Bhavnagar | Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday made a strong pitch for 'atmanirbharta' saying the main enemy of India was the dependence on other nations and asserting the country should make everything from (semiconductor) chips to ships.
He was speaking at the 'Samudra se Samruddhi' event in Gandhi Maidan in Gujarat's Bhavnagar, where he inaugurated and laid foundation stones of projects entailing a total cost of Rs 34,200 crore.
"In the true sense, India does not have any big enemy in the world. The only enemy of India is the dependence on other countries. We need to defeat this dependence on others. We have to understand the more we are dependent on others, the rate of failure is high," he asserted.
"From chips to ships, we must make everything. For peace, stability and wealth, the country with the highest population in the world has to become self-reliant," the PM emphasised.
There is only one medicine for all problems of India and that is atmanirbharta (self-reliance), he said.
Underscoring the financial burden of such dependence, Modi said the country pays Rs 6 lakh crore annually to foreign firm to ship its goods across the world.
"This is almost equal to our defence budget," he told the massive crowd.
Around 50 years ago, 40 per cent of the country's trade was through India-made ships, but this has now come down to just 5 per cent, the PM pointed out.
The prime minister said his government had taken a historic decision to strengthen India's maritime sector by recognising large ships as infrastructure.
"India's ports are the backbone of our nation's rise as a global maritime powerhouse," he asserted.
Attacking previous dispensations under the Congress, the PM said the party suppressed inherent talent of Indians by placing restrictions like licence raj.
