By IANS
New Delhi : President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Friday gave away the National Bal Shree Awards for 2006 to 22 children for their contribution to creative arts, writing and innovation in science.
Congratulating the kids, he said that India's 540 million youth have to excel in every one of their tasks in order to transform India to a developed country.
"Let me assure you that determination will lead to success," he said.
Kalam stressed that the need of the hour was the uplift of the 220 million people living below the poverty line.
"They need habitat, they need food, health care, education and employment finally resulting in a good life. Our GDP is growing at more than 9 percent per annum but economists say that to uplift the people below the poverty line, our economy has to grow at the rate of 10 percent per annum consistently, for over a decade," he said.