Prime Minister Narendra Modi hit out at his detractors, saying that they do not wish to give credit to his government. In an interview with The Economic Times, the prime minister also listed the wide-ranging reforms brought in the agriculture and labour sector, and said, “It was often jokingly said that India had more labour laws than the labour in formal sector. Labour laws often helped everyone except the labour.’ On being asked about the prospects of India as a replacement to China in the global supply chain, he asserted that India’s effort is not to become “some country’s alternative but to become a country which offers unique opportunities.”
PM Modi added that the reforms would signal to the world that this is a “new India” which believes in the market forces.”I am confident that these reforms undertaken in the last few months will help increase the growth rate and returns in both the manufacturing and agriculture sectors,” he was quoted as saying by the publication.
On the prevailing Covid-19 situation in the county, PM Modi said that during this phase of slowing down of cases, India must not celebrate, but instead strengthen its resolve, behaviour and systems. Modi also expressed confidence in the country’s economic recovery and said that the indicators, too, suggested the same.
“First, in agriculture, as I said earlier, our farmers have broken all records and we have also done record procurement at the highest ever levels of MSP. These two factors — record production and record purchase — are going to inject significant income in the rural economy which will have its own virtuous cycle of demand generation,” PM Modi said.
He also pointed out to the record-high FDI influx, which he said, signalled India’s growing image as an investor-friendly country. “This year, despite the pandemic, we received the highest ever FDI of $35.73 billion for April-August. This is 13% higher than the same period last year, which was also a record year,” he added.
Citing EPFO data, PM Modi said that the job market is also picking up. “…In terms of new net subscribers of EPFO, the month of August 2020 registered a 34% jump compared to July 2020 with addition of more than a million new subscribers,” he said.
Modi, while touching on Aatmanirbhar Bharat, said that the initiative was not just about competition but also about competence. “So, when we say Aatmanirbhar Bharat, we mean an India that is, first of all, self-reliant. A self-reliant India is also a reliable friend for the world. A self-reliant India does not mean an India that is self-centred,” he said.
Report – Vikas Chandra Agarwal