Recently,
due to Indo-China confrontation over the border and confirmation related to the
origin of the Corona Virus, we have seen a social media campaign to ban Chinese
Products. Various hashtags went viral, viz. ‘Chinese Products in Dustbin’,
‘Bharat United Against China’, ‘Treacherous China’, etc. All the Social Media
platforms were flooded with posts and tags against Chinese Products. But, today,
after a couple of days, it is no longer Viral. Did we move on? Is that the end
of it all?
Call
it Jingoism, fake patriotism, or patriotism, but such emotional sentiments
never help though they very effectively create social awareness. Yes, I agree
that it hurts when our soldiers are killed! That rage, aggression, anger, and a
feeling to do something about it is irresistible, and social media platforms
have become an effective medium to express ourselves. But, it should not stop
there!
I
took an opinion survey on the question, ‘Do you think India is self-sufficient
to boycott Chinese Products right now?’ To my surprise, more than 80% of the
responders responded ‘Yes!’ to this survey. This proves that we are very
ignorant of the facts and the current situation. The irony is, the Indian
Smartphone Market is dominated by Chinese Smartphones like OnePlus, Oppo, Vivo,
etc., which we have used to post against Chinese products on our social media walls.
Please,
do not misunderstand me here! I am saying that we should throw away our
smartphones or not use them, or for that matter, buy them. All I am trying to
say is, let us first get hold of the present scenario and then decide what is
the best we can do.
India
as a country is, right now, not self-sustained and cannot ban Chinese Products.
The Government cannot ban Chinese Products Imports because of WTO norms and on
the business level or as the end consumer, we cannot stop using them. India
lags in Infrastructure. We are not capable of manufacturing all the chips and
motherboards required to indigenize Smartphones, Mobiles, Laptops, and
Computers. But can we live without smartphones or computers and become a
super-power? Obviously, NO!
India
ranks 63rd in the ‘Ease of Doing Business’, which is still not good.
We have improved, no doubt! Our past rankings were in the range of 100’s and we
have come a long way but still, there is a long way to go ahead. The Government
of India is taking various measures to improve the situation. Policies and
Schemes like ‘Make in India’, ‘Skill India’, ‘Start-up India’, and the most
recent, ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ have empowered this vision of indigenization and
will continue to do so.
As
the citizens of this country what we can do is, we can participate in these
schemes and make it happen because all that a Government can do is to
incentivize but to act on is the duty of the citizens. India has various
hurdles to become self-sustained like we do not have skilled labor (Here,
skilled labor means having the technical knowledge of the job. Often mistaken
with educated Engineers or Professionals, although they count too!), we lack in
the infrastructure, the labor laws are still very complicated, we have poor
warehousing facilities, the high cost of transportation, land, and power, and
many such problems. We cannot get rid of our responsibilities blaming our government solely because we are the nation and not only a few people in the
government.
As
a common man, we can at least decide to buy alternative Indian products when it
comes to Footwear, Toys, Furniture, etc., which Indian companies have been
producing and manufacturing well enough. Though there might be a slight rate
difference, it can be afforded. We can decide, not to use Chinese Apps like
TikTok or PUBG which are wholly or partially owned by Chinese Companies and
they take away Crores of Indian money out of the country weakening our economy.
This is the least we can do and we should do!
To
conclude, I believe that if each citizen of the country decides to strengthen
India and its economy, we can indigenize it! It will take some time, but it
can and it will happen.
