Unsurprisingly, after China’s shamelessly clandestine and barbaric activities in Eastern Ladakh, there are demands oozing out now for boycott of all ‘Made in China’ products. Anti-China crusade is visible everywhere- from the lips of political functionaries to the common citizens and to a large extent on social media as well. From the point of view of pure nationalism, it is a one hundred per cent legitimate demand and hence needs to be encouraged and translated into action. But, the facts that will be too hard to overlook will corroborate why it’s quite difficult for the country at the moment to say a thumping “no” to Chinese goods.
Even from an amateurish observation it can be stated that China, over the last two decades has successfully transformed itself into a most-preferred manufacturing base for all major world economies. By guaranteeing cheap labour and competitive manufacturing costs, the nation believing and practicing the Communist ideology has lured almost all major MNCs, the most talked-about ‘children’ of the capitalist economic model, to invest and thrive. The smartphones used by the world populace, very much and surely including the Indians are ‘Made in China’. Will be difficult to believe instantly but absolutely true though- at any given point of time a simple fact-checking at any Indian home or office will reveal the emphatic presence of Chinese goods, be they toys, nail cutters, pen drives, computer mice and countless others. Silently but surely, thanks to the penchant for articles having less-price tags, China has ‘captured’ the country on economic terms. And this dependency has only gathered strength over the years, despite appeals and the much-touted ‘Make in India’ mission.
If altering the picture is a matter of time, there is also a need to have a relook why the Indian products are losing out in competition with their Chinese counterparts. Despite skilled labour and entrepreneurship qualities, there are a host of factors that have actually played discouraging roles over decades. Limited access to capital, the still-prevalent red tapism and various other factors have not been effectively addressed and the current brand of hyper-nationalism by the political players will hardly be able to bury the on-ground actualities.
Reactions of the common citizens and the non-political segments can hardly be questioned as the atrocities from China that keep coming routinely will undoubtedly enkindle the nationalistic passions. At the same time, policy makers will have to realize that to put India at par with the Chinese manufacturing capabilities, a lot of things are still left to be done.
It would have been most heartening if there is ‘No Entry’ for the Chinese products in the country. But, economic compulsions are terribly in bounty.

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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