Bhubaneswar: Former President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam appealed to school children to be unique and work dedicatedly in the field of science and technology. Inaugurating the Children Science Congress on the sidelines of 99th Indian Science Congress at Bhubaneswar, Dr. Kalam answered a number of questions raised by children.

Replying to a question on how he managed to balance science and politics when he was the President of India, Kalam said, "Science needs lots of money and money comes from politicians." Defending expenditure on defence programmes he expressed, "I personally feel science is for people who have the capacity to do that and you can select science or humanity."

He also replied to question on science, space and missile technology. "Earth, Moon and Mars will become economic entity in next three decades and we will be seeking lot of things from there," he added.

The 99th edition of ISC was inaugurated by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday.

More than 15,000 delegates, including scientists and students, are participating in the Jan 3-7, 2012 event being held at the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT University). The theme of the conference is "Science and Technology for Inclusive Innovation - Role of Women".

The five-day event will see technical sessions, plenary sessions, vision talks, panel discussions, public lectures, a 'Pride of India' expo and other programmes. Besides the emphasis on women and children, the other issue in focus at the Congress would be missiles.

India's premier military weapons developer, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), will display models of the Agni, Prithvi, Nag, Akash, BrahMos and Astra missiles.