Winning Entries from Essay Writing - ‘Aatmanirbharta’
Winning Entry
Seventy Five years of Independence whoa! That is some achievement for our country India. Fifteenth August 1947 marks the beginning of the journey of a “Free India”. A momentous occasion when our own leaders took the responsibility of establishing India which had lost its identity under the colonial realms.
Today when we compare the status of India to the status when we just got independence, we can observe a similarity, “the need for Aatmanirbharta/self reliance”. A vision which can be turned into reality by taking the example of our own country at the time of Independence. Just after Independence our country was facing several challenges such as poverty, food inadequacy, illiteracy, unemployment, lack of unity etc which were combated by comprehensive policies and upliftment programmes centred on the theme of Aatmanirbharta.
Several challenges surround us today as well. The challenge of boosting an economy which is witnessing one of the all time lows, high unemployment rates, dependence on foreign aid for manufacturing of products partially or completely. At this point it becomes a dire need to look into our own potentials and look for a solution whose theme is again Aatmanirbharta.
But coming to the main question, How to achieve Aatmanirbharta?
For answering this question, we need to analyse the fronts on which we have to be Aatmanirbhar,. Manufacturing sectors, Healthcare, Technology are some key fronts from the lot. For each of these fronts, we can devise an algorithm working on which we may achieve our goal. And what suits an algorithm better than Technology? The term which has revolutionised the standards of human existence in this world. The rapid pace at which the human race is evolving because of technology makes it a very integral element to any country’s development.
India has been “receiving” the fruits of technology from other countries such as the US, Germany, China etc. But as mentioned above we need to transform ourselves from receivers to producers. This will inherently help the GDP growth rate to increase and hence, can provide a good boost to our economy. Let us look at some of the ways we can achieve Aatmanirbharta in Technology:Make in India Programme:
We have the Make in India initiative which is active from the year 2014. The potential of this programme in changing the dynamics of the status quo is enormous. India is blessed with several raw materials which act as the primary resources in manufacturing.
Thanks to the physiological diversity of our country we possess different types of lands which makes it suitable for manufacturing of different goods. The need is to emphasise on this programme more strongly. When we have world class MNCs working in our country we get to know what are the advances in the technological domains they have. The people working in such companies get the same experience and can pass on it to the local industries as well. We will need some investments to manage the utilities the companies will use. These investments open the window of fast adaptability and help the local industries to learn from it.Education and Technology:
Making India technologically self reliant highly depends upon the relationship between an Indian and Technology. It is high time we think upon the relevance of the education system in the tech driven world. The National Educational Policy, 2020 has made some recommendations on these fronts, correct implementation of which can help in revamping school education. For those students who are fascinated in tech domains from their middle school have to be given basic exposure in domains such as Programming Languages, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence etc. By the time they join colleges, they can go a step further either in research and development or become more industrial oriented. This is an important aspect for achieving our main aim because until and unless we don’t have the manpower which evolves with time, our growth rate cannot increase. We have the second largest population in the world, imagine if a small percentage excel in research and development, we can revolutionise the technological sector.
The Startup Culture:
This aspect can act as a catalyst in our quest for Aatmanirbharta in Technology. One year back, when around 50 Chinese apps were banned, the country observed that there are replacements to those apps which are made by our own people. Kaagazscanner, MX TakaTak, Arogya Setu, COWIN are some of the examples. The need is to promote this culture. Startup has its own risks and hence there has to be some financial aid which they may need to sustain those hiccups. The Union Budget 2021 did allocate some percentage of funds for the same cause.
Media:
We need to spread the word! It starts with a small group which converts into a caravan. People have to be made aware about why our India needs to be Atmanirbhar and how can they be an instrument to this modern day revolution? Social media, mass media and press media have to come in front and act as influencers.
This process of Aatmanirbharta shall not be a sudden change but rather a smooth transition where we slowly and steadily become capable of producing and generating what we used to do with the help of foreign aid. There will be challenges on the route, may be the substitute of the foreign tech gadgets, or appliances would be poor than what we were making initially but, that is where the zeal and desire of making India Aatmanirbhar shall strike a call and inspire us to strive and struggle for a common cause and enable us to promote and support this wave of change. Little is the contribution one has to make to see a revolution take place in-front of our eyes. And what we plant as seeds today, there are fruits that can surely be seen in the future.
