Local motif: On Modi’s call for self-reliance (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2: National
Prelims level: Swadeshi Economic Policies
Mains level: Given emphasis on the renewal of Swadeshi Economic Policies

Context:

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s emphasis on a renewed drive for a self-reliant India is not merely a reaction to the new global realities spawned by the COVID-19 pandemic.
• It is a throwback to the nationalist economic policies that India and other newly independent nations followed in the last century before the high tide of globalisation swept over.

Renewal of the Swadeshi Economic Policies:

• His statement also foretells a potential renewal of the swadeshi economic policies that continue to inspire Hindutva politics long after centrist nationalists have abandoned them.
• India opened itself to the global market in 1991 through its liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation policies, but remained cautious as it skirted around the whirlwind of international capital in the following decades.
• This hesitant approach of India often led to a clamour from various vocal quarters for faster and deeper opening of its economy but its relative insularity from disruptive global headwinds turned out to be helpful several times in the last three decades.

Call for bolder reforms:

• When Mr. Modi took over as Prime Minister, there was a renewed cry from global corporations and foreign governments for bolder reforms.
• If anything, he travelled the opposite course — raising fresh trade barriers and seeking to strengthen India’s manufacturing base through the ‘Make In India’ initiative.
• In doing so, he has been true to his ideological calling and also to his mandates of 2014 and 2019 — which were not sought or won for expanding globalisation.
• Mr. Modi’s politics, in fact, rides on the mobilisation of people dispossessed and alienated by the rumbling march of globalisation by providing them new targets to vent their anger on.

Limits of globalisation:

• The pandemic brought to the fore at once the limits and inevitability of globalisation. Countries such as the U.S. that relied on others for the supply of essential medicines and medical equipment were suddenly vulnerable.
• China’s unmatched leverage in global .................................

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Conclusion:

• This is largely rhetorical and might be unmindful of India’s limitations. To the extent that such politics brings succor to the disadvantaged, it is to be welcomed. If this is only a façade for majoritarianism or authoritarianism, it will bring more harm to the same people that this approach professes to protect.
• His supporters and opponents alike would be eager to see how this philosophy translates into policy. PM Modi’s call for national self-reliance might be undermined if it turns overly ambitious.

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General Studies Pre. Cum Mains Study Materials

Prelims Questions:

Q1. With reference to the Vande Bharat Mission, consider the following statements:
1. It aims to bring Indian nationals stranded abroad due to the Corona virus lockdown.
2. The government will operate 64 flights between 7th and 13th of May.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer: ..................................

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Mains Questions:
Q1. Highlights the significance behind the ..........................?