India can't meditate when others are making N-weapons: APJ Abdul Kalam

Justifying India's manufacture of nuclear weapons, former President APJ Abdul Kalam today said when the countries around India were making such weapons, the nation "cannot sit and meditate."

Kalam, however, said India was not for the first use of such weapons and if anyone attempted to use one against us, the country should be prepared to face it.

However, he said, "We cannot keep quiet, if anybody attacks with a nuclear missile," Kalam said.

The former President was responding to a question by a student at the Youth Meet 2011 Rise to Achieve organised by AJK Institutions on the city outskirts, that when India was following Gandhian principles where was the need for it to manufacture nuclear weapons.

Asked by a girl student on the steps that could be taken to prevent the increasing sexual attacks on women in the country, Kalam said there was a need to have a value system in education. "There should be good teachers to teach high morals and build a fine character, so that such incidents gradually decrease," he said.

Addressing over 3,000 students from various colleges in and around Coimbatore and nearby Kerala, Kalam said the over 600 million youth in India have a "lot to contribute" in making the country a superpower by 2020.

Of all resources, youth was the most powerful resource for a nation, he said.

"You should have the confidence. I can do it, we can do it and India will do it," Kalam said.

He also listed four criteria for builing a unique personality: "have an aim in life, continuously acquire the knowledge, work hard and persevere to realise the great life."