Increasing seats will not serve purpose of reservation : Kalam

Kolkata, Dec 6 (UNI) President A P J Abdul Kalam today said increasing the number of seats in higher educational institutions would not serve the purpose of reservation.

''I think reservation can be made meaningless by increasing the number of seats in the medical and management institutions. There are 30,000 engineering seats lying vacant,'' he said during an interaction with students after the closing ceremony of the sesquicentennial celebrations of the Calcutta Girls High School here.

This was the first time that the President made public his view on increasing quota in higher educational institutions that sparked off widespread controversies.

In reply to another question, Mr Kalam called for shifting the country's focus to energy independence from energy security by harnessing solar, nuclear and bio energy.

''We should graduate to energy independence by increasing the use of solar, nuclear and biological energy. It will be good for the environment,'' he said.

The President said he was against human cloning because it infringed on the ''genetic engineering'' by the God.''Cloning of human body components should be encouraged only to help those needing transplants,'' he said.

Referring to the role of women in instilling values in children, the President said, ''you can build a value - system in a child up to the age of 17. This is best done by women.'' He observed that imparting values was best done in joint families and it proved difficult in a nuclear family.

The focus of both working and non-working women should be on englightening their children, he added.

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