Modi to share his vision on 'Getting Growth Back' with India Inc on Tuesday

In Mann ki Baat, PM stresses the need to restrict imports of some goods, saying it's wasteful expenditure

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will share his vision on ‘Getting Growth Back’ with India Inc during an address at the annual session of the Confederation of Indian Industry on Tuesday, sources said.
 

The address comes at a time when companies are resuming operations following relaxations and gradual easing of the lockdown.
 

The PM will deliver the inaugural address at the annual session of the CII to mark 125 years since its inception in 1895, sources in the industry chamber told PTI. The virtual event will also witness participation from top corporate honchos such as Piramal Group Chairman Ajay Piramal, ITC CMD Sanjiv Puri, Biocon CMD Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, SBI Chairman Rajnish Kumar, and CII President Vikram Kirloskar.
 

Swadeshi pitch
 

In his 65th Mann ki Baat address, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the pursuit of Atmanirbhar Bharat, or self-reliant India, will take the country to new heights in this decade.
 

Stressing the need to restrict import of goods that can be manufactured in the country, he termed imports of such goods as wasteful expenditure. The prime minister spoke of the need to offer a “new paradigm” to offer jobs and self-employment opportunities to millions of migrant workers who are heading back home to their towns and villages by setting up cottage and small-scale industries.

 

Modi said a national migration commission could soon be set up, while skill mapping of migrant workers is being done, including by private startups. He also promised help to farmers hit by locust attacks.
 

With India registering its highest single-day spike of 8,380 Covid-19 infections on Saturday, the PM urged people to remain even more vigilant now as major chunk of the economy has opened up.
 

Coronavirus is very much there and we cannot be complacent, he said. “Road ahead is a long one. We are fighting a pandemic about which little was previously known,” he said.

Modi said there was renewed interest across the world, from “Hollywood to Haridwar”, in the healing powers of Yoga and Ayurveda. “Truly, Yoga is good immunity and unity,” he said.

 

On the subject of Aatmanirbhar Bharat, the PM chose to read out a letter he received from a listener from Bihar. The letter is significant for its content.
 

Modi said Himanshu from Bihar has written to him that “he dreams of the day when India will have reduced imports to the bare minimum”, be it the import of petrol, diesel, fuels, electronic items, urea or even edible oils.
 

 “I understand his sentiments. There are many products that find their way into the country from outside resulting in wasteful expenditure on part of the honest taxpayers. Their substitutes can easily be manufactured in India,” he said.
 

The PM said people across the country are taking the reins of the leadership of the Atmanirbhar Bharat in their own hands.

“Many have mentioned that they have made lists of products being manufactured in their vicinity. These people are now buying only these local products, promoting ‘vocal for local’. In order to encourage 'Make in India' everyone is expressing one's own resolve,” he said.
 

In the context of millions of migrant workers heading back home to their towns and villages, particularly to eastern India, Modi said “the need of the hour is devising a new solution — a paradigm” in that direction. He said his government is “constantly taking steps in that direction". “There is no class of people who did not suffer because of this outbreak, but poor, labourers were hit the hardest,” he said.
 

He said, for example skill mapping of labourers is being carried out at places, while at other places start-ups are engaged in doing this. He said the establishment of a migration commission is being deliberated upon.
 

“Recent decisions taken by the Central government have opened up vast possibilities of village employment, self-employment and small-scale industry,” Modi said, adding that this will help attain the objective of Make in India and self-reliant India.

“Had our villages, towns, districts and states been self-reliant, problems facing us would not have been of such a magnitude as is evident today,” he said.