Atma nirbhar abhiyan

 The world’s biggest lockdown imposed to contain the spread of COVID-

19 has severely impacted the domestic economic activities as it brought
nearly 70% of economic activity, investment, exports, and discretionary
consumption to a standstill.
 to improve the prevailing turbulent economic environment and to
provide a boost to the ailing economy the current government
announced the Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, a financial package of Rs
20 lakh crore equaling to 10% of the national GDP.

 to revive every sphere of the economy from demand, supply to

manufacturing, and make India self-reliant to sustain and tackle
any Black Swan event in the future.

 The focal point of the concept is to make the nation self-reliant with
more focus on local manufacturers and service providers.

 Ultimately a self-reliant India will stand on five pillars viz economy,

which brings in quantum jump and not incremental change;
infrastructure, which should become the identity of India; technology-
driven system; vibrant demography; and demand

 This will strengthen the economy, improve the standard of living and
most importantly improve the trade deficit and the exchequer balance
of the country.
 Narendra Modi aims to reduce unemployment, insolvency, and poverty
and increase India’s per capita GDP. According to our Prime Minister our
scriptures ‘Esha Upanishadha’ talks about Self Reliance
 Making the country self reliant in all spheres- from manufacturing to
supplying. It will help the country to reduce its dependence on imports
and may also give a boost to exports.
 The fall in imports will help reduce the trade deficit and will eventually
lead to trade surplus.
 The package will focus on land, labour, liquidity and laws, so as to
achieve self-reliance. The relief measures were announced in tranches
by the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
 The schemes major focus was on MSMEs sector and its development as
there are about 67 million MSMEs operating in the non-agricultural
sector in India, and provides sustenance to a large proportion of the
population.
 The boost to the MSME sector will consequently benefit a lot more
industries, especially automobile sector as most of the auto companies
are MSMEs. It will help resume businesses, strengthen the supply chain
and will also help reduce dependence on other countries.
 The package however failed to boost the confidence and bring optimism
among the corporates, as the focus of the package is more on indirect
benefits than on direct benefits. The government should have designed
packages that would provide cash support rather than relying more on
loans.
 The banking sectors, especially the PSU, are already reeling under the
bad loan issues and with unsecured loans, may see further deterioration
in their asset quality.
 WHY: the need was brought home by the absence of domestic
production of personal protective equipment (PPE) when COVID-19
struck, but India initiated and quickly ramped up PPE production. Mr.
Modi said there needs to be improvement in quality and domestic
supply chains going forward. If this is to happen though, India will have
to make major course changes in development strategies.
 Self-reliance in state-run heavy industries and strategic sectors in the
decades following independence had placed India ahead of most
developing countries. In the 1970s and 80s, however, India did not
modernise these industries to climb higher up the technological ladder.
The private sector, which had backed the state-run core sector approach
in its Bombay Plan, stayed content with near-monopoly conditions in
non-core sectors in a protected market. Little effort was made to
modernise light industries or develop contemporary consumer products.
India’s industrial ecosystem was thus characterised by low productivity,
poor quality and low technology, and was globally uncompetitive.
 Large-scale concerted endeavours would, however, be required, since
self-reliance will not happen by itself. State-funded R&D, including in
basic research, by PSUs and research institutions and universities needs
to be scaled-up significantly, well above the dismal 1% of GDP currently.
Upgraded and reoriented PSUs would also be crucial given their
 distinctive place in the ecosystem. Private sector delivery-oriented R&D
could also be supported, linked to meaningful participation in
manufacturing at appropriate levels of the supply chain.
 Finally, India’s meagre public expenditure on education needs to be
substantially ramped up (as against current trends of privatisation which
would only shrink access), including in skill development. No country has
achieved self-reliance without mass quality public education. And no
country has developed without a much stronger public health system
than what we have in India.

 We know that relying on other countries for critical items will ultimately
put you at their mercy. To avoid such adversity for ourselves, it is more
important than ever that we become self-reliant and reduce our
dependence on other countries. The pandemic has taught the
importance of local manufacturing, local market and local supply
chain. Emphasis of ‘vocal for local’ asserts that it is all about ‘made in
India’ and is to increase to push Indian products to become large enough
to become international brands.
 To strengthen the self-reliant India campaign Land, Labour, Liquidity and
Laws have all been emphasized in this package.
 This will surely provide an edge to the enterprises to stand out again in
the market, resume their business activities and sustain jobs in the
market.
 The Government has used the cover of the COVID-19 crisis to plough
through long pending, politically sensitive reforms.
details of the abhiyan

 1-includes funding as well as loan guarantees for MSMEs, NBFCs/HFCs,

discoms, contractors, real estate and salaried workers.
 2-with focus on migrant workers, small farmers, street vendors and the
poor.
 3-The core focus of these measures is on the agriculture and allied
sectors like dairy, animal husbandry, and fisheries so as to strengthen
the overall farm sector.
  4-with a focus on 8 critical sectors which are Coal, Minerals, Defence
Production, Airspace management, Social Infrastructure Projects, Power
distribution companies, Space sectors, and Atomic Energy.
 It would have been for the benefit of the corporate if the government
would have provided direct benefits like cash support and pause or
reduction in GST payments.

 The government by starting this campaign has led a true Swadeshi

movement and resonates with Sangh’s philosophy to enrich and
revolutionize Indian products. However, in the quest to attain a self-
reliant India, it is necessary for the government to decentralize its
policies, take decisions for rural crowd and labors, keep poor and
underprivileged at priority, make environmental friendly policies that
are rooted to make India an a self sufficient nation globally. In history,
when India believed in the Gandhi’s model of self-reliance, wonders
happened. He articulated it as a social interdependence and mutual co-
operation in a society. On the contrary today, a virus has violated our
independence, but we all shall ‘be vocal for local’ and adapt to new
lifestyle of being mutually interdependent and become empowered.

https://lexlife.in/2020/06/04/analysis-atma-nirbhar-bharat-abhiyan/

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/view-the-problems-with-modis-
atmanirbhar-bharat-abhiyan/articleshow/75746607.cms?from=mdr

https://tradebrains.in/atmanirbhar-bharat-abhiyan/

https://www.elearnmarkets.com/blog/all-that-you-need-to-know-about-atma-nirbhar-bharat-
abhiyan/

http://bharatmahan.in/positive-news/online-essay-competition-under-theme-atma-nirbhar

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmanirbhar_Bharat

https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-editorials/atma-nirbhar-bharat-abhiyan-
challenges

https://www.ibef.org/blogs/self-reliant-india-movement-an-opportunity

https://www.ibef.org/blogs/self-reliant-india-movement-an-opportunity
https://www.eletimes.com/self-reliant-india-movement-opportunity-in-the-time-of-crisis

https://www.investindia.gov.in/team-india-blogs/innovations-self-reliant-india