‘Self-confidence of common man will make India self-reliant’

LUCKNOW: Industrial development minister Satish Mahana said that a self-reliant India will be built with the self-confidence of the common man. He said when India went into a complete lockdown on March 25, the country used to import masks from outside. Currently masks are being produced in every house.

The minister said this while speaking at a webinar on ‘Perspective of Self-reliant India’ organised jointly by Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University (AKTU) and Lucknow Management Association (LMA)

Mahana said, “Be it PPE kits, ventilators, sanitisers, etc, today we are producing them in abundance. We have to increase our self-confidence and make full use of our capabilities to embody the concept of self-reliant India.”

Senior bureaucrat Navneet Sehgal said that the government is preparing a new policy to promote MSMEs.

This policy will be announced soon. He said that earlier the button was made in Sambhal Uttar Pradesh, but the buttons were sent to China for carving.

Now button machines have come to the state and currently the state is exporting buttons. “Similarly, small idols of Ganesh-Lakshmi used to come from China. Now we have started producing the same quality within the state,” he said.

Former chief secretary Alok Ranjan said that foreign investment is also necessary for a selfreliant India. He said that foreign investment should be encouraged under Make in India.

AKTU vice-chancellor Vinay Kumar Pathak said, “Research and innovation can make us self-reliant. We have to promote production by using modern technology while assimilating culture.”

He said that artificial intelligence is currently the largest tool. “We should work for AI based manufacturing products.”

IIML director Archana Shukla, the moderator, said that academia, industry and government should work together to find solutions for technology development.

There should be an ecosystem wherein all stakeholders may participate to achieve common goals, she said.

Entrepreneur Kiron Chopra said, “We have to increase our production capacity by learning from how it is done overseas. Regional products have to be given preference.”

GBU Noida vice-chancellor BP Sharma said, “We have to promote the private sector rapidly. The time is favourable for us. We should work towards honing our skills.”