Building Atmanirbhar Bharat – Reviving Every Sphere of Indian Economy

The pursuit of self Reliant India sows the seed for a new course of long term development. Building Atmanirbhar Bharat is concerned with making India emerge as a hub for manufacturing and investments. Although China is a highly successful global powerhouse today, it has been troubling environmental and economic ramifications. It gives India a chance to emerge Atma Nirbhar in local markets and spread its wings globally. Keeping the growth agenda in mind, the government is working hard to create a conducive environment for India.

When the world is suffering and trying hard to overcome these tough times, our PM Narendra Modi being a man of vision realizes the importance of Atmanir Bharat. So he is continuously working towards building an Aatma nirbhar Bharat by announcing a 20 lakh crore economic package and schemes under aatma nirbhar Bharat mission. 

The pandemic has not shown mercy in any part of the world, it has not spared even the most powerful nations of the world, however vital they might be. Countries like America, China, and Russia have been severely affected by the global pandemic in terms of economy and health sectors. No country was prepared for a situation like this, and in the globalized world, each nation is dependent on each other for all kinds of resources, raw materials, finished products, food items, etc. In a country like India where we are already fighting with the growing population resulting in poverty, this pandemic has caused more challenges than any other nation, but with the active support of both ready to take some bold measures that have never been taken in the Indian history.

Internationally, India is being looked up to as a partner in the global fight against covid-19. India having a strong government at the centre and bold leadership of our Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all geared up in not making India only Atmanirbhar but building an Atma nirbhar Bharat so that it can sustain events like this in the long run and to achieve economic independence. By analyzing the vision of PM Modi and Mahatma Gandhi’s swadeshi philosophy, we can see the similarity in the vision of both great leaders of India and government efforts towards building Atmanirbhar Bharat.

Pillars and Phases

The five pillars for building Atmanirbhar Bharat focus on-

1. Economy
2. Infrastructure
3. System
4. Vibrant demography
5. Demand

The five phases of building Atmanirbhar Bharat are-

1. Phase 1- businesses including MSMEs
2. Phase 2-Poor, including migrants and farmers
3. Phase 3-Agriculture
4. Phase 4- New horizons of growth
5. Phase 5- Government reforms and Enablers

Role of Startups and Innovators in Building Atmanirbhar Bharat

Indian startups and innovators play a pivotal role in building the Atmanirbhar Bharat mission successfully. The Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan allows the Indian startups to take charge of the innovations to revive the Indian market and make India independent from global suppliers. We are usually dependent on strengthening local manufacturing markets, supply chains, and transforming the local products into the global brand. In the path towards building Atmarnirbhar Bharat, Indian innovators can lead by providing products and services at an affordable price and with world-class quality.

Out of many success stories of an Atmanirbhar Bharat, the story of Adivasi women in Chattisgarh is an exemplary example of building Atmanirbhar Bharat. Due to the spread of covid-19 globally resulted in a shortage of hand sanitizers, these women have contributed collectively in developing herbal hand sanitizers from the base of traditional mahua brew, an integral part of Adivasi life and culture. These women used the mahua brew for making alcohol at home by using the traditional methods is a glowing example of building Atmanirbhar Bharat.

Another innovation contributing towards building Atmanirbhar Bharat is an Indian startup, Bellatric Aerospace, which has worked towards one of the biggest constraints in space technology that is cost and weight of fuel by developing a new propulsion system called Microwave Plasma Thrusters (MPT) that lets satellites to carry more payload at a reasonable cost and also being environmentally friendly. These innovations are just examples that show how collectively they can help build Atmanirbhar Bharat and give it new dimensions and deeper meaning in achieving an independent India by channelizing.

Role of Farmers in Building Atmanirbhar Bharat

• PM Narendra Modi is laying much emphasis on Indian farmers and laid emphasis that the country needs to be self-reliant in the field of agriculture.
• Agriculture plays an important function in the Indian economy as over 70% of rural households depend on Agriculture.
• Agriculture contributes about 17% to the total GDP and generates employment for over 60% of the Indian population.
• As stated by PM Modi, a special fund of Rs. One lakh crore has been created for establishing industries near villages to provide them with better infrastructure facilities.
• Laying stress on the role of farmers in building Atmanirbhar Bharat, PM Modi said,” when farmers and farming move forward in the form of industry, employment and self-employment opportunities are to be created in the village and near it, on a large scale.”
• The government is working relentlessly towards the agricultural sector by providing drone technology, modern agricultural equipment, encouraging young researchers, and young scientists to work and make innovations to boost the agricultural sector.
• The government is working on the use of modern technology in meeting agricultural problems. In a recent Locust attack, the government has worked on a war footing to control the spread of attacks and to minimize damage by setting up control rooms, making arrangements for the farmers in advance, providing drones, and use of modern spray machines to kill locusts has played a major role in preserving the lives of many farmers and getting one step closer towards building Atmanirbhar Bharat.
• The government is also laying stress upon introducing agriculture subjects at the Middle school level in villages to promote practical application agro-entrepreneurship.

