Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s clarion call to be “Vocal about Local” and “Made in India, made for the world” has become a slogan that is ringing in the ears of Indian consumers. But are tight-fisted Indians ready to give up the reasonably priced products made in China?
G Plus conducted a poll on its social media channels and asked Guwahatians whether India could become the manufacturing hub of the world replacing China.
More than 1,500 people participated in the poll. On the one hand, the results showed that 78 percent of people believed India had the capacity to take over from China and become the next global manufacturing hub, whereas, 22 percent of voters said that the same will not be possible anytime soon.
Netizens actively commented on G Plus’s post on social media platforms after casting their votes in the poll conducted on June 3.
In response to the question asked in the poll, one Twitter user, Khanjan, expressed his views, “It's not about ‘can’; it is about ‘should’. India should become a manufacturing hub for the world. I think India should be self-sufficient with its own production rather than becoming a service to the world. Being the ‘Hub’ brings bad consequences like unnecessary pollution and stuff.”
Another Facebook user, Imdad Hussain, opined, “For this to happen the government has to stop imports from China. People of India don’t go to China to buy Chinese products. If the government stops import then these goods will not be available in the market. The government should boycott export and import of goods to and from China; that is the only solution.”
There were others who had contradictory views about the same and soon comments began to flood of those who voted ‘No’ in the poll.
One netizen Amiya Deka on Facebook said, “Missiles are coming from Israel, aircrafts are coming from France, ammunition from Russia, IT hardware from Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore and China, garments come from Bangladesh, Vietnam. Above all this, antibiotics along with things as small as hair pins, bathroom slippers, Diwali diyas (lamps); you name anything and it all comes from China. Social media users need to address the root problems of not being able to competitively manufacture good/acceptable quality of goods in India rather than getting jingoistic and obsessing over China.”
“We are in no position to compete with China; we have to first compete with Vietnam, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand to become manufacturing hubs,” he added to the comment.
In response to Amiya Deka’s comment on the social media platform, another active netizen, Badhan Sen said, “Amiya Deka rightly pointed out; China is still a pioneer in assembly of electronic products and electricals. Let us be frank, all corporates having manufacturing facility need to be diverted to India, provided government provides them with subsidies.”
Based on the responses from the poll, about half the population would prefer not going to malls as they suggest that a visit to the mall could be life threatening. With people still anxious about stepping outside their homes for leisure activities, with shopping and watching a movie at the bottom in that list, even if malls were to reopen, there is much uncertainty over the amount of business that they would get.
With the hashtag #BoycottChina trending on almost all social media platforms, a majority of netizens asked people to boycott Chinese products but there were others who believed that Indians must first compete with other countries producing commodities that Indians purchase and then compete with the Dragon.
