‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat’: Camouflage and Deception par excellence?!

The height of dubiousness and fraud is in selecting the name – ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’.

First, it is not a ‘Relief package’ as it was sought to be presented. There is nothing that even remotely provides any relief to the workers, peasants and other toiling people who are the worst impacted by the lockdown. It is more a set of policy measures encompassing both agriculture and industry, part of the ongoing neoliberal agenda of the BJP government led by Modi.

Second, these policy measures are destined to push the already crisis ridden Indian economy exactly in the opposite directions – not self reliance but self destruction of our indigenous manufacturing capability. They will endanger our food security. They will make our economy increasingly dependent on imports for almost all our crucial needs including defence requirements. 

As follow up to the announcement, the government issued three ordinances related to agriculture. The Essential Commodities Act was amended. Through this the government has abdicated its responsibility to ensure the basic rights of farmers, who feed the country, to a decent dignified living. This is will set in motion a process of land concentration, consolidation of power of a small landlords traders clique, contract farming and corporatisation of agriculture. Food security of the people will be sacrificed at the altar of speculative trade and profiteering of a few big corporates and landlords. These ordinances will pave the way for the destruction of peasant agriculture and ultimately end the concept of government procurement of agricultural produce at remunerative prices. It will lead to complete deregulation of land use management in favour of corporate agribusiness including foreign players. The ultimate result is severe erosion of self reliance and food security of the country.

Self reliance was the aspiration of our Independence struggle. The public sector was established and expanded to meet this aspiration of our people, to achieve self reliance in food production and to meet the needs of our industry, agriculture and other requirements of the people including essential medicines etc and also crucial infrastructure and capital goods to promote industrialisation.

The Modi led BJP government has now changed the meaning of ‘self reliance’. The ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ envisaged by it will make our country totally dependent on foreign companies and foreign countries, including for our food and defence requirements.

In the industrial economy, the government has decided to completely liberalise the entry of foreign companies for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) as well as Foreign Institutional Investment (FII). These are the most crucial components of the so called ‘reforms’ announced the government. 100% FDI will be allowed in coal and mineral sectors and 74% FDI in defence production sector. Indian companies will be allowed to freely list themselves in foreign jurisdiction thus permitting unhindered intervention of foreign capital including speculative capital in almost all sectors of our economy. This is bound to promote aggressive hostile foreign take over and control of crucial sectors of our economy as well as flight of domestic capital seeking speculative profits.

This is accompanied by wholesale privatisation embracing almost the entire public sector industrial and services network, eroding whatever self reliance has been attained during the over seven decades after independence. The government made it clear that privatisation will be effected in all sectors of the economy; that no public sector undertaking will be spared from such come what may and at any cost privatisation drive and that the process will be by calling global tenders, thus, further liberalising entry of foreign monopolies. Defence, coal, aviation, electricity, space research, atomic energy, financial sector, telecommunications, nothing is spared.

In essence, what is being touted as ‘Atmanirbhar’ or self reliance by the Narendra Modi government is a clear design of destruction of country’s indigenous manufacturing capability on the one hand and destruction of the peasant agriculture on the other. Together, they constitute a diabolical onslaught on the self-reliance of our national economy in the interest of the foreign capitalist giants and their junior partners, the in Indian corporates.

Selecting the Pandemic and lock down time, severely squeezing the space for democratic exercise of debates and dissents for all the above misdeeds involving national interests reflects the authoritarian and anti democratic attitude of the BJP government to mask its dubious and destructive intents.

This conspiratorial game of destruction on Indian economy and the livelihood of our people cannot be allowed to succeed. They can definitely be defeated if their nefarious designs are exposed and resistance is built up by the united movement of the working people; and they will be defeated.

Prepare for a determined struggle of defiance and resistance in the days to come.

We will overcome.

Published by Centre of Indian Trade Unions