EversincetheGr eatLockdownbegan, theterm“ aatmanir

bhar",orself
-reli
ant ,hasgai ned
sali
enceinIndiaasanadj ecti
vefort hecount ry.Itfoundment i
oni nPrimeMi nisterNar endra
Modi’sspeechof24Mar channounci ngani nterim cl
osureoftheeconomyt of i
ghtt hecov i
d-
19pandemi c.Fort hosestuckathome, thephr asehadper sonalresonance,t
houghi twast obe
anationalproj
ect,thecont our
sofwhi chhav ebeenget ti
ngclearerintheweekssi nce.
AddressingaConf ederationofIndianI ndustrysessi ononTuesday ,
thePrimeMi nistermadea
pit
chf orst
rengtheninglocalsupplychai ns,boost i
ngproductiv
ity,andreduci
ngi mpor t
dependence.Inthecont extofslowi nggl obalizati
onandsuppl ydisrupti
onsbr oughtaboutby
tr
adet ensi
onsandcor onaseizures, t
hiswaspr udenti
aladvi
ce.Whatcanbedonewel lathome,
shouldindeedbe.

THEKEYPROBLEM WI
THSELF-RELI
ANCE

Atthet urnoft hemi llenni um,whenI ndi aembar kedonl iberali

sat i
on, privatisati
onand
globalisati
on, thev eryconceptofsel f-reliancewasr ubbi shed, i
nt hebel ieft hatitwas
tantamountt or einv entingt hewheelwhenadv ancedt echnol ogiescoul dsi mpl ybeboughtf rom
anywher eatl owercost s.Twor elat edi deashav epr ev ailedsincet hen,andnei therdel iveredt he
desiredr esults.Thef ir
stwast hatpubl i
csect orunder takings( PSUs)ar e,bydef init
ion,
ineffi
cientandsl uggi shf orthecompet itiveglobalisedscenar io.Noef fortwasmadet o
engenderei therr ealaut onomyorat ransi tiontonewt echnol ogicaldi rections.I nstead, PSUs
withcapabi l
ityandscal ef orthet askwer eunder mi nedorabandoned, alongwi thmanynascent
researchanddev el opment( R&D)ef f
or ts(forinstance, inphot ov oltai
cs, semi conduct orsand
advancedmat erials) .Ont heot herhand, thepr iv
at esect ordisplay edl i
ttl
ei nterestint hese
heav yindust riesandshowednoappet i
tef ortechnol ogyupgr adat i
on.Wi t
hent r
yoff oreign
corporations, mostI ndi anpr ivatecompani esr et
reat edi ntot echnol ogyi mpor t
sor
coll
abor ations.Ev ent oday ,mostR&Di nI ndiaisconduct edbyPSUs, andmuchoft hesmal l
er
butr i
singpr opor tionofpr iv
atesect orR&Di sbyfor eigncor porationsi ninfor mat iontechnol ogy
andbi otechnol ogy /phar ma.Gi v ent hedi sincli
nationofmostoft hepr ivatesect ort owar dsR&D
andhi gh-t echmanuf actur i
ng, signi f
icantgov ernmentr einvestmenti nPSUsandR&Di s
essentialforsel f-r eliance

Thesecondi deawast hatinvi

ti
ngf oreigndirectinvestmentandmanuf acturingbyf orei
gn
maj orswoul dbringnewt echnologiesi nt
oI ndi
a’sindustri
alecosystem, obv i
at i
ngt heneedf or
i
ndi genousef for
tst owardsself-reli
ance.Howev er,meresetti
ngupofmanuf acturingfacil
it
ies
i
nI ndiaisnoguar anteeofabsor pti
onoft echnologies(theabil
itytoindependent lytakethem to
higherlevels).Therei snoev i
dencef rom anysect orthatt
hishast akenpl aceorhasev enbeen
attempted.Thef actis,f
oreignmaj orsjealousl
yguar dcommer ci
all
ysignificantorst r
ategic
technologiesinof f-shoremanuf acturingbases.Thekeypr oblem ofself-reliancei stheref
ore
neitherexternalfinancenordomest i
cof f-shoremanuf acturi
ng,butresolutei ndigenous
endeav ourincludingR&D.

THEI
DEAOFSELF-REI
ANCEOUTSI
DEI
NDI
A
Exper ienceandachi ev ement sinothercountri
esinAsi aattestt othis,andal socont radi
ctthe
not ionthatself-rel
iancei sahangov erfrom Nehruvi
an‘ socialism’.Learni ngfrom Japan’ spost
-warsuccess, countr i
esl i
keSout hKorea,Taiwan,Singapor eandHongKongt ookhuge
technol ogicalandindust ri
alstri
desinthe1970sand80s.Sout hKor ea,inpar ticular
,cli
mbed
det erminedlyupt het echnol ogyladderandv al
uechai nsinel ect r
onicgoods, consumer
dur ables,automobi l
es, micro-processor
s,personalcomput ersandheav ymachi ner
y.It
emer gedasagl obalpower housei nmanufacturi
ng,butal soi nindigenousl ydev eloped
technol ogies.Taiwandev el
opedt echnol
ogiesandmanuf act uringcapaci ti
esi nroboticsand
mi cro-processor s,whi leSingaporeandHongKongadapt edadv ancedt echnol ogiesinniche
areas.Thesesel f-reliantcapabi l
it
ieswereenabled,amongot herf actor
s, bypl annedstate
i
nv est mentsinR&Di ncludingbasicresearch(3-5%ofGDP) , t
echnol ogyandpol icysupportto
privatecor porati
ons, infrastruct
ureand,importantl
y,educat i
onandski l
ldev elopment( 4-6%of
GDP) .

Countr
ieslikeThai
land,
Malay
sia,
IndonesiaandViet
nam havef ocusedonoff-shor
e
manufacturingl
owerdowntheval
uechainandwithoutt
het hrustonself-r
eli
ance.Thi
sis
usef
ulforjobcreat
ionbuti
sanunsuitabl
emodelforacount r
yofI ndi
a’ssi
zeandaspir
ati
ons.

Chinais,ofcour se, uni

queinscaleandi nit
sdeterminationtobecomeasuper powernotj ust
geopoliti
callybutal soi nself
-rel
iantS&Tandi ndustr
ialcapabili
ty.Chinaadvanced
purposefullyf r
om l ow-endmassmanuf acturi
ngtoadomi nantroleinglobalsupplychains.I
t
hasnowdeci dedonshi ft
ingtoadvancedmanuf actur
ingandhasseti tsel
fatargetof
becomi ngawor ldl eaderby2035i n5G,supercomput i
ng, I
nter
netofThi ngs,ar
tif
ici
al
i
ntell
igence( AI )
, autonomousv ehicl
es,biot
ech/pharmaandot hertechnologi
esofthe‘fourth
i
ndust r
ialrevolut i
on’ .

Indi
aInchasalargerol
etoplayinachievingthePri
meMi nist
er’sobj
ecti
v eofacountr
ythat
succeedsbyvi
rtueofit
sowni ngenuit
yandendowment s.LeadersofIndianenter
pri
sehave
beenpayingat
tenti
on.Let
’sr
elyont heirdet
erminat
ion,
ratherthanpoli
cyt ool
s,t
oget