President emphasises on solar, thorium and bio fuel energy

Mumbai, Dec 23 (UNI) President Dr A P J Abdul Kalam today stressed on the need to concentrate and develop solar energy, thorium based reactors and bio fuel to attain energy independence by 2020.

Inaugurating a PanIIT 2006 convention here, Dr Kalam said the age of oil and natural gas would be over within the next few decades and as per the predictions of the world energy forum, fossil based oil, coal and gas reserves will last for another 5-10 decades only.

In this situation, solar energy, use of thorium which is abundant in India as well as bio fuel like jatropa plants would prove to be the best alternative as the source of energy, he said.

Speaking about the ''The borderless world of technologies'', the President said India was well on its way to becoming a knowledge power, ''there is allround growth in all sectors of the economy namely the agriculture, manufacturing and services.'' ''Thus we have an opportunity to take the leadership into the knowledge revolution. Knowledge revolution is indeed the foundation for making India into a Developed Nation,'' he observed.

''With the ascending trajectory of the economy, availability of great institutions for capacity building of the human resource, abundant bio-diversity, other natural resources and the availability of massive youth power, we can take the nation to new heights,'' he added.

The President, a veteran scientist, said Information Technology combined with bio-technology has led to bio-informatics.

''Nano-technology is knocking at our doors. It is the field of the future that will replace microelectronics and many fields with tremendous application potential in the areas of medicine, electronics and material science,'' Dr Kalam said.

It can be said that material convergence will happen and with material convergence and biotechnology linked, a new science called Intelligent Bioscience will be born which would lead to a disease free, happy and more intelligent human habitat with longevity and high human capabilities, he added.

Convergence of bio-nano-info technologies can lead to the development of nano robots. Nano robot, when injected into a patient, will diagnose and deliver the treatment exclusively in the affected area and then the nano-robot gets digested as it is a DNA based product, he said.

Convergence of ICT, aerospace and Nano technologies will emerge and revolutionize the aerospace industry and electronics, leading to nano computing systems. This technological convergence will enable building of cost effective low weight, high payload and highly reliable aerospace systems, which can be used for inter-planetary transportation, he pointed out.

Bioinformatics data play a vital role and is emerging as a business model for the medical and pharmaceutical sector, he said.

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