Indians Must Utilize Made-in-India products, as a 'Vocal for Local' Move: PM Modi

On Sunday, 27 December, 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Indians, as their resolution for the New Year, must use the products made inside the country in order to be replaced with the foreign paradigm of theirs, repeating his government's plan to become "self reliant" in manufacturing.

"I appeal to you to make a list of goods of daily-use imported articles that have unconsciously become part of our lives and made us their captive. Let us find out their Indian alternatives and resolve to use products produced by the hard work of Indians," said Modi, on this year's last edition of Mann Ki Baat, his monthly radio speech.

The PM said: "the people of India have taken many steps forward and are getting vocal for local. Our manufacturers are also thinking about making top quality products. This will boost the efforts towards Aatmanirbhar Bharat." He added that when the manufacturers focus on domestically made products, they should not compromise with the quality of materials produced by them.

He quoted: "This is the right time to work with 'zero effect, zero defect' policy."

"The global best must be manufactured in India," added PM, expressing that for this purposes, our entrepreneurs and startups must come forward. "Vocal for Local is resonating in every house today," said Modi.

"India faced many challenges this year but came out triumphant because it was Atmanirbhar (self-reliant)," stated Modi, referring to the Covid- 19 pandemic.

Modi urged citizens to intent to make the country free from single-use plastic and appreciated the endeavors of some people for undertaking cleanliness drive.

"We have to think how garbage gets on beaches and mountains in the first place; after all, it is one amongst us who leaves this garbage there, we should take a resolve that we will not leave garbage at all," the Prime Minister said.

"We should take a vow that we will not litter, this is the first resolve of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan. I want to remind you of one more thing which couldn't be discussed that much because of Corona. We have to make our country free from single-use plastic; this should also be one of the resolutions for 2021," he added.

With 10.2 million positive cases and 49,129 deaths, India placed the second worst affected nation in the Covid- 19 pandemic. The country on Saturday reported a net reduction of 252 to bring its count of active Covid- 19 cases down to 281,667, which is the lowest since July 10 and 72.32 per cent lower than the September 18, peak of 1,017,754. India’s pandemic worries has been multiplied by its struggling economy that recorded its worst performance in at least two decades. It will be the worst-affected among the world’s major economies even after the pandemic wanes.