Let this Seventy Fifth Independence day ignite the spark within us so that we all can become instruments in turning the vision of Aatmanirbhar Bharat a reality.
Mohd Aasim Khan (CH18B017)
Joint Runner Entry
Technology is the greatest gift of God, after gift of life.
Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan was conceptualized in the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. The movement was put forward by the Prime Minister himself and according to experts, is akin to the Swadeshi movement that was started in 1905 during the struggle against the imperial power. On 12 May, 2020, during his address to the nation, the PM unveiled the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan. Introduction by the Prime Minister himself, provided the necessary impetus to the movement. PM Modi in his address, announced an economic package of Rs. 20 trillion or Rs. 20 lac crores to fight the pandemic under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan. The amount corresponds to no less than 10% of India’s GDP. The aim as he highlighted, is to make the nation as well as the citizens self-reliant.
Five pillars of Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan - economy, infrastructure, technology driven system, vibrant demography and demand. The most significant aspect of Aatmanirbhar Bharat is the self-reliance that needs to be created in the sphere of technology. The modern-day development in all economic sectors is heavily reliant on technology. The idea of self-reliance in the 21st century can’t remain untouched by the technological factor. Thankfully for India, the development in the technological arena has been quite satisfactory. The nation is staging itself as a global technology hub. The digital economy of India is expected to achieve the US $1 trillion mark by the year 2025. India is one of the leading providers of IT and IT enabled services. The investments in the sectors of space, smart-cities, IT services, infrastructure, and infusing of technology in all domains would translate into significant development and self-reliance.
Indian agricultural sector is the primary sector of India’s economy and contributes significantly to the GDP of the nation and also provides employment to over 50% of the manpower. The sector could not be ignored if India wishes to fulfil its goal of self-reliance. As India does not shine if only some gleam. The development of farming as an industry would ensure the increase of employment and self-employment opportunities in and around the villages of India on a massive scale. The farmers have been adapting to newer technologies and discarding inefficient and outdated machines and techniques. In yesteryears machines have taken over much of the earlier manual works on the farm. Tractors, motor pumps, threshers, artificial fertilisers, HYV seeds, etc. have become ubiquitous and basic farm necessities, which were once not so common in Indian farms. In the further development, the acceptance of bio technology, drones, artificial intelligence and other modern equipment as well as the contribution of young scientists and researchers in the field would be required. Other technological methods need to be adopted in order to create the earlier infertile lands into lands suitable for agriculture so that the area of agriculture expands and therefore self-employment is increased. Irrigation system which has significantly bettered over the decades needs to be made more robust to further this objective. Technology would help transform agriculture into a profitable and efficient sector and would result into the self-reliant India that is envisaged.
The idea of self-reliance is based greatly on research, innovation and entrepreneurship. The time of pandemic has pointed towards the insufficiencies and has presented many new opportunities to entrepreneurs. The self-reliant movement is an attempt towards providing opportunities to the Indian innovators at a global stage. The promotion of such innovations would provide incentive to the startups which would further create opportunities for new employments across the nation. The government support would provide an impetus to create job creators in India which would help the cause of Aatmanirbhar Bharat. For this purpose, there needs to be cooperation between the government, the corporate, academia and citizens at all levels from central to the villages. The multinational companies have rushed in recent times to India in order to acquire the youth and talent so that they can capitalize on them to create wealth for themselves and their country. With the idea of self-reliance, India could provide opportunities to the citizens to work in and for their nation and gain similar benefits as well as contribute significantly to India itself. India has one of the fastest growing startup ecosystems and the support by government in research and innovation as well as in establishing the idea can help India certainly to become a self-reliant nation.
The economic growth significantly depends on the research and innovation done within the country as well as the industries created by Indians within India. Technology can not alone ensure the self-reliance. If that were the case, the way forward would have been the import of technology. But technological import does not mean its absorption in the population of the nation. The socio-economic factors need to be tackled in order to utilize the full potential of technology. A significantly major portion of India’s population is poorly educated, deficient of nutrients, and suffering in poverty. The infant mortality rate is high and the pandemic has showcased the poor health system of the country. Technology could help in improving the social factors such as health, education and poverty and the social factors ensure a quality population which promotes technological development. Innovative ideas should be employed to better the conditions such as platforms for digital learning, online medical consultation, mandatory teaching of IT and coding in schools among other steps. Technology would hence be used to better the human resource of India and the quality population could be more efficient and productive and would thus contribute more to India’s economy as well as its goal of Aatmanirbhar Bharat.
