Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday urged people to substitute foreign-made products they use with items produced in India, and said they should make this resolution for the country in the new year. In his last ‘Mann Ki Baat’ radio broadcast of the year, he said people have supported the ‘vocal for local’ campaign started by his government as part of its ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ programme and asked manufacturers and industry leaders to ensure that world-class products are made in the country.
The outgoing year saw the spirit of ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ echo in society, he said. “The call of ‘vocal for local’ is reverberating in each and every household. In such a scenario, it is time to ensure that our products meet global standards,” he said, sharing feedback from people about the campaign. Urging people to prepare a list of items they use and find out those which were manufactured abroad, he said they should substitute them with ‘made in India’ products.
“Let us find out their substitutes made in India and decide that henceforth we shall use products made with the hard work and sweat of the people of India. You make New Year resolutions every year. This time one has to certainly make a resolution for the country,” the prime minister said. He said many shopkeepers have been selling products like toys with the emphasis that they are made in India and customers are also demanding them.
“Indeed, this is a big transformation in mindset. A huge change has begun in the minds of our countrymen, that too within a year,” he said. In this context, he also made mention of Kashmiri saffron and said that his government is working to make it a “globally popular brand”.
The GI tag has given it a unique identity, he said. Noting that the issue of single-use plastic could not be discussed much due to the COVID-19 pandemic this year, he asserted that ridding the country of single-use plastic is one of the resolves for the new year.
During his address, he also paid tributes to several revered Sikh personalities, including sons of Guru Gobind Singh, saying their sacrifices helped keep our culture safe. “We pay tributes to the brave Chaar Sahibzaade, we remember Mata Gujri, we recall the greatness of Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji, Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji. We remain indebted to these greats for their sacrifices and their spirit of compassion,” he said. The prime minister also touched on the subject of wildlife conservation. Noting that the population of leopards in India has increased by over 60 per cent between 2014 and 2018, from 7,900 to 12,852, Modi described this as a big achievement for the year.
He added that in the past few years, the population of lions and tigers too has increased and so has India’s forest cover. Speaking of the feedback he received for his ‘Mann ki Baat’ broadcast on multiple platforms, he said the common factor has been that people have commended the country’s capabilities and the collective strength of the countrymen during the pandemic. A novel experiment like ‘Janta curfew’ became an “inspiration” for the whole world, he said. Millions of people across the country had stayed home on March 22 on the prime minister’s appeal for a ‘Janta curfew’ to check the spread of coronavirus.
The prime minister also noted that teachers have prepared creative course material in this period of online studies, and asked them to upload these materials on the Diksha portal of the Education Ministry. This will help students who are staying in far-flung areas of the country a lot, he said.
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