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various positions in ISRO and DRDO – became Principal Adviser
to Government of India – received honorary doctorates from thirty
universities and the country’s three highest civilian honours –
Padma Bhushan (1981), Padma Vibhushan (1990) and Bharat
Not to be republished
Ratna (1997) – served as eleventh President of India – author
of several books: ‘Wings of Fire’ (autobiography), ‘India 2020: A
Vision for the New Millennium’, ‘Target 3Billion’, etc.

 Refer to some magazines/websites, collect some more
©KTBS
information about Dr Kalam and prepare a final copy.
Handover the final copy of the biography to your
teacher.

Project Work
Collect the biographies of famous personalities and present them
in the class.

Listening Text

I was born into a middle-class Tamil family in the island town
of Rameswaram in the erstwhile Madras state. My father Jainu-
labdeen, had neither much formal education nor much wealth;
despite these disadvantages, he possessed great innate wisdom
and a true generosity of spirit. He had an ideal helpmate in my
mother, Ashiamma. I do not recall the exact number of people
she fed every day, but I am quite certain that far more outsid-
ers were with us than all the members of our own family put
together.

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