Aatm Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan

On 12th May, PM Narendra Modi in his address to the nation, stressed about “Aatmnirbhar Bharat” or “Self-reliant Bharat” that will ensure that the progress of the country is not hindered by a Corona Virus type situation which has brought almost every country to a standstill, thanks to the great “efforts” of China and it’s partner in crime “WHO”. The PM while unveiling a mega package of 20 lakh crore, also mentioned the five pillars of Self-Reliant Bharat vis; economy, infrastructure, system, democracy, and demand.

On 12th May, PM Narendra Modi in his address to the nation, stressed about “Aatmnirbhar Bharat” or “Self-reliant Bharat” that will ensure that the progress of the country is not hindered by a Corona Virus type situation which has brought almost every country to a standstill, thanks to the great “efforts” of China and it’s partner in crime “WHO”. The PM while unveiling a mega package of 20 lakh crore, also mentioned the five pillars of Self-Reliant Bharat vis; economy, infrastructure, system, democracy, and demand.

Lockdown was essential and there no ifs and buts about it. With no cure or vaccine in sight, the only solution to beat this is to maintain some distance between each other. The implementation of social distancing norms in the world’s second-largest populated country is a mammoth task for any government and the current system and infrastructure has done nothing but male things difficult for many people especially for the workers who have come from far away places to earn for a living. These workers have been forced to go back to their natives and without proper transportation and communication, are left with no choice but to walk for miles with their families in this scorching heat.

It is a shame that in this era of technology and advancement, a country that dreams of being a superpower does not have a database for storing the occupation of lakhs of people. Though the Indian government started arranging “Shramik trains”, the situation was far from improving. The poor workers without proper knowledge about the help being given and lack of communication have worsened the situation. It is a reality that not all in this country has access to smartphones and cheap internet to get minute by minute update. A lot of people are mostly reliant on sources that are outside the virtual world. With such a big chunk of the society in such a pitiable condition, it is far from easy to achieve a self-reliant Bharat which is technology-driven.

Most of us remember the days where the only source of information was either the TV News channels or the newspapers. When the tsunami had struck the eastern coasts of the country, the people would mostly rely on the news channel to get more information about the places that were affected. The recent quantum leap in the manufacturing of smartphones and cheap internet (all thanks to Jio), many had access to the virtual world. But still, the major part of the society is either completely cut off from the virtual world or have very little knowledge about it. This is a big hindrance in the journey for a smart and self-reliant Bharat and the only solution to this is bringing every citizen in this country to a common stage where they have access to sufficient information about the things happening around them without any outside help and adapt to any sudden changes in situations in the future.

The government faced a major difficulty in providing quick assistance to the needy as they lacked information about the number of people affected due to the unprecedented situation. They need to build a national database where they can store valid data of every single citizen in this country. NPR was one such process which the government had planned where it would collect the information of every citizen in this country linking it with Aadhar card for validity but the recent fake and dangerous environment that followed after the passing of the CAA in parliament and the Corona crisis forced the government to shift its focus and were left with no proper data of its citizens. Hence the government without considering the criticism of a few semiliterates and so-called intellectuals should focus on building a database that will also help in formulating schemes for the poor.

The government faced a major difficulty in providing quick assistance to the needy as they lacked information about the number of people affected due to the unprecedented situation. They need to build a national database where they can store valid data of every single citizen in this country. NPR was one such process which the government had planned where it would collect the information of every citizen in this country linking it with Aadhar card for validity but the recent fake and dangerous environment that followed after the passing of the CAA in parliament and the Corona crisis forced the government to shift its focus and were left with no proper data of its citizens. Hence the government without considering the criticism of a few semiliterates and so-called intellectuals should focus on building a database that will also help in formulating schemes for the poor.

Can India boycott China?

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The fact of India not continuing trade with China torments the former’s economy. China is one of the largest trading partners with India with an estimate of $16.34 billion in exports and $68.06 billion in imports for the FY17. The imports from China had considerably decreased by 15% from the FY18 due to anti-dumping duties, and the number stands at $65.1 billion for FY20. However, the exports have gained a minuscule percentage and stand at $16.6 billion for FY20.

The dependence of Indian automobile, pharmaceutical industries on the raw materials, available at low cost, from China possess a problem to boycott the Chinese products. Over a quarter of India’s auto parts imports have come from China in 2019 amounting to $4.2 billion. These are crucial parts in the manufacturing process, without which the development of costly alternatives aggravates the local business and profits, says the automobile manufacturing groups. “The imports from China directly contribute to over 30% of India’s aggregate trade deficit.” says Suman Chowdhury, from Acuité Ratings & Research. Thus, the dependence of domestic economy on the imports from China is quite significant.

The report by S&P Global Ratings on 26 June predicts that the Indian economy is in deep trouble, with difficulty in containing the virus, its growth is expected to fall by 5% this fiscal. With such a taxing scenario on the business front, India cannot immediately cut the trading ties with its Asian business partner.

The ban of Chinese mobile apps, though a welcoming step, it serves a diminutive effect on the ongoing bilateral issues and the trade between the two nations. However, further steps are, and should be, under consideration.

                  Copyright by Ashutosh Kumar