Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, 11 June, pushed for a ‘self-reliant’ India amid the COVID-19 pandemic, while addressing the 95th Annual Plenary session of the Indian Chamber of Commerce
PM Modi said that other than the pandemic, the country is tackling other issues like floods and locust attacks and such a crisis must be turned into an opportunity.
“Every citizen of this country has resolved to turn this crisis into an opportunity. We have to make this a major turning point for this nation. What is that turning point? A self-reliant India,” he said.
“At this time we've to take Indian economy out of 'command and control' and take it towards 'plug and play'. This isn't the time for conservative approach. It's time for bold decisions and bold investments. It's time to prepare a globally competitive domestic supply chain,” he added.
PM Modi also lauded West Bengal’s history of being a manufacturing sector.
“We have to revive the historical excellence of Bengal in manufacturing sector. We’ve always heard ‘What Bengal thinks today, India thinks tomorrow’. We have to take inspiration from this and move forward together,” he said.
“Decades ago Swami Vivekananda wrote, ‘The simplest method to be worked upon at present is to induce Indians to use their own produce and get markets for Indian artware in other countries’. This path shown by Swami Vivekananda is inspiration for India in post-COVID world,” the prime minister added.
Ahead of the fourth phase of the nationwide lockdown, PM Modi on 12 May had announced the 'Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan' – an economic relief package worth Rs 20 lakh crore for a ‘self-reliant’ India.
He had said that the package, estimated to be around 10 percent of the GDP, is intended to help fight the COVID-19 pandemic. The PM had also stressed on the use of country-made products in a bid to boost small and local businesses.
The following week, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced a slew of packages under the initiative.
(With inputs from ANI.)
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