Puttaparthi: President A P J Abdul Kalam reiterated India's nuclear doctrine of "no first use" and said it was born out of the civilisation heritage of the nation.

Kalam said that when India conducted nuclear tests on May 11, 1998, he felt India could create the energy of any magnitude and he also remembered the importance of technology in the hands of good human beings.

"Fortunately, the central theme of our nuclear doctrine has become 'no first use'. It was born out of the civilisation of our heritage," Kalam said, delivering the 21st convocation address of Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, a deemed University in Puttaparthi.

Giving an example of how software solutions, knowledge and enthusiasm can work with hardware constraints, he recalled how years ago an Indian task team came out with technical solution in eight months after developed nations denied high accuracy gyros for the country's Prithvi and Agni missiles.

"We have to work for high end software which will bring more value addition. Also, VLSI (Very Large Scale Integration) foundries should be continuously upgraded to the sub micron level," he stressed.

To keep these foundries going, one of the major requirements is high purity VLSI grade silicon material, Kalam said, adding, the country should have this facility and investment should take place in the critical area.

PTI