The Prime Minister also announced reforms in India’s maritime trade sector.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday addressed a public gathering in Bhavnagar, Gujarat, where he spoke about the importance of self-reliance. His remarks came soon after US President Donald Trump signed a proclamation imposing a $100,000 annual fee on companies hiring H-1B visa workers.
PM Modi said India’s greatest challenge was dependence on foreign countries.
“We have no major enemy in the world. Our only real enemy is our dependence on other countries. This is our biggest enemy, and together we must defeat this enemy of India, the enemy of dependence,” he said.
He explained that greater foreign dependence means greater national weakness. Modi added that self-reliance is key to maintaining global peace, stability, and prosperity. “A country with the world’s largest population must become Atmanirbhar,” he noted.
The Prime Minister also announced reforms in India’s maritime trade sector. He said his government is introducing “One Nation, One Document” and “One Nation, One Port Process” to make trade and port operations simpler.
“India’s ports are the backbone of our nation’s rise as a global maritime powerhouse,” Modi asserted.
Highlighting the need to boost local manufacturing, the PM said, “From chips to ships, we must make everything.”
He called Atmanirbharta (self-reliance) the “only medicine for all of India’s problems.”
PM Modi also said India spends around ₹6 lakh crore annually to foreign firms for shipping goods. He pointed out that this cost is almost equal to the country’s defence budget.
The Prime Minister underlined the government’s decision to recognise large ships as infrastructure. He said strengthening ports and the shipping sector would push India forward as a maritime power.
He gave examples of the potential in self-reliance, pointing to INS Vikrant, India’s first indigenous aircraft carrier made with Indian steel. “More than 40 ships and submarines have been introduced, and except for a few, all of them have been made in India,” Modi said.
PM Modi stressed that earlier governments restricted India’s talent through policies like the licence raj. He said his government’s focus is to unlock India’s true potential through Atmanirbhar Bharat.
“There is only one medicine for all problems of India and that is Atmanirbharta (self-reliance),” he concluded.
