ndia is hopeful of launching its third geo-synchronous satellite launch vehicle (GSLV) with an indigenous cryogenic engine as the Indian Space Research Organization was working on it, the former Principal Scientific Advisor to the Prime Minister, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, said here today.

During an interactive session with students at the Coimbatore Institute of Technology, Dr. Kalam said ISRO recently and this offered hopes that it could be used for the GSLV.

He was responding to a query from a student as to when India would be able to develop its own cryogenic technology rather that having to depend on other countries.

He said that over the next decade the country would enter in a big way into nuclear and solar power generation. Using nuclear energy, 1000 additional mw could be generated every year.

There was a huge thorium resource which could be used for power generation with depletion of fossil fuel, solar and nuclear energy offered ideal alternatives.

Stating that there was adequate knowledge and human resource to turn India into a developed nation, he said only lack of vision acted as a damper to progress.

"India needs high-class research laboratories to attract scientists from even developed nations" Pointing to the engineering institutions in Coimbatore and its Industrial background, he said it was an ideal place to establish such a "multi-faceted" laboratory. He suggested that three to four institutions and the industry join hands for this project.

Dr. Kalam said there was no need to worry over the brain drain from the country, as it was populous enough to produce more scientists.

To a question on the lack of job opportunities for civil engineers, he said the solution lay in utilizing whatever opportunity came one's way rather than trying to cling to a field that did not offer any. There were diverse sectors which offered employment to graduates from this discipline.

In this context, he said one of the opportunities for them was to work for prosperity in the entire nation through linking of rivers. "Like the British liked the country with the railways, a movement should be launched to have a vision for the nation. And this included linking of the rivers."

When asked whether mere warnings to Pakistan to end cross-border terrorism would do, he said "I am not an expert on this issue" But without specific reference to any State, he said if efforts were taken to ensure economic prosperity in the border States, terrorism would decline in these areas.

Earlier, addressing the Institution Day function of the CIT, Dr. Kalam exhorted the youth to prepare for a "second freedom struggle" for a "developed India".

Quoting Tamil saint-poet Tiruvalluvar, he said "A small aim is a crime" and that the youth should strive for a vision for the nation's development.