IndiaPost.com

Kalam for another green revolution
Sunday, 05.04.2008, 11:06pm (GMT-7)

COIMBATORE: Former President Dr A P J Abdul Kalam said the country required another green revolution with the stress on value addition and marketing.

Farmers should get involved from seed to marketing in this type of revolution, he said while talking about food security during an interactive session at a function organized by the local chapter of the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

He also cautioned against using agricultural land for cultivating bio-fuel crops, saying it could lead to a crisis among the farming community. The country has 170 million hectare of cultivable land and 90 million hectare of waste land.

However, nothing big has been done for developing waste land, due to acute shortage of water, he said replying a question by a young industrialist. To a question on energy security, Kalam said, "there is no meaning (for me) in energy security.

Instead it should be energy independence," he said. The country required energy Independence for economic growth and necessary power can be generated from solar and nuclear--not uranium based, but thorium based, and also bio fuel, the missile-scientist said.

Earlier, Kalam exhorted the industrialists to work with integrity and evolve national ethics to sustain economic prosperity.

PTI