Union Minister of Electronics and Information Technology, Communications, and Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw on March 19 said that the policies of the past governments stifled the growth of the manufacturing industry in India.
"Congress has wasted India's first 4 decades. Because Congress' policies put the manufacturing ecosystem was put in a chokehold, laws were complicated as a spider's web (kanoono ka makar ka jaal banake rakha gaya) so that no one can take up manufacturing)," Vaishnaw said.
Vaishnaw, while speaking at CNN-News18’s Rising Bharat Summit 2024, said that no industry in the world can grow without the creation of a component manufacturing ecosystem around the base industry.
The minister was responding to a question raised that the current government was only assembling final products in India rather than manufacturing the complete item in India.
"For example when the car industry was established around 1980. The first thing that came was the car's CKD (completely knocked down), then it was SKD Then a small component manufacturing ecosystem was established. After that a large component manufacturing ecosystem happened, there was tier 1 tier 2 tier vendors. After that, exports started happening," Vaishnaw said.
Vaishnaw added that mobile manufacturing in India was negligible 10 years ago and now the industry has grown to a $ 55 billion industry.
He added that before 2014, Indian railways were considered a cow only to be milked.
"Ministers only focusing on railway stoppage, extension, or a new train, with no thought on track capacity," the minister said.
He added that under the current government the railways changed the way Railways used to work, and funding has been raised.
"PM Modi clearly said that we need to take decisions even if they are tough. Advanced planning is now being done at railways which means there is a new way to work," Vaishnaw said.
He added that every Friday, the minister prepares a detailed plan for every 26-week going forward, changing the way the organisation is thinking about work, right from top to the bottom.
"I have also been interacting and taking feedback from Group B, C employees, who are all happy. They say Railways has now been brought to a higher technical stage, as envisioned by PM Modi," Vaishnaw said.
The minister also announced that the country's first bullet train service will be launched by 2026 between Ahmedabad- Mumbai.
“India’s first bullet train will be ready in 2026, and will run in one section from Surat,” Ashwini Vaishnaw said.
Ashwini Vaishnaw said the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project will prove to be a corridor of economic prosperity, transforming towns and cities along the route and becoming a learning experience for future initiatives.
The project plans to deploy Japan's Shinkansen Technology at an estimated cost of Rs 1.10 lakh crore. Services for the project are expected to begin by 2026.
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