Ahmedabad: Former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam is all set to start his classes at the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A) on Saturday. Reducing the urban-rural divide, energy security and water conservation are some of the key themes he will be addressing.

A batch of 70 students have been admitted to the course 'Globalising a Resurgent India through Innovative Transformation' (GRIT), which will be taught by Kalam. The special course, which is in tune with Kalam's vision for India-2020, is for second year students of the postgraduate programme for executives, the postgraduate programme in agri-business management and for foreign students.

The course has been designed by IIM-A professor Anil K. Gupta and Kalam.

Gupta said that the vision for India 2020 may need a re-look in light of challenges that growth impulses are throwing up. The increasing aspirations of socially disadvantaged groups have to be accommodated in a peaceful and cooperative manner. Social divides in several parts of the country require new ways of dealing with disquiet and dissent, the professor said.

The GRIT course has 10 themes on which a student would have to primarily build upon, he said.

"The themes are highly motivating. For instance, one of the themes is reducing urban-rural divide, the second is about energy security and third is about water conservation and the fourth is about governance with discrimination. These 10 issues are all basic issues relating to governance and policy-making, synergy between agriculture, industry and service sectors," Gupta explained.

Kalam will guide the students individually as well as in groups.

After initial lectures, students would be expected to submit project proposals and if necessary on specific policy and institutional changes. The faculty would comment on these proposals and the project teams would be enabled to consult subject matter specialists through invited lectures and interactions.

The final reports will be presented in open sessions in which other faculty members and students may also be invited to ask questions and make comments. The reports will be revised and those of outstanding quality may be published for wider debate every year.

Kalam's teaching stint will last till Nov 27. IANS