ODOP SETS INDIA ON PATH OF RELIANCE AND NEW MARKET PENETRATION

ODOP is inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call to recognise that each district of our country has a potential equal to that of one country' and there is 'need to understand this power and channelize this potential.

- NIVEDITA MUKHERJEE

From gifts made under "One District One Product" scheme for delegates from G20 countries visiting India, well curated exhibitions of good quality ODOP products to tapping the demand for Assam tea from Mexico and neem from Brazil, sending ODOP footballs made in Jalandhar clusters and customised for the Argentina market for distribution before the FIFA World Cup to exhibiting ODOP products in Davos 2023, India's mammoth endeavour towards identifying products with export potential that a district specialises in and showcasing it to the world, is going places.

Taking off from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call to recognise that "each district of our country has a potential equal to that of one country" and there is "need to understand this power and channelize this potential", the ODOP is an earnest effort to highlight the tremendous potential that the rich culture and tradition that India has to offer, as defined by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal. Though India's districts and villages are home to crores of talented weavers, artisans and craftsmen, for many decades, the fruits of development have remained asymmetric and confined to some regions. "The ODOP initiative," according to Goyal, marks a fundamental shift in the thinking of the Government in the last eight years and realisation that India cannot develop unless remotest corners of the nation are also equal stake holders in development and benefits equally from fruits of progress.