THE AATMA NIRBHAR MANTRA

Empowering individuals and enterprises, unleashing the animal spirits of the economy and cleaning up the business environment...these were the targets for the decade, some met, others still work in progress

- 

Nothing captured the essence of Modinomics better than two of its signature catchphrases—'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' and 'Ease of Doing Business'.

The hint of the first came just four months into Modi 1.0, with an initiative called Make in India. A new twist to the old swadeshi theme of the RSS, the scheme departed from the original ideology in that it would produce not just for itself but for the world.

But aatmanirbharta was also more than that. It was equally about weaning businesses and individuals away from the subsidy culture, towards learning to stand on their own feet. Thus the schemes to ignite the country’s entrepreneurial spirit via the Mudra Yojana, Stand-up India, Production-Linked Incentives, and opening up sectors such as automotive, electronics, defence and space to foreign direct investment. Skill India, meanwhile, aimed to make the country's youth future-ready. That intent was also part of the National Education Policy, 2020, with its emphasis on skill-based learning. A National Infrastructure Pipeline was announced in 2019, in the hope that increased public spending would crowd in private investment.