Shiv Kumar Padha
According to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, “Many global banks have become local and the local manufactures global.” Be vocal for local is a sequel and Indian equivalent for US president Trumps ‘America First.’ It is a universal truth that the nations which do not take lesson from history either perish or have to pay heavy price after wards.
India is the country which has been gifted with large deposits of metals, minerals from iron to gold, uranium to platinum. Bedsides this the bountiful nature has rewarded India with enormous natural wealth in the shape of forests, flora and fauna, long rivers, which, if utilized judiciously and properly, can steer the nation towards self sufficiency and help elevate the economic standard of the poor. Indian major and small scale industries have been catering to the needs of both its citizen and other neighboring countries. The traditional vocations like carpentry, Iron foundary forgery, making agriculture implements, woolen blankets and tweeds, bamboo products, utencil making, shawls, embroidery, which satisfied local needs have not only vanished from India but the youth from these families have divorced the vocation forever. Disappointed over the dependence of the country on the foreign goods, from cell phone to the war planes, our visionary, far sighted and perceptive Prime Minister gave slogan like Make In India, Startup India and now Be Vocal for Local in order to inculcate feeling of self reliance by reducing the dependence on foreign goods.
Going back to history, the Swadeshi movement was in protest against the decision of Lord Curzon who divided Bengal in 1903 and which was made public in 1905. It called for the boycott of all the British goods and buy Indian products in order to instill a sense of self reliance. The British East India company compelled Indian farmers to grow indigo and cotton and exported it to Britania from where well finished cotton cloth was imported in India which, being cheap, were preferred by the Indians which resulted into the shortage of the raw material and destruction of the Khadi industry in India. The unemployment in the weavers and the producers of cotton and indigo resulted into starvation. The world famous Muslin cloth of Dhaka (Dhaka Ki Malmal) also fell prey to the vicious cycle of British trade. Some nationalist leaders like Bal Ganga Dhar Tilak, Lala Lajpat Rai, Chidambram Pillai and Aurovindo Ghosh fought against this attitude of the East India Company which Mahatma Gandhi joined later on in 1921 who gave a call to boycott the foreign goods. On the call of Mahatma, people burnt British goods in the bone-fires. No doubt the economy of many developed and super power countries depend upon the import of Indian manufactured goods which prove suitable, cheap and qualitative on their parameters. But the inclination, dependence and tendency of Indian market towards the Chinese goods have been proving fatal for the survival of Indian manufacturers.
Many Indian traders, tempted by the design, affordable cost, profit margin, are preferring Chinese goods blindly un aware of the fact that the material which the Chinese use in the manufacture of goods is of lowest quality as whole of the material used is recycled whereas the ingredients used in the manufacture of the eatables is extracted from the human waste like human urine collected from different educational institutes and other places. As such the Chinese goods are hygienically dangerous and hazardous for the lives that use them. China, In order to become world’s trade hub and biggest exporter in the world, has conquered the world market with the result the local manufacturers of developing countries have closed their industries and are completely relying upon the goods imported from China. China is manufacturing all the goods from an ordinary paper kite to that used in every kitchen, bath room, house hold, sophisticated electronic gadgets, computers used in the medical, defense and space research institutes and IT sector which are always prone to cyber espionage .
Even the ordinary articles like electric lightings, cables switch gears carrying no guarantee are being imported in the country brazenly. We in India know how the innocent children have been losing their lives every year while flying kites with the China made thread Maza.
After Make in India and Start up India our Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called upon the nation to go vocal for Local. The resolve to boost domestic manufacturing is commendable. Prime Minister’s recent sales pitch of Vocal about Local is the Indian equivalent of US President Donald Trump ‘America First’. The Prime Minister urged the people of India to believe in and purchase local products in order to strengthen the economy of the country. According to him India’s local products have helped the country immensely in tackling the Coronavirus crisis.
Para military (CAPFs) canteens have been directed to sell only Made in India products from June 1 or they can sell those non-local products which are manufactured in India, with Indian raw material grown in Indian farms and where the laborers involved are from India. Like Japan which is known for the electronic gadgets like musical systems LEDs, automobiles etc. India is famous for its hosiery, woolen clothes, fabrics, auto mobiles, foot bears of Agra and Kanpur, Cotton cloth from DCM, JCT Phagwara, Diamond Industries of Gujarat, Southern Sarees and the endless products but being the biggest nation needs much to be manufactured in the local sector. While addressing a gathering in Manna village on the Indo China border in Uttarakhand, Pm Modi emphasized upon the tourists to utilize 5 per cent of their travel budget to buy the local products so that the local skill and craftsmanship gets encouraged.
This is the only way we as nation can follow the slogan given by Prime Minister, establish the local trade and give a wide publicity to it which can ensure job to every hand and self reliance for the nation.
(The author is a
social activist from Basohli).