Union Minister Piyush Goyal who holds several key portfolios of Commerce and Industry, Railways, Consumer Affairs and Food & Public Distribution, said that Aatmanirbhar Bharat is about opening India’s doors wider so that India engages with the world from a position of strength and on equal, fair & reciprocal terms.
The Minister while delivering the keynote address at SwarajyaMag’s programme titled, ‘The Vision & Philosophy of AatmaNirbhar Bharat’, said “when we talk of Aatmanirbhar Bharat, the effort is India should focus its energies to create what we can within the country, learn from experiences across the world, bring best of technologies to India, attract capital, skills & high-quality education & healthcare.” He added that technology will play an important role in achieving Aatmanirbhar Bharat and that the government will support start-ups & industry in expanding technology ecosystem.
Minister Goyal said that the dream of Aatmanirbhar Bharat can become a reality only if we follow Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s clarion call of Vocal for Local. Stating that Aatmanirbhar Bharat is possible only with jan-bhaagidaari (people’s participation), he said that Aatmanirbhar Bharat will be a reality but needs the active participation of each citizen. Inviting all to be a part of this journey of a self-reliant India, an economic powerhouse, the Minister said “If we move with determination, enthusiasm & speed, I have no doubt we will be certainly successful in our goal of an Aatmanirbhar Bharat. When you talk of dharma, any of our old legacies & cultural heritage, it always reflects a little bit of focus on: – Aatmanirbhar Individual – Aatmanirbhar Society – Aatmanirbhar Nation. The onus of AatmanirbharBharat is on all of us collectively.”
The Union Minister also said that India must look to leverage Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with countries with whom it has a transparent trading mechanism and work with transparent business systems, whom India can engage with from a position of strength for certain products. He said that India should focus its energy on doing FTAs with developed countries who are looking for market access in the large Indian markets, but who can also provide us with high technology products while opening the doors in their countries for products where India has strength.
The Minister said that one of the primary reasons that India could not join RCEP was that some of the countries in RCEP were not democratic and lacked transparent trading systems. “One does have to be cautious when dealing with a partner who does not give a level playing field or reciprocal access”, he said.
Mr. Goyal said that the Prime Minister intends to prepare India to become a global player in resilient supply chains. He said that India should emerge as a trusted partner, when like-minded countries are looking to expand trade or looking for alternate sources for the manufacture of their goods & provision of services.
“In manufacturing & production, we are looking at high quality & high productivity levels” the Minister said adding that that ‘Quality’ & ‘Productivity’ will be hallmarks of India’s future manufacturing industry.
He also called upon preparing India and inculcating in every Indian the nationalist spirit of supporting India & Indian production, as well as making India a well-respected manufacturer of goods & provider of services. He said that the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) programme, which has been expanded to 10 more sectors, will help over 3 crore people in getting well-paying jobs, both formal & informal. It will help entrepreneurs get incentives in the support ecosystem, he added. “We are identifying more & more sectors which may need de-regulation, hand-holding & some other form of support & incentive. We are working in close partnership with Industry to define & determine areas where India has competitive advantage & has the capability to make for the world. We are working to make India a proud & self-reliant nation serving people of India & the world. We have received strong directions from PM to work on making it easier to do business in India. Preparing a framework for the enforcement of contracts is a very critical aspect of our work. We are focused on efforts to make it easier to do business. We are working on Genuine Single Window System.”, the Minister said.
Talking about the farmers, he said “We are now preparing the country and our farmers to become stronger and get the ability to market their product anywhere in the country. Our farmers have made us self-sufficient in food grains. We are now looking at strengthening the hands of farmers”.
About Indian Railways, the Minister said that the sector is now looking at the next level of development. “We are looking for more & more Indian suppliers for everything that Railway needs. Today, Railway only procures under 2% of the current procurement from outside the country & we plan to replace that 2% also with Indian products. We will be completely electrified by December 2023. We plan to invest in 20 GW of renewable energy to become net-zero carbon emitter by 2030.”
(With inputs from PIB)