Chennai(Agencies): Finance
Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Thursday there was nothing wrong in imports
to spur growth but wondered why even Ganesha idols should be bought from China.
Importing raw materials that
were not available in the country and needed for our industries was not wrong,
she said addressing the BJP’s Tamil Nadu unit workers via a virtual link.
“There is nothing wrong in imports that would
spur production and create job opportunities and it can be done definitely,”
she said while speaking on the Centre’s Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan
initiative.
However, imports that could
not bring benefits like employment opportunities and support growth would not
help self-reliance and the Indian economy, she said.
Ganesha idols made of clay
have been traditionally bought from the local potters during Ganesh Chaturthi
festival every year, she said.
“But today, why even Ganesha idols are
imported from China...why such a situation...can’t we make a Ganesha idol from
clay, is it the situation?” she asked.
She wondered if importing
household products used everyday like a soap-box, plastic items or incense
sticks used for pooja purposes would support self-reliance especially when such
products were made locally by Indian firms and Micro, Small and Medium
Enterprises.
Such a situation of importing
things that are locally made and available should change and self-reliance is
the basic idea behind the Aatmanirbhar Abhiyan, she said.
Self-reliance was practised in
India for long, but it faded subsequently and now the Abhiyan initiative stood
for local manufacturing, she said.
“Self-reliant India (Aatmanirbhar Bharat
Abhiyaan) does not mean that imports should not be done at all. For industrial
growth and creation of job opportunities here you may please do whatever
imports that are needed.”
In her speech in Tamil, she
referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as “Modi Ayya (sir)”, and listed out
the “achievements” of the government in the past one year after her party
returned to power at the Centre.
She praised the valour of
Havildar K Palani from Tamil Nadu who was among the 20 soldiers killed in a
clash with Chinese troops at Ladakh on June 15. PTI
No comments:
Post a Comment