Swadeshi call a contrast in shrinking manufacturing sector : Akhilesh, ET Manufacturing

Time of India

29-05-2025

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A day after PM Narendra Modi urged people to prefer swadeshi to imported items, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday said the call for 'self-reliance made little sense in a scenario where big corporate houses were flooding the Indian market with imported products and services.In a post on X, Akhilesh quoted PM's speech in Gandhinagar on Tuesday where he outlined the role of smaller cities in making India world's third largest economy. Modi said people should buy locally made swadeshi products as their contribution strengthens the economy.Akhilesh pointed out that the smaller cities and towns in India rely heavily on cottage industry and the Indian manufacturing sector which has shrunk rapidly in the recent past. This has automatically paved the way for entry of imported goods in the Indian market."Manufacturing and production sectors in India are constantly shrinking which has led to lopsided development trajectory and unequal distribution of income. This is happening because industrial houses are being elbowed out by corporates which are only focusing on trading of goods from abroad to sell them in the Indian market," Akhilesh said in a statement. He said the new economic order taking shape in India has taken its toll on cottage and micro segments of the industrial sector.He maintained that industrial houses are slowly and systematically being sidelined, as a result the value of our raw material, skill and talent is on the decline, taking a heavy toll on job and employment opportunities. "What is worse, talk of self-reliance has been reduced to a mere slogan, behind the scenes deals are being struck to import goods and services from world's top corporate giants. These products and services are being pushed into every sector of the Indian economy. This has turned (us) into selling agents of these multinationals," Akhilesh said.Such policies are forcing the Indian economy to become dependent on imported finished goods rather than empowering domestic production, he said. "The rich are getting richer and the poor, poorer," he said, adding that no govt can add to the prosperity of the country by "betraying its own economy". He said the real development and economic progress will come from improving the per capita income in India rather than trillion-dollar economy statistics."Due to the faulty economic policies of the BJP govt, there has been no relief from rising prices. Under the BJP govt, farmers, youth and traders are feeling cheated," said senior SP functionary prof Sudhir Panwar . "Farmers were promised that their incomes will be doubled but on the contrary their cost of production has increased because of rise in prices of seeds and fertilizers. Joblessness among youth is at an all time high. Traders and small businessmen are yet to come out of the economic slowdown that followed demonetisation. In such a situation everybody is struggling to make two ends meet, leave alone contributing to an economic agenda," Panwar said.