Five Pillars of Self-Reliant India
Magnificent ‘Self-Reliant’ India is a dream which every generation born in Independent India has lived through and fought for. Many times in the past we realized that the neglect of the ‘Self’ is the root cause of our problems, and time and again we have seen a massive urge for Swadeshi (indigenization) and Swavlamban (self-reliance) among the common people too. But in the absence of a strong political will and lack of sense of urgency, even after 70 years of Independence, these aspirations could not fulfill to that extent they should.
Today, almost every major power is calculating their damages, financial agencies are advocating moderate moves, and growing unemployment numbers are giving headache to political leaders, in between all these when a country of 1.3 billion people asserts the desire of achieving Self-Reliance, it reflects its real self-confidence and inner strength in the world. India’s Aatmanirbhar Bharat call is an indication that this time the country is not ready to deter and divert its trajectory by any sort of adversity.
Like all initiatives of the Modi government, there are some apprehensions and criticism for Self-Reliant India push too. And they have their own space in a democracy but we must recall that back in 2014 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi took the charge, the situation of our economy was in more bad shape than today. Ten years long UPA (United Progressive Alliance- a coalition of left and center-left political parties in India) rule is often remembered as one of the worst periods in the economic history of India and some people called that era (2004-14) a decade of economic destruction of the country. During that time, India was one of the members of the Fragile Five club and the global sentiment was that the ‘I’ in the BRICS would soon collapse. India has surpassed that dark phase long back and it will recover from this phase too.
To calculate what are the chances of the success of India’s Self-Reliance push one has to observe the journey of the last six years of Transforming India carefully. Today, India is perhaps one of those few countries in the world where the government and citizens both share a common sentiment for business and economic growth. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarkable win in 2019 elections has demonstrated that the people of India stand strong with a government that takes bold and revolutionary steps to improve the development and business environment of the country.
The foundation of a Self-Reliant India is based on the five pillars, which as shared by PM Modi are: Economy, Infrastructure, System or Technology-driven Systems, Demographic dividend, and Demand.
ECONOMY
“an economy that brings Quantum Jump rather than Incremental change.” PM Modi
The first and most crucial pillar of Self-Reliant India will be its Economy. To recover from the post-corona and lockdown state, India will certainly have to take the quantum leap in all key sectors and the announcement of Rs. 20 lakh crore (approx $265 billion) package, which is close to 10% of the country’s GDP, is aligned with that vision.
Any discussion on India’s economic growth is incomplete without a reference to the MSMEs sector. There are 63.4 million Micro, Small and Medium enterprise units in India (mainly in rural and semi-urban areas) which contributes around 29% to India’s GDP and 49% to its exports. The top ten states which together account for a share of 74 percent of the total MSMEs in India are- Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh. In India, MSMEs constitute around 95% of the total industries and their contributions to national income are immense, so it is natural that in the foundation of Self-Reliant India our MSMEs are going to play a BIG role as to stand tall the Self Reliant India will need a strong spine too. By keeping that in view, in the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Package, several measures have been announced to strengthen the MSMEs sector- the backbone of the economy, which provides employment to over 111 million people and produces over 8000 products, ranging from traditional to high tech precision items.
The government has revised the MSME definition too so that maximum MSMEs can be covered under the new benefits. Some important measures announced for the Covid-19 hit MSMEs sector are: Rs 3 lakh crores collateral-free automatic loans, Rs 20,000 crore subordinated debt for stressed MSMEs, Rs 50,000 crore equity infusion through MSME Fund of Funds, disallowing global tenders up to Rs200 in the public procurements, promotion of e-market linkages and Fintech, etc. and most importantly MSMEs dues from the government and CPSEs to be released within 45 days (of the announcement). These measures will certainly help the MSMEs and small businesses to cover up their corona crisis and lockdown losses.
From the beginning, MSMEs are at the top of the Modi government’s priorities. Last year itself, PM Modi launched MSME Support and Outreach program and unveiled 12 key initiatives to boost the sector’s growth which includes a 59-minute loan portal, compulsory 25 percent procurement from MSMEs by central public sector enterprises, and simplification of procedures under Companies act. The MSME sector of India is made up of hard-working and risk-taking entrepreneurs and their skilled teams. Modi government has also taken significant moves to ensure social security for the MSMEs and unorganized sector’s employees and establishing the mechanisms to provide them provident fund, pension, and insurance kind of facilities.
We have experienced how the blind imitation of western industrial practices has impacted the natural growth of our indigenous industries and how despite having a surplus of talent our traditional sectors were put on the verge of collapse. So the focus of Self-Reliant India will be to develop an industrial culture according to Bharat’s instincts, where the focus will be on developing a strong Self-Employed sector and encouraging the public and private sector players to combine their potential by working together with a National Sector spirit.
