GAUHATI, India (AP) — Former Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, known as the father of the country's military missile program, died Monday after collapsing while delivering a lecture, a top state official said. He was 83.
The president from 2002 until 2007, he was a scientist and science administrator for four decades before that, mainly at the state-run Defense Research and Development Organization and the Indian Space Research Organization. He played a key organizational and technical role in India's nuclear program.
He also served as a scientific adviser to the prime minister.
Kalam fell sick Monday while addressing the students of the Indian Institute of Management in the Meghalaya state capital, Shillong, said P.B. Warjri, chief secretary of the state. He was rushed to the hospital, but was declared dead after doctors could not revive him, Warjri said.
The federal government would declare national mourning for seven days for him, said federal Home Secretary L.C. Goyal.
