President A P J Abdul Kalam on Monday suggested widening the ambit of Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (REGS), which primarily caters to manual labour, to include knowledge-based employment.

"We have to think how we can make part of this employment (under REGS) as knowledge-based creative employment," he said at a ceremony to honour rural innovators with the biennial National Innovation Foundation Awards.

Kalam said the innovators in the rural settings can be mobilised to create a knowledge map of the best practices in the village in respect of areas like agriculture, animal husbandry, herbal medecines, environment upkeep, handloom and craftsmanship.

He said during his visits to villages across the country he had observed that each had a specialised way of making various products.

"Such traditional innovative products have to be added with technology to make them nationally and internationally competitive," he said.

Noting that rural innovators normally do not have exposure to the need of potential customers, Kalam said local engineering institutes could be roped in to coordinate support for innovators.

"This type of localised support will ensure creation and faster delivery of nationally and internationally acceptable products by our craftsman and innovators in rural areas," he said.

The National Innovation Foundation has been involved in bringing to the fore rural innovations and awarding the best among them once in two years.

Kalam also suggested that the Department of Science and Technology should create an unique organisation called 'Innovation Products Exports Promotion Organisation' which will coordinate the support needed for provision of technology by local technical institutions.

"What we need is a national mission for nurturing innovation through provision of technological support, funding, identification of market, entrepreneurship to produce in a competitive basis to serve the national and international market," he said.

Kalam said the DST can seek assistance of Entrepreneurial Management Processes International and the Engineering Export Promotion Council for providing technological and marketing support for this mission.

Kalam gave away awards to 32 innovators, who had displayed their products at an exhibition organised by the National Innovation Foundation (NIF) at the Indian Agricultural Research Insitute (IARI) in New Delhi.

DST Secretary T Ramasami announced that plans were afoot to make NIF an autonomous body under the Department of Science and Technology.

"There will be sustained investment from the government to let the organisation grow," he told reporters later.