The Hindu Business Line : Help poor, Kalam tells entrepreneurs

The President, Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, flanked by the Chairman and Managing Director, Reliance Industries Ltd, Mr Mukesh Ambani, and the Vice-Chairman and MD, Mr Anil Ambani, at the Dhirubhai Ambani Memorial Lecture in Mumbai on Sunday.

MUMBAI, July 6

THE President, two Union Ministers, three Chief Ministers, one former Chief Minister, one Deputy Chief Minister, the leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and India's most famous film star studded the dais at the first Dhirubhai Ambani memorial lecture here today.

Speaker after speaker showered praise on the late Dhirubhai Ambani, with the Chief Minister of Maharashtra even announcing that his State would henceforth observe July 6 (the day Dhirubhai died) as `Young Entrepreneurs Day'.

The President, Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, directed a large part of his speech at the entrepreneurs gathered in the hall, choosing the theme of `Growth in Life' for his lecture.

He said the entrepreneurs could do something for India's 260 million people who live below the poverty line and for the rural population, numbering 700 million.

Without the upliftment of these people, the State cannot develop.

Three measures could lead to rural development:

The first is provision of physical connectivity for villages in the form of roads and transport services.

The second is electronic connectivity, which would allow for e-governance, and the third is "knowledge connectivity," which could be provided through vocational and other training centres for villagers. Each entrepreneur could do something or a group of entrepreneurs could get together for the purpose, said Dr Kalam.

The Planning Commission has identified five key areas through which to address the development programme of the country.

These areas are agriculture and food processing, health and education, communication and information technology, infrastructure (water management and supply in particular), and, last, self-sufficiency in critical technology.

Later in the day, the President, speaking at a symposium on energy, environment and sustainable development, said the country should focus more on solar and nuclear energy, to meet its growing energy demands.

Forty per cent of the energy produced is lost through theft, lost in transmission or bad management, he noted.

The symposium was organised by the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research.

The President told the delegates that they must consider these issues before embarking on new conventional projects.

Referring to the plan to network the country's rivers, he said this could unlock 50,000 to 60,000 MW of power for the country.

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