Srinagar: President A P J Abdul Kalam suggested that the country try to attain self-reliance in technology to avoid technological and economic sanctions that were imposed on it in the past.

"After attaining nuclear independence, the country now needs technological self-reliance to avoid repetition of technological and economic sanctions that were imposed on it in the past," he said in an apparent reference to the punitive measures taken against India after 1998 Pokhran nuclear tests.

"For that, we need motivated leadership, proper planning and determination to succeed," he said addressing students of the National Institute of Technology in Srinagar.

He said 260 million people of the country live below poverty line and exhorted the youth to work towards their uplift.

For the economic development of rural areas, where 70 per cent of the country's population lives, three kinds of connectivities were required, he said. "We need physical connectivity-roads, knowledge connectivity- schools and electronic connectivity-Information Technology and internet kiosks. It will automatically lead to economic prosperity."