"The deal is important to meet the nation's energy needs," Kalam said in is reply to a question raised by former city mayor Bharti Vyas during a function here. Vyas asked whether India should also list its requirements like China had done before inking the deal.

Kalam said, "Uranium, a naturally scarce material, is available in very less amount while thorium is not scarce. We need to continue with uranium-based reactors for at least the next five years that is till we are ready with our own thorium-based reactors."

He was here fielding questions after his address at the centenary celebrations of Alembic, the oldest Indian pharmaceutical company. Later in the afternoon, Kalam attended a celebration to mark 60 years of Birla Vishvakarma Mahavidyalaya (BVM), Engineering College in Vallabh Vidyanagar, along with Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

Talking on the 'Dimensions of Healthcare', Kalam urged Alembic to focus on advanced research on drugs. "Since the company is producing erythromycin for over 35 years, it's necessary to collect the clinical data from various users to know whether the Indian population has attained immunity against the medicine, particularly the second generation users," he said.

He further said development of anti-malarial drug using Artemisia annua is another area where Alembic researchers can work. He said extensive research and development of new drugs should ensure that the replacement of product is planned well in advance to counter international competition.

Advanced Macrolides-based antibiotics and application of nano technology for increasing the bio availability of drug with targeted delivery are other areas of research where Alembic can collaborate with Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow and National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research and Post-Graduate Institute of Medicine, Chandigarh.

Former Prez pitches for multimedia broadcasting in trains
In what could be the 'best learning session' for the budding Indian Railways managers and Railway Staff College faculty, former President APJ Abdul Kalam pronounced his Railway Vision 2030 here on Monday. He forwarded proposals like a Satellite-Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (S-DMB) system allowing radio broadcasting, television and Internet communication in moving trains, and multi-layered train stations equipped with separate entry and exit mechanisms.

Suggesting the launching of a joint project by the Railways and ISRO to introduce the S-DMB system, he said, "The system will lead to monitoring, tracking, alerting, television news and announcement system in trains, which will make the passengers feel not being cut off from the world."

For farmers, he stressed upon the need for mobile chilling plants in trains to enable them to move their produce. He called for fixing communication systems to replace the chain-pulling system, which is frequently misused by criminals rather than passengers.