The Rebirth of the Swadeshi

On the 14th of August, at midnight, India acquired freedom from the shackles of the British rule.

• We were free to rule our country. 
• We were free at last to make our laws and salute our flag and sing our anthem.
• We were not bound by the alien laws that treated us like second-rate citizens in our own land. 

The only good that came of the British rule one can say is that we became Indians, the citizens of a “united India” that formerly comprised of bits and pieces of 500 odd inconsequential kingdoms that were constantly warring with each other, Thanks to "The Iron Man" Sardar Patel. We penned our Constitution with hopes and dreams of recovering our lost glory. But alas! The British left us with no brass with which to make our dreams come true. India's share of world income collapsed from 22.6% in 1700, almost equal to Europe's share of 23.3% at that time, to as low as 3.8% in 1952. Indeed, at the beginning of the 20th century, "the brightest jewel in the British Crown" was the poorest country in the world in terms of per capita income. Then go the super powers of the world today proclaiming India as a developing nation when half their prosperity comes from our coffers. 

What we have made of our country is exactly what the British wanted us to become. A mere shadow of the nation that was once a fully operative economy that was on par with the European nations. How did we have such a considerable share in the world economy? Did we have mammoth industries and factories or even software companies round every corner of the streets?

1. The answer is an obvious no, our income came from our land,
   
   “Our MathruBhoomi” and our forte was agriculture. We had patents on rare spices, several varieties of medicinal herbs and vegetables. Only the concept of patents and copyrights did not exist when we were openly plagiarised in every manner even until recently, when Basmati the staple of northern India was patented by a US based Company.The big element we are missing out here in our race with the global powers is our strengths, our fertile lands, and innate farming capabilities.
2. The next important aspect is our culture which pays much attention to science and technology. Our various religious texts are all clues left by our ancestors so we could catch up with the
   retarded progress.
   
   
   
   
   
3. The other gem that was lost along with the “The Kohinoor” is our arts and artisans. The inimitable and intrinsic artwork of our land has gone into obscurity along with the artisans who are now living in an emasculated condition. The government must recognise and uplift such artist whose art forms are worth several millions in the global market.
   

Our government must emphasise on farming and agriculture. It must subsidise organic farming thereby making the farmer and the buyer rich and happy respectively.
secondly our schools must begin by teaching our rich culture and heritage to children in school. When we talk of heritage we forget that there existed an India before the British and Moghul invasions.
Lastly the myriad arts of our country must be renewed and given their due. 

The economy will correct itself once we realise wherein our strength lies. 

Having spoken about our gifts let me further take you all into the current global scenario.

Indian Rupee	1.00 INR	inv. 1.00 INR
Euro	0.011833	84.512345
US Dollar	0.015676	63.791793
British Pound	0.009987	100.133434
Australian Dollar	0.016876	59.255153
Canadian Dollar	0.016210	61.690548
Emirati Dirham	0.057578	17.367763
Swiss Franc	0.014657	68.225296
Chinese Yuan Renminbi	0.095943	10.422847
Malaysian Ringgit	0.051223	19.522376
New Zealand Dollar	0.019463	51.379939

The currency that comes closest to the Indian rupee is the Chinese yen. In contrast look at the Dollar and Pound sterling. Such a staggering variation in economy! The figure is  in fact showing how weak the rupee is as compared to all the world currencies. This basically means that Indian goods have no market either outside or inside India and we are underselling our products and talents alike to the big daddies. It also means that we are importing more than we are exporting.

The biggest paradox of the current trade development is that we buy imported goods because it is of a superior quality, and then export our superior quality products to foreign nations. The next enormous chip in our armour is oil. We are dependent upon the dollar to buy oil.

But now our imports exceed exports because of substantial competition from the Chinese, and several other such markets. The end result is what you see in the above table, “The fast decline of the rupee against all currencies of the world”. 

The solution to all our maladies is to “Go Swadesi”. The famous slogan 

“Be Indian Buy Indian” 

should be tooted and blared from every roof top and nook and corner of the country. Come on my fellow Indians let us revive the Swadesi movement. Please look at the manufacturer’s label before you buy any product be it food items or clothing or electronics items. 

A request to my fellow Indians, please sell the first quality products here to our people before shipping it away to some country abroad.  A 40% of our countrymen can afford good stuff sold by our traders and am sure are more than willing to buy on our own products than to spend it on imported goods.

And most important of all PLEASE USE LESS GASOLINE. That will solve 60% of our financial deficits. Walk, Use public transports, Invest in a good bicycle.
Please save India from a perennial oil crisis. We have to start somewhere and might as well start here and now.

As the saying goes 

Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it;

George Bernard Shaw.

So please help improve our country’s fiscal situation be an active participant in the national “Drive for better Economy”.

Jai Hind.