Economic Democracy
The media of every democratic country gives a lot of weight to the idea of political democracy, and the ‘right to vote’ is often propagated as the most crucial right of an individual. But is that alone is sufficient? The great visionary and ideological guide of BJP (the current ruling party of India) Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Ji formulated the concept of Economic Democracy and he wrote that “just as ‘vote to everyone’ is the criterion of the political democracy, the same way ‘work to everyone’ is the criterion of the economic democracy,” and “political democracy cannot thrive without economic democracy.”To ensure economic democracy, a country with the size of India will have to develop a more vibrant self-employed sector and will have to boost its indigenous capabilities, and entrepreneurial potential on a different scale, which needed intense reforms in the current structure, so when PM Modi gave a speech on ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ his address was more directed toward the system than the citizens.
INFRASTRUCTURE
“an infrastructure that became the identity of modern India.” PM Modi
The approach of India’s infrastructure push can be best understood by the recent statements of Mr. Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport & Highways, Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises of India, on questions related to government’s plans for the development of infrastructure post-lockdown he said: “Earlier, I had kept a target of 30 km per day for the construction of highways and we have achieved it. Now I am thinking of taking it to 60 km per day. The speed of the development of road projects should be 2-3 times faster.”
India is going to spend about $1.3 trillion on modern infrastructure (from 2020-2025). With 5.5 million km of roads, India has the world’s 2nd largest road network and one of the largest rail networks of the world (spreading over 1, 23, 236 km). In the FY 2019-20, NHAI (National Highways Authority of India) has completed the construction of 3,979 km of national highways which is the highest ever highway construction achieved in a financial year. Logistics costs have a crucial role in international trade. With Bharatmala (Road and Highways project) and Sagarmala (for Port/Maritime infrastructure) kind of grand vision in action, India is pushing hard to bring down its logistics costs to match with global average and achieving a gradual success in this too.
SYSTEM
“A system that is driven by technology which can fulfill the dreams of the 21st century; a system not based on the policy of the past century.” PM Modi
For building a transparent governance structure, enhancing the role of technology in government processes and making it an integral part of the system is crucial. We have seen when India leveraged JAM (Jan Dhan Account- Aadhaar- Mobile) trinity it solved an age-old problem of benefits transfer to millions of poor people, which also paved the way for PM KISAN, LPG subsidy transfer, pensions, and other direct benefit transfers and prevented a massive leakage in the system.
It may be surprising to many but even after 70 years of Independence, previous governments had left a larger part of the country outside the mainstream development chart, these were called the backward districts as they legged behind on almost every parameter (health, nutrition, maternal mortality rate, vaccination, education, the crisis of water/electricity/food and road connectivity, etc.) and there were some 15 crore extremely poor people in these districts mainly tribal, Dalit and backward. It seems that only by tagging these districts as ‘backward’, earlier governments assumed that they have done their job. But Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided to tackle this challenge too. He changed not just the tag of these districts from backward to ‘Aspirational Districts’ but reformed the entire approach of the government machinery too. Now the government is developing these 112 aspirational districts on every parameter of governance and development and there is a conviction that India’s overall development parameters will get a big push from the improvement of these districts.
Without an all-round development of these aspirational districts, the objectives of Self-Reliant India can never be met. And technology-driven processes are going to play a crucial role in lifting the aspirations of these districts to a new level.
DEMOGRAPHY
“Our Vibrant Demography is our strength in the world’s largest democracy, our source of energy for self-reliant India.” PM Modi
Youth power has the potential to change the fate of every country. India is the youngest nation of the world, 65% of its population is below the age of 35. Empowered through Startup India, Standup India, Common Service Centres, Atal Innovation Mission, network of hundreds of ‘Atal Tinkering’ labs across the country, Skill India, and Village level entrepreneurs kind of initiatives, these young minds are enthusiastic to play a much larger role beyond traditional path. From the beginning, PM Modi has inspired the youths of the country to take charge of New India in their hands as they have the potential to turn our ‘Sankalp into Sidhhi’. In one of his 2014 speech, he said: “mother India has 250 crore arms, 200 crores of those arms are younger than 35. It’s the youth of India who can help us fulfill our potential.”
Now this young and innovative demographic dividend of India is going a play a key role in the foundation of Aatmanirbhar Bharat (Self-Reliant India).
DEMAND
“The cycle of demand and supply chain in our economy, is the strength that needs to be harnessed to its full potential.” PM Modi
India is the world’s third-largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP) next after China and the USA and the fifth largest country in terms of nominal GDP rankings. A country with diversified culture, vibrant states, futuristic smart cities (all top 10 future cities of the world will be in India), thriving startup ecosystem, rising neo-middle class, and an emerging aspirational class even at the village level, always catches the eyes of global investors. According to data released by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), total FDI into India jumped 18 percent and reached $73.46 billion in the 2019-20 financial year, which is the highest in the last four years.
Foreign players are exploiting the massive Indian market for years, in fact, the phrase ‘world’s largest market’ was attached to that extent with the brand image of India, that almost every other person on earth use to identify India with that. PM Modi has changed that culture and redefined Brand India, first as Brand Bharat and now as Aatmanirbhar Bharat.
The success of Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan does not depend on the government alone, from government agencies to public-private sectors to farmers to entrepreneurs to engineers to scientists to young India and every single stakeholder of the nation will have to take the charge in their hands. And as PM Modi has rightly said: “we must always remember that the present and future of 130 crore Indians will never be dictated by adversity. We will decide on our present and our future.”