Kalam calls for an enlightened society to fight terrorism

Chandigarh, Mar 7 (UNI) Expressing serious concern about the growth of terrorism and low intensity warfare, President A P J Abdul Kalam today called for creation of a ''happy, prosperous and safe planet earth''.

''Terrorism can be eliminated by an enlightened society which believes in education with value system, religion transforming into spirituality and economic development for societal transformation'', he said while addressing the 56th annual convocation of the Punjab University here.

Referring to economic development, Dr Kalam pointed out that a vast majority of the country's population was still living below the poverty line. They need education, habitat, health care, and creation of employment potential, he said while refering to his vision of transforming India into a developed nation by the year 2020.

The areas that the country needs to lay stress on are agriculture and food processing, education and healthcare, information and communication technology, infrastructure development such as power, transportation and communication and providing urban amenities in rural areas, he said. These areas are closely inter-related and if implemented in a coordinated way, will lead to food and economic security and national security, he added.

Dr Kalam called for a strong partnership among the R and D, academy, industry and the community as a whole with the government departments to accomplish the vision for a developed India. India's GDP was growing at an average rate of eight per cent annually but to remove poverty of 220 million people, the GDP has to grow at the rate of 10 percent per annum consistently for over a decade, he pointed out.

''One of the components through which the rural-urban divide will be bridged and prosperity will be brought is Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas (PURA) in seven thousand clusters'', he added, while stressing that the quality of life of large number of people, particularly in the rural areas and even in urban areas needed to be improved.

''All our efforts in improving the national economic performance should be guided by the measured National Prosperity Index (NPI) of the nation at any point of time'', he said.

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