Date:03/08/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/08/03/stories/2008080354730500.htm

Andhra Pradesh

Kalam backs nuke deal

Staff Reporter

Patighanpur (Medak): Former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam said that the nuclear deal is good for the country as the alternative fuel thorium requires to be upgraded.

Responding to a query by Manasa, a tenth standard student from CAP (Community and Progress) foundation here, he said: “Even though India has second largest thorium reserves in the world, we need more fast breeder reactors to upgrade the material for fission.

Till then we need Uranium to take care of power needs,” he said.

Dr. Kalam addressing the CAP foundation students and Trainees of Teen Channel’s Ek Mouka programme pointed out that every year the 300-odd universities and other educational centres in the country are churning out 1 crore unemployed youth. Quoting from Indian labour report (2007) he said that at least 53 per cent of them are “unfinished products” who lack soft skills.

He estimated that the country requires 540 million young men and women equipped with necessary skills to transform the country into a developed nation by year 2020.

However, Kalam stressed the need for research in agriculture.