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'Youth much powerful resource than any other'

Special Correspondent

PHOTO: PTI

RESPONDING TO THE KHWAJA'S CALL: President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam after paying obeisance at Dargah of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer on Thursday.

JAIPUR: The President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, on Thursday called for evolving enlightened and visionary leaders with the commitment to peace and progress in all walks of life to ensure empowerment of society at large along with an intelligent combination of economic prosperity and the value system.

Interacting with young students from 34 schools at a congregation here during his one-day visit to Rajasthan, Dr. Kalam affirmed that the leaders with a vision in politics, administration, religion, business, education and science could change the course of the nation and lead to the creation of enlightened citizens.

"I believe if the majority of the people become enlightened citizens, they will spread righteousness in right earnest. If they do, I am very confident that we will have a developed nation before 2020," said Dr. Kalam. The hour-long tete-a-tete with the physicist-astronomer President at Maharana Pratap Auditorium in the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan's Vidyashram School provided an opportunity to the assembly of 598 students to get an insight into the subjects ranging from mysteries of the universe to cultural values, civilisational heritage and probity in public life.

Dr. Kalam, underlining the significance of creative thinking in the mind of the young, said the 54-crore youth of the nation was a powerful resource compared to any other resource "on the earth, under the earth and above the earth". Transforming them into enlightened citizens would ensure progress of the nation, he added. Referring to the scarcity of water in Rajasthan in reply to a question, Dr. Kalam said the desert State had found an important place in the proposed ambitious project for interlinking of rivers.

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'Youth much powerful resource than any other'

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