It’s not that we can’t do it now or it will take some time, we have ISRO as an example with us and many more, leading in their arena. We just need to make the implementation stronger and aggressive. Seeing the speed with which fourth industrial revolution is taking its root It’s definitely going to decide the leader among the countries, within the nation and in the society, having impact in each and every level and if data is the new oil, Technology is the new religion!
Talha Shamim (CS19B050)
Joint Runner Entry
The ending of the second decade of the 21st century saw the rise of a new global pandemic, the Covid-19 outburst. It has exposed out the health care systems of many nations. In this second wave of outburst, India is leading in the number of daily cases recorded. Many of us have come to an opinion that our country’s health system has collapsed by now. What do you feel is the major cause for the large number deaths occurring daily? I feel that lack of oxygen is the main cause for many people dying from covid. So, isn’t our country in a state to provide enough oxygen to its citizens? This clearly implies that our country still lags behind in technological resources.
During these critical times one can understand the importance of technology in health care system. The use of ventilators, oxygen cylinders, oxygen concentrators, pulse oximeters, etc have increased by a lot, but their production isn’t increasing simultaneously. Looking for a foreign aid isn’t too good and won’t be sufficient for a country as populous as India. This only leaves with one solution, improving the swadeshi industries. This pandemic is just an example to portrait the importance of technology. In future we might have to face much dangerous outbreaks or even disasters, both natural and man-made. Whatever may be the crisis an intense development in technology will help uplifting the society.
These situations create an intense demand for innovative ideas and start-ups that suffice the present need for technology. All that is required is the support from government and organisations to put these ideas into practise. The concept of “Make in India” must be made much more appealing. Presently, in the picture of “Make in India” many international companies started their production in India. But in many of them only assembling is being done her and many of the parts are exported from outside the country. This isn’t the notion of Aatmanirbharata. Not only the manufacturing of products, but also the root ideas for them must also originate in the country. This is what Aatmanirbharata truly means.
Freedom and limitations (or restrictions) are on the opposite sides of a coin. Correct usage of both of them can lead to an improvement in the standards of the current technology in our country. Today’s generation might have some good ideas but they aren’t able to express it. The reasons may be lack of financial support, lack of team or work support, fear of corporate competition from some big companies and above all lack of interest and self confidence. The youth, who are the future of a bright India, shouldn’t be ignored. Freedom of thoughts and opinions along with a bit of restrictions and limitations imposed will work the need.
Bringing up new ideas and improving the current ones is the main task. The government can take an initiative to create a web portal on which registered users can post up their innovative ideas for new technologies or any suitable suggestions for renovating the current technology. These can be displayed in the website’s dashboard. Now if any company (Indian company to be specific) is impressed with any idea and want to implement it they can approach the respective author. Or if a group of people liked a specific notion and want to work collectively on it, they can form a start-up. A regular check to the website can clear the unnecessary and spammed posts. Further laws can be imposed so that plagiarism is reduced and only few eligible people are given access to post content.
But there is still a major barrier left to overcome, lack in interest and self-confidence. Getting inspiration and self-motivation are great solutions to overcome these problems. Government or organisations must take the initiative to feed the youth with inspiration and lead them towards achieving something high in their life. They can arrange motivation talks with some leading businessman and experienced persons in the country. Some deeds require long term for it’s results to be seen. This requires a dedication and faith on your work. These qualities are also to be instilled in oneself. Another major problem in India is the poor standards of recycling and reusing. The by products obtained from one process can be fuel to another. So, there must be effective measures taken so that recycling and reusing are properly carried down, as requirement of materials is the backbone of improving our current technology standards.
India is having the highest number of youths. So why not use their energy, enthusiasm, intelligence and hard work under proper guidance to strive the country towards self-reliance in technology. In a country which has rich diversity in people, culture, language and ideas, aspects of unity and trust can help our country achieve unimaginable things. Thereby giving India an international power and honour which our country deserves to have.
S Ram Mohith (CH20B021)