agriculture. I feel the crying need in our country is not a shortage of plans, but arriving at the correct methodologies to implement the plans and figuring out how to reach the benefits to the people for whom the plans are intended.

Today, the challenge before India and in fact every nation is reaching the reforms and benefits to the targeted population. Based on my work with universities in India and abroad during my teaching and research association, I have come to the conclusion that it is essential to evolve a sustainable development system framework, in the way the Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas (PURA) project has taken root in India. The major research and action needed is on how the benefits of sustainable development can reach the targeted population of our country. Hence, we have evolved two unique systems: one is called the User Community Pyramid and the other the Societal Development Radar.

The User Community Pyramid (UCP) is an integrated solution based on technologies and applications for sustainable development with possible users at the bottom of the pyramid. You have to ask yourself, what sort of research you can focus on in the areas of water, energy, waste, pollution, mobility and biodiversity, and how it is going to be connected with the user community. The second system, the Societal Development Radar (SDR), reviews and monitors how the user community has benefited from the UCP. I will describe both systems based on my own experience which generated a book Target 3 Billion, and subsequent feedback.

Sustainable development refers to a mode of human development in which resource use aims to meet human needs while preserving the environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but also for generations to come. The world has so far seen rapid development in the social, economic and political spheres. But due to dwindling natural resources and a burgeoning population (currently more than 7 billion in the world), today it is essential to think of sustainable development in every aspect of human life and in every sector of the economy. I often ask myself, what do we learn from the many terrestrial and mobile networks, satellites for remote sensing and communication, the many ground sensors, flight systems and all the data received from various data capturing systems? When we analyse the data, what is the resultant benefit that can be given to the rural population of 3 billion people worldwide to empower them with information, knowledge and wisdom to improve their quality of life? The UCP uses the convergence of technologies to bring development to the people using natural resources optimally for the generations to come.

My visualization of the UCP structure links the following:

1. 1. Natural Resources
2. 2. Information and Communication
3. 3. Convergence of Technologies
4. 4. Societal Business Model
5. 5. Applications
6. 6. Users

Now let us discuss in detail how sustainable development can be achieved in a given User Community Pyramid. There are many national initiatives at work on the ground with the help of technologies to protect the environment and bring about sustainable development, for instance:

• Sustainability for safe drinking water and water for irrigation
• Reducing pollution using technology and best practices
• Adopting more renewable energy resources to reduce dependency on fossil fuels
• Managing mobile resources so that they do not affect the environment and lead to further deterioration of health and environment
• Enrich biodiversity, thereby bringing peace and economic prosperity to the nation.

The objective of the UCP is to focus these initiatives towards the lasting benefit of the user community.

The components of the UCP are as follows:

User Community Pyramid

Bottom of the Pyramid: The users are called the Bottom of the Pyramid in the UCPthey are the vital link for all economic activities and the beneficiaries of sustainable development.

Resources: Natural resources are the basis for sustainable development. We have natural resources such as the sea, land, rivers, mountains, forests and climate change. Sustainable development in every aspect of the above is essential in promoting and protecting the environment. We have been using the natural resources for human development with the help of science and technology and their applications. But at the same time, we have been polluting the environment in the form of carbon dioxide emissions, deforestation, polluting the land, sea and rivers with industrial and municipal waste and fertilizers. Today, the earths natural resources are dwindling and the environment is polluted, leading to global warming.