Kalam's mantra: Children can be tools to remove corruption

Amid a raging debate on steps to check corruption, former President APJ Abdul Kalam on Tuesday said if children dared to question parents about their source of income and refused to travel by vehicles acquired through corrupt means, India would gradually become a corruption-free country in short time.

Replying to a question on the issue during an interactive session with students in Coimbatore, Kalam quoted a survey and said India has a population of over one billion, who live in 200 million houses, with each house having a five-member family-- parents and children.

"The survey revealed that 30 per cent of the houses, about 60 million -- were reportedly acquired through corrupt means," he said and asked the students to be brave enough to ask their parents the source of income and refuse to go in a car, purchased by "corrupt money".

This could be the one solution to erase corruption, he said.

Another major thing was the quality of a human being, which can be created only by young people -- sons or daughters, who can change their parents' character.

"Use this tool and find the change for yourselves, there would not be corruption," he said. To a question on quality of Indian Institutes of Technology students, he said since the number of IITs had suddenly gone up in the last few years, there were not enough trained teachers.

"We need good teachers to train teachers and the students also."

On the food situation, Kalam said India would definitely produce 400 million tonnes of foodgrains in 2020, as the country was able to produce 235 million tonnes from 50 million tonnes some five decades ago, to meet the larger demand.

This can be achieved by another green revolution, he said. To a question on poverty line, Kalam said the planning commission has given the figure of 300 million as below poverty line.

If India's GDP managed to grow at 10 per cent and sustained for nine years, the country would become a developed country, without any line for poverty.