Should We Boycott VIDESHI (foreign) Products?

I hope you remember the appeal from our Honourable Prime Minister about being “Atmanirbhar” and accept “Swadeshi” or “Vocal for Local”. Please try to recall what kind of thoughts came to your mind after hearing it on that day.

I’ve my own opinions on it and have met many people who think in a different way about it than me too.

People think about it primarily in 3 different ways:

1. Some think this is a great initiative.
2. Some others say this is good but impossible to achieve.
3. Then some say this is not good and is a kind of discrimination.

We’ll talk more about above points, not to derive a conclusion but to analyze the available data more to help reach a conclusion.

Is it a great initiative? Yes, because:

1. Our country has no dearth of industrious and entrepreneurial people, they just need some kind of encouragement to bring their dreams into reality. These are the people who when doing something, also create employment opportunities for others. So if we as a country encourage such entrepreneurs no doubt many of our unemployed will be employed by them directly. If we buy their products or services then they’ll earn for sure, the supply chain between us will also be benefitted by that and thereby the numerous people employed there are benefitted too.
2. These days almost everything is available online, and you know which famous eCommerce sites they are. They are just platforms where merchants register and then sell their products. For facilitating this trade the eCommerce platforms charge a premium to the merchant which is ultimately added to the price of the product. So just think, if you take a little pain, find out if the products are available in your local market and buy it from there, then the local shopkeeper who might have faced great trouble due to the lockdown would be benefitted a little and hopefully, you’ll get the product at a bargain price. Isn’t this a good thing? Additionally, there’s a high chance that when you go out to the local market, you meet people there and make relationships. Maybe you meet friends there and spend some quality time as well.
3. Being totally “atmanirbhar” is not possible right away. But I’m hopeful that with time everything can be manufactured in India and we’ll gradually become self-dependent. Take the example of manufacturing PPE kits during the Corona lockdown. There was not even one company manufacturing those in India, and in just 2 months there are about 300 registered manufacturers of PPE kits. Can’t that be replicated in other products that we currently source from other countries? Sure, it’ll take time, efforts, and friendly policies by the Government, but it’s possible for sure.
4. Is it discrimination towards the Chinese because they manufacture products for the whole world? Not at all, Chinese people are nice but not the Government. Also when the entire world has a demand for Chinese products, the pressure increases on production which is then achieved by the Government by forcibly making people work under inhuman conditions and they are not paid well too. If the pressure on production decreases, indirectly the workers will be relieved a bit, they’ll get some time for other things in their lives. Also to maintain a balance no one country must have a monopoly on something that the entire world relies on.

Here is an excellent video from Mr. Sonam Wangchuk which clearly explains the situation and the remedy. For those of you who don’t know him, remember the movie “3 idiots”? The character “Phunsukh Wangdu” or “Rancho” was inspired by him.

Well, we being simple citizens can’t think much about strategies, policies etc. But, at least we can think and decide about how to contribute to the cause. I had initially given a list of “Made in India” products below, but later I realized that keeping the list up-to-date in real-time will be extremely difficult for me. Also if the list is not showing valid and up-to-date information then it’s of not much use to us. Hence I’ll leave it to the reader’s due diligence to perform a google search or search on youtube and find the latest data.

In the meantime, I’ve also come across some good videos and articles that induce a bit of the most required positivity in us, that if done properly our country can become self-sufficient in many things one day. The article that you’ll love to read is here.

The below video is also very interesting and furnishes lots of facts:

Hope you enjoy reading the article as well as watching the video.

Be happy and stay safe!