"Country needs creative leadership with vision": Kalam

Belgaum, Feb 25 (UNI) President A P J Abdul Kalam today said that the nation needed ''creative leadership with vision''.

Addressing the students of Maratha Mandal Institution, which is celebrating its Platinum Jubilee, he said the students should have an aim in life and to achieve their goals they should acquire proper knowledge and work hard.

Dr Kalam advised the students to not be afraid of the problems they face while achieving the goals. The President gave the example of one Mr R Shanmugappa of Bangalore, who was a porter in 1970's and later turned into an entrepreneur and now has more than 1200 employees working under him. He also gave the example of his guru at ISRO, Satish Dhavan.

Later Dr Kalam had a brief interaction with the students of the Institution. Answering a query Dr Kalam said, ''we will achieve energy independence by 2050. To other queries of the students the President promised them to answer through his website.'' UNI