Turn ‘Vocal for Local’ into people’s movement, reduce foreign dependence: PM Modi

PM Modi said the world had faced successive crises over the past few years, beginning with the Covid-19 pandemic and now extending to escalating tensions in West Asia.

“Over the past few years, the world has been continuously passing through unstable circumstances. First, the crisis of COVID, then global economic challenges, and now the rising tensions in West Asia. The impact of all these situations is continuously falling on the entire world, and India is not untouched by it either,” PM Modi said.

“If the COVID pandemic was the biggest crisis of this century, then the circumstances created by the war in West Asia are one of the major crises of this decade. When we together overcame the challenge of COVID, we will surely get through this crisis as well. The government is also continuously making efforts to ensure that its impact on the people of the country is minimal...” he added.

Calling for public participation, the Prime Minister said citizens should support efforts to reduce import dependence and conserve foreign exchange reserves.

“Even in the earlier decades, whenever the country has gone through war or any other major crisis, every citizen has fulfilled their responsibility in the same way in response to the government's appeal. Today, too, there is a need for all of us to come together and fulfil our responsibility to reduce the burden on the country's resources,” he said.

“India spends lakhs of crores of rupees in foreign exchange to import many products from abroad. At the same time, the prices of imported goods are soaring, and global supply chains have also been severely disrupted. Just as every drop fills a pot, every small and big effort matters. We must reduce the use of products that come from abroad and avoid unnecessary dependence on imported goods in our daily lives, and also avoid such personal activities that involve spending foreign exchange...” he added.

The Prime Minister also appealed to people to cut fuel consumption by increasing reliance on public transport, electric mobility and digital alternatives such as virtual meetings and work from home.

“... I appeal to every citizen of my country to reduce the use of petrol-diesel as much as possible. Use the metro, make greater use of electric buses and public transport, and promote carpooling. Those who have a car should take more people along in one vehicle,” he said.

“Digital technology has now made so many things easy that technology's assistance will also be very beneficial for us. It is essential that priority be given to virtual meetings and work from home in both government and private offices...” PM Modi added.

He further urged citizens to defer gold purchases, noting that imports of the precious metal place additional pressure on foreign exchange reserves.

“A huge amount of the country's money also goes abroad on gold imports. Therefore, I would urge all of you, my fellow countrymen, to postpone the purchase of gold until the situation returns to normal,” he said.

The Prime Minister also criticised the growing trend of overseas holidays and destination weddings, saying such practices contribute to unnecessary outflow of foreign exchange.

“The moment the holidays begin, children are handed tickets to go abroad. The trend nowadays is to travel overseas—often for destination weddings,” Modi said.

“Ask yourselves: are there no places within India where we can spend our vacations, where we can teach our children about our history, where we can take pride in our own local sites. It is essential that we celebrate our vacations right here in India; furthermore—even when it comes to weddings—I do not believe there could be any place more beautiful or sacred for us than our own India...” he added.

With inputs from agencies