ATMANIRBHAR BHARAT: INDIAN CONSTITUTION AND DEMOCRACY ARE THE BIGGEST ENABLERS
- Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan (Self Reliant India) is a program launched by our honorable prime minister of India, Modi, on 12 May 2020. This program is worth Rs. 20 lakh for the agriculture sector, secondary sector, and tertiary sector of our country will focus on promoting local products, which also highlights one more program, “Make In India.” In this program, the agriculture sector is taken as a major area of development and improvement. In the primary sector, the objective of reforms is “one nation, one market” and help India become the food factory in the world. These would help in making a self-reliant rural economy. In the secondary sector MSMEs (Ministry of Micro, small and medium enterprises) given importance for economy, the 3 lakh crores collateral-free loan facility for MSMEs under the package will help this finance-starved sector and thereby provide a start to the dismal state of the economy. In the tertiary sector, the government has adopted a balanced approach in addressing concerns across sectors. Example: PM e-vidya program for multi-mode access to digital online education. Public health expenditure will be increased by investing in grass-root health institutions and health and wellness centers in rural and urban areas. All of these improvements are possible due to our flexible and rigid Indian constitution, which enables the government to work and make policies to achieve goals and aspirations and ensure society's wellbeing.
- What are the problems for which the Atmanirbhar Bharat program has been launched? Let’s understand it with an example of China as foreign investors in India: our trade deficit with only china is 50 billion+ (a) India’s total imports with china are 5 times more than our exports to China. This is because India is a big market for foreign investment, and local manufacturers lack the oversupply of commodities. Example: According to ASSOCHAM (The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India), 40% of Indian toy-making companies have been closed in the last 5 y, ears, and 20% are on the verge of closure. 80% of the toys come from china worth rupees, almost 4500crore. Government can’t ban outright imports because of the policies of the WTO (world trade organization). (b)Medicine: India makes the world’s 22% of the generic medicine, but 70% of raw material comes from China. India can’t take a vitamin C tablet from scratch. (c) Electronics: India lacks skilled labor, lacking in investment and research; mobiles are not made in India. They are just assembled in India. Its parts are imported from outside countries. (d) Ease of doing business: India stands at 63rd position in this. In India, to open a single restaurant, we need 11 separate licenses. The atmosphere in India is not so business-friendly. (e) During the coronavirus pandemic, 56 companies stopped trading with china, of which only 3 come to India; why? Because India lacks infrastructure, labor is costly; the land is expensive, warehousing facilities are poor, the power supply is irregular and expensive, labor laws are complicated. India pays 2548crore to foreign countries for footwear, 6248crore to foreign countries for furniture imports.
- Why is this program launched what government wants to do? (a) In April 2020- The government change the FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) rules so that no bordering nation can take advantage of the low share prices and become the company's owner. (b) The government has identified 12 sectors where India can become self-reliant. There are 52 bulk drugs which Indian imports and their substitute is available in India. India wants to set up bulk drug parks to manufacture drugs in India itself.
Recently IIT develops COVID ventilators, which are 90% cheaper than imports. It’s time to commercialize these commodities and start manufacturing them in India. In the next 5 years, India aims to give incentives worth Rs. 40,000crores to companies to make and export mobile phones from India. The government launched electronic Mfg. Scheme 2.0 to get 5 top global players. Globally 5-6 firms control 80% of the mobile market. We initially plan to pick-up five global champions that will be permitted to participate under PLI (performance-linked incentive). We also want to make national champions so that we will incentivize five Indian companies as well, “said Ravi Shankar Prasad,” minister of electronics and IT.
- As democracy is all about people, what can we do to support this program? Whenever we buy something, we should always go for Indian brands, and if we need any product and there is no alternative to it, there is no problem buying it. But before buying any imported product, ask to think and ask yourself if you really need it. Because we have to minimize the purchase of foreign products and support local products, only we can make this program successful.
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