With the motive to transform the Agriculture into a sustainable Enterprise, the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare has taken a landmark initiative towards building the Atmanirbhar Bharat Krishi in India by implementing three landmark reforms on 5th June 2020, for benefitting the farming industry, namely;

• The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance, 2020, will help farmers to enhance the farmers’ income by liberal trade, remove interstate barriers, and to offer more options to sell and buy, and to increase competition among buyers.
• The Farmers’ (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Ordinance,2020
• The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Ordinance,2020

These landmark ordinances are made to make agricultural reforms, providing the freedom to farmers and are a significant step towards liberalization and Atmanirbhar Bharat. In order to enhance farmers accessibility on a digital platform and bring transparency in price realization mechanism based on the quality of goods, the government has introduced another flagship program, i.e., National Agriculture Market (e-NAM), which has expanded to 1000 madis in 18 states and 03 union territories and aims to reduce transaction cost and expanding market access to farmers and aiming to achieve “One Nation One Market” for agricultural commodities in India.

Formation and Promotion 

Farmers Produce Organisation (FPO) – The government has announced a new scheme for the formation of 10,000 FPO’s. It aims to collect small and marginal farmers to form an organization that is also a significant initiative towards building an Atmanirbhar Bharat. This scheme will focus mainly on the concept of “One District One Product” FPO’s will be registered under the Companies Act or any state Co-operative Societies Act, which will be decided by FPO members. It will help in connecting with the markets and to reach out to the consumers easily, which will consequently result in the value realization of their produce.

Role of Quality Education in Building Atmanirbhar Bharat

 To train the students for the future jobs that do not exist today but will be in demand in the future, India needs to ensure that quality education is provided to the students both in government and private schools. Providing vocational training in the initial years, the country has already started moving towards skill development and getting one step closer to building Atmanirbhar Bharat.

By focusing on the New Education Policy, India is moving towards more meaningful learning, which will be effective in the country’s growth and making it Atmanirbhar. India needs its academic institutions to help the nations live up to self-reliance ideals by creating a more innovative workforce and ready to face the challenges in the future.

The New Education Policy (NEP) announced by the government will play a key role in creating a self-reliant India and opening the education sector to facilitate global exposure to students. PM Modi said holistic knowledge is the answer to all problems. NEP will link education with technology and open up paths for Artificial Intelligence and the expansion of online learning. In order to enrich the research culture in India, a National Research Foundation (NRF) has also been proposed by the NEP. The post-pandemic world is going to see a digital transformation as it understands the importance of technology to improve education, and it has the ingredients for building a system to promote high-quality research. It is a much-needed step in the direction of building Atmanirbhar Bharat. We look forward to its implementation to fulfill the promise of Atmanirbhar Bharat.

Role of Women            

Women have always played a positive role in shaping our society, acting as multi-taskers growing professionally and caretakers of families. Women being the silent sufferers of society come with the challenge of giving employment opportunities to them. A new level of women empowerment will be seen in society in the coming decades as they are gradually entering into the centre stream of the economy, which will eventually increase women’s productivity.

There is a growing number of women participating in various fields, like technology research and biotechnology. In India, most healthcare workers and Asha workers, and Anganwadi workers working at the frontline in the covid crisis were women. More than half of the sustainable goals and direction towards building Atmanirbhar Bharat depends on women.

Women’s right and gender justice is the heart of Atmanirbhar Bharat. Corporate and government have realized that women have greater power in taking the GDP up. Earlier Dalit women farmers in Telangana used to face hunger and deprivation, but today, they have contributed food grains in a pandemic situation. Adivasi villagers in central India have been using the community funds to take care of the migrant workers returning home are all women and a part of the Deccan Development society which are highly active in 75 villages in Telangana.

The Aatmnirbhar Sena is also working in the same line by helping thousands of women in employment generation and the self-sowed seeds of Atmanirbharta by planting neem trees for commercial purposes. Another example of reap 30 lakh by growing and nurturing saplings and created a green wealth which will be used by the rural development part under MGNREGS. Various women self-help groups have been involved in small scale pearl culture in Chattisgarh and taught the art of self-help to tribal women. The global pandemic has shown us the potential of empowered rural communities to cope with the crisis and build the Atmanirbhar Bharat.

Aatmnirbhar Sena – Towards Building Atmanirbhar Bharat

Our Organisation Aatmnirbhar Sena is a platform to nurture and motivate the budding talents in realizing the goals of our PM Modi in building Atmanirbhar Bharat. As an organization, we have been successfully established more than 1300 startups in the year 2019 with almost 60,000 direct jobs, and 2 lakh jobs have been created by Aatmnirbhar Sena. Our main plan is to provide employment for the needy entrepreneurs and provide them with skills training, workshops, giving capital assistance, and bringing them a step closer to fulfilling their dreams of a successful business.

Conclusion

Aatmnirbhar Sena has equipped the Agri-tech startups in India to provide farmers the solutions for the betterment of their livelihood. Aatmnirbhar sena is reluctant to provide all the aspiring entrepreneurs’ forms of support and is leaving no stone unturned in building Atmanirbhar Bharat.

The Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan has come up as a savior and acted as a shield from the downfall of the Indian economy, and we as a nation will together help in paving the path for an “Atmanirbhar Bharat” and lay a foundation stone of “Building Atmanirbhar Bharat.” It is time for the government and fellow Indians to explore and restart the wheels of progress towards attaining a welfare state.