Taking ‘Make in India’ beyond symbolism

As an unabashed, unflinching and unwavering nationalist, I am left feeling proud and energised by Prime Minister Modi’s calls of ‘Make in India’, ‘Swachh Bharat’ and ‘Digital India’ — all extremely relevant goals for contemporary India and its citizenry.

I am sure that even Modi’s political opponents’, who quite uncharitably dismissed him as a ‘chaiwala’ before the 2014 general elections, must be eating their words with every sip of their tea since then. Political messaging, when properly crafted, can deliver the required energy to galvanise a nation into positive action. Even if this is yet to happen, Modi’s high approval ratings portend well for such a welcome eventuality.

Every Indian, irrespective of her or his leanings is moved, even today, by the historic import of Mahatma Gandhi’s call of ‘Quit India’ and ‘ Karo Ya Maro ’ (Do or die), Shaheed Bhagat Singh’s ‘ Inquilab Zindabad ’ and Subhas Chandra Bose’s ‘ Jai Hind ’ and ‘ Tum mujhe khoon do, main tumhe azadi dunga ’ (Give me your blood and I will give you freedom).

And no Indian, who has grown up in post-independence India, can claim not to have been touched and re-energised by Lal Bahadur Shastri’s call of ‘ Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan ’ to a nation totally demoralised by the 1962 debacle.

The beauty of all the political messages that I have listed is that they do not pander to any particular segment of the diverse Indian society. They cut across religious, caste, regional, language and political divides. They all rise above partisan vote banks and appeal to the entire citizenry, both female and male. If the messaging succeeds, everyone benefits, and if everyone moves ahead by a step, India moves more than a billion steps!

Most importantly, none of the listed political messages seemed achievable when they were coined. That is indeed their unique appeal or ‘USP’ in marketing lingo.

They were coined not because they were easily achievable but because they posed huge yet desirable challenges for India and all Indians. Modi’s call to ‘Make in India’ must be seen within the foregoing context.

‘Make in India’ is a pan-India challenge to modern and forward looking contemporary Indians, across all divides, yearning to move centre stage in today’s inter-dependent and inter-connected global village. And this challenge, to my mind, has not yet been accepted by India’s argumentative intelligentsia.

India’s famed professionals, her all-powerful and all-pervasive bureaucracy, her arm-chair thinkers and her loud and all-too-visible political class — all are waiting for this to happen just because the Prime Minister has announced it.

While the announcement from the ramparts of the Red Fort is an essential requirement, it by no means is sufficient, in itself, to deliver the outcome.

To be fair, the ‘Make in India’ slogan has been parroted by all the sections of the intelligentsia listed above for different ends but I am yet to see, in the public domain at least, a coherent analysis of what ‘Make in India’ entails.

Such an analysis is a task for our professionals, bureaucrats and think tanks and not for Modi to deliver. Importantly, such an analysis is essential in the current context wherein savings and investments are falling, industrial and agricultural growth is stagnating, exports are falling despite a much cheaper rupee, non-performing assets of public sector banks are at dizzying and unsustainable levels, consumer level inflation remains stubborn and growth in livelihoods is lagging well behind what is needed for giving hope to India’s youth.

To my mind the analysis I am suggesting must critically evaluate and answer the following questions for the short term (1-3 years), the medium term (3-7 years) and the longer term:

a) Is ‘Make in India’ directed towards exports or domestic consumption or both? Depending upon the market opportunity ‘Make in India’ wishes to tap, a prioritised list of specific sectors and industries with timeframes and goals must be identified. The lowest hanging fruits must be at the very top of this list.

b) Depending upon the prioritised list of sectors/industries identified inclusive of a time-line, a broad assessment of resource inputs covering raw material, land, water, energy, infrastructure, manpower, skills, technology, financing, etc. that would become essential over the short, medium and long-term must be assessed for each of the specific sectors/industries covered by the prioritised list.

c) A detailed and prioritised listing of regulatory and non-regulatory hurdles imposed by the current governance and market structure, that would need to be addressed for the selected sectors/industries to ensure a favourable and competitive business environment, must be identified.

d) An assessment of the political price that India might have to pay or the political initiatives that India might have to take to gain access to the technologies, materials, external finance and overseas markets to support the ‘Make in India’ initiative must be made; and

e) A detailed list of actions that identified ministries, institutions and corporations must take to deliver identified outcomes in say the coming three years with broader goals identified for the longer term must be created.

The government must take such an analysis on board and formally approve it, with such modifications that it deems essential, and formally deliver the “Make in India” blueprint to the nation.

The government must also set up an inter-disciplinary empowered task force, reporting to the Prime Minister’s Office, to assist in implementing the duly approved “Make in India” blue print, monitor progress and measure outcomes along the adopted pathway.

Given the hands-on reputation of Modi, it is likely that all of the above has already been initiated and is well underway. If so, the above could provide a checklist of steps to be taken for making “Make in India” a success.

And finally, placing the concrete actions already afoot or proposed for achieving this goal in the public domain can only help create a greater buy-in. Such a buy in will reduce the noise that is currently drowning the many good initiatives being taken or being formulated by the Modi government. Jai Hind.

The writer is the former Principal Adviser, Power & Energy, Government of India