Maharashtra: Bhaiyyaji Joshi calls for production of daily use items in villages

He said India always had a tradition of village industries and called for training village youths in producing such items to prevent migration to cities. “The Covid-19 crisis has seen huge movement of migrant labourers across the country. This should prompt us to rethink our strategies. Major industries are necessary to produce certain things but we can produce other things in small units in a decentralised manner,” said Joshi.

Giving examples of an endeavour to make rakhis, Joshi said, “A very heartening experience was witnessed during the Raksha Bandhan festival, when women from tribal areas were trained to provide rakhis for Mumbai residents. It is believed that China, which was supplying rakhis, had to suffer a loss of Rs 4,000-5,000 crore.”

Joshi said, “PM Modi has spoken about Atmanirbhar Bharat. Its direct meaning is Swadeshi. It means creating self-sufficient villages, towns districts and cities.”

He also stressed the need to re-orient youth towards agriculture. “The youth should engage in agri industries and value-addition to agri-produce at village levels, for which they should be provided training,” he said.

Joshi claimed that Covid-19 couldn’t have as bad an impact on India as it had in other parts of the world due to “great resistance power of the people of our country”. He also claimed that the cooperation among people during the pandemic was also unique to India and wasn’t seen in any other country. “Wherever it was seen, it was from the Bharatiya community there,” claimed Joshi.