The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has launched the Swavlambh Bharat Abhiyan aimed at making India self-reliant, particularly in employment generation. The ambitious project has been taken up by the highest decision-making body of the RSS, the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha. The aim is not to be dependent on the government largess, but to augment village economy and create jobs.
Unemployment and migration forced by job search, particularly after the Covid-19 pandemic, were among the key issues on which the Opposition had targeted the BJP in recently concluded Assembly elections, especially in Uttar Pradesh.
The RSS project aims to ensure that India returns to the “golden days of being the entrepreneur” and strengthen manufacturing to give a fillip to the local economy.
The Team
The nodal body for the abhiyan is the Swadeshi Jagran Manch and includes RSS affiliates like Bharatiya Majdoor Sangh, Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, Laghu Udyog Bharti, Sehkar Bharati, Grahak Panchayat and Akhil Bhartiya Vidhyarthi Parishad. The program is being mentored by Dr Krishna Gopal, Sah Sarkaryawah, RSS.
The Model
The RSS has decided to rope in all of its affiliates, especially those engaged in economic activities, to spearhead the coordinated effort to create employment locally and market local products.
Sources said that in boosting local economy, the producers — women from self-help groups, farmers and artisans — will also get share in profits generated from marketing and sale of the produce.
The plan is to seek help from private entrepreneurs, small businesses, government agencies (central and state) and to help start-ups and self-help groups financially.
“Bharatiya economic model needs to be human-centric, labour-intensive and stresses on equitable distribution of benefits,” reads the statement issued by the RSS in Ahmedabad.
In order to ensure that unemployment will not be an issue in political discourse, the RSS is working on an elaborate plan which seeks to ensure that people in villages and cities get a skill upgrade and are not dependent on the government to provide them with the jobs.
Simply Desi, launched by Sahakar Bharti to bring the cottage industry on a global platform by involving self-help groups, was unveiled by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat.
“Self-help groups have been involved in this project and the incentive is not just to help them market their produce but also give them share in the profit,” the RSS statement adds.
The Plan
The RSS believes that the Indian economy used to be based on small-scale and micro-economy that had cooperative movement at the core of it. With the government focusing on MSMEs and now having a separate ministry of co-operatives, it hopes to aid the government and be aided in return.
There will be coordinated efforts within the Sangh and its affiliates, and also organisations that are working in the society. The plan also aims to encourage the industries to become a partner.
One of the first steps would be to change the mind-set of the young generation. This is where the RSS student wing, the ABVP, comes in.
“ABVP will work on broadening the mind-set of school and college students. There would be motivational lectures on campuses by those who have become first-generation entrepreneurs and are success stories. The new national education policy has all this included in it,” said a senior RSS functionary.
Another RSS functionary explained, “This is an effort in a direction where we need to change the mind-set of how the young generation thinks. They need to start thinking about becoming an employer than an employee.”
Laghu Udyog Bharti and others will work on small businesses and start-ups as well.
“We have women working at home. We call it the invisible economy. We will ensure that the project gets converted into product and women are centric to such initiatives that are being planned,” stated the RSS functionary quoted above.
Initiatives will include encouraging small groups of people to start co-operatives and avail loans. Efforts will revolve around finding the produce, refining the product and tying up with the industry or government departments for packaging and marketing of such products, sources said.
“It is important to build an environment in the society conducive for those who would want to venture into the world of entrepreneurs,” said the source.
The Bharatiya Kisan Sangh will focus its energy on developing modules on agri-related industries and helping farmers. Uttar Pradesh’s ‘one district, one product’ is being cited as a model example.
“There will be committees in every district and no one will be untouchable to seek support, be it politicians, youngsters or students. We will build an eco-system where employment is generated organically. Even to the extent of providing platforms for start-ups that face many problems while securing loans,” stated Ashwini Mahajan, national co- convenor, Swadeshi Jagran Manch.
The Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram will focus on tribal communities and rural economy. According to Atul Jog, Akhil Bhartiya Sangathan Mantri of the affiliate, there are approximately 12 crores tribal people in the country.
“The minor forest produce of every village can be processed and marketed to contain migration from villages to the cities. FPOs can play a major role in generating employment in villages,” added Jog.
The Swadeshi Jagran Manch will concentrate on boosting manufacturing.
According to Mahajan, ever since China came to the WTO in 2001, India’s manufacturing has been hit. “Our manufacturing was 16% of the GDP that could have been taken to 25%. However, our growth pattern shifted from manufacturing to services over a period of time. Employment was hit as a result. If we want to remove unemployment, we need to promote manufacturing in a big way,” stated Mahajan, adding that, “We manufactured PPE kits to ventilators during Covid.”
A senior functionary of Kisan Sangh said the idea is to start manufacturing in villages as well. “There can be so much manufacturing in villages or food produce, be it mushroom farming, dairy processing or marketing products of local artisans.”
The Sangh believes that Bharat has been a country of entrepreneurs since the ancient times. “Today, we are thinking of making India self-reliant where we will be producing arms and semi-conductors and solar units and much more. We have dedicated organisations to take care of dedicated sections of the society,” stated Mahajan.
“We have called it Indo-centric economy because big industries were never our model. We always had a sustainable model that helped us survive over the centuries. We witnessed Covid and have to ensure that such an event won’t hurt us economically. We have manpower. There should be balance between technology and manpower, and making it world-class is our target,” said a senior RSS functionary.
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