By Apoorva Shukla
Copyright timesnownews
Bhavnagar: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday made a strong pitch for ‘atmanirbharta’, saying the main enemy of India was the dependence on other nations and asserting the country should make everything from (semiconductor) chips to ships. The remarks came hours after US President Donald Trump signed a proclamation requiring companies to pay $100,000 annually for each H-1B worker visa. The move is going to significantly impact Indian technology workers who are hired by tech companies and others on H-1B visas. He was speaking at the ‘Samudra se Samruddhi’ event in Gandhi Maidan in Gujarat’s Bhavnagar, where he inaugurated and laid foundation stones of projects entailing a total cost of Rs 34,200 crore. “In the true sense, India does not have any big enemy in the world. The only enemy of India is the dependence on other countries. We need to defeat this dependence on others. We have to understand the more we are dependent on others, the rate of failure is high,” he asserted. “From chips to ships, we must make everything. For peace, stability and wealth, the country with the highest population in the world has to become self-reliant,” the PM emphasised. There is only one medicine for all problems of India and that is atmanirbharta (self-reliance), he said. Underscoring the financial burden of such dependence, Modi said the country pays Rs 6 lakh crore annually to foreign firm to ship its goods across the world. “This is almost equal to our defence budget,” he told the massive crowd. Around 50 years ago, 40 per cent of the country’s trade was through India-made ships, but this has now come down to just 5 per cent, the PM pointed out. The prime minister said his government had taken a historic decision to strengthen India’s maritime sector by recognising large ships as infrastructure. “India’s ports are the backbone of our nation’s rise as a global maritime powerhouse,” he asserted. Attacking previous dispensations under the Congress, the PM said the party suppressed inherent talent of Indians by placing restrictions like licence raj. Trump’s New Order on H1B Visa Trump’s administration announced a staggering annual fee of $100,000 on H-1B visas. Trump signed a proclamation restricting entry of certain non-immigrant workers and imposing a staggering annual USD 100,000 fee on the visas used by companies to hire workers, including from India, to live and work in the US. The US President said abuse of the H-1B programme is a national security threat. “The abuse of the H-1B programme is also a national security threat. Domestic law enforcement agencies have identified and investigated H-1B-reliant outsourcing companies for engaging in visa fraud, conspiracy to launder money… and other illicit activities to encourage foreign workers to come to the United States,” Trump said in the proclamation. Immigration attorneys and companies have asked the H-1B visa holders or their family members currently outside America for work or vacation to return within the next 24 hours or risk being stranded and denied entry into the US after the proclamation comes into effect from 12:01 am September 21. Get Latest News Live on Times Now along with Breaking News and Top Headlines from India and around the world.
