Boycott China: Maharashtra Government Cancels Rs 5000 crores worth Chinese Contracts
Boycott China sentiment has reached an all time high after 20 of our soldiers got martyred in Galwan Valley while defending the borders. Since then not just the common citizens, the governments of different Indian states including the central government has started working towards freeing the nation from the clutches of Chinese investment.
Maharashtra became one of the first state to start the Boycott China initiative. Uddhav Thackeray’s Maharashtra government freezed the contract worth Rs 5000 crores that was awarded to different Chinese companies. Recently under Magnetic Maharashtra initiative, three MoUs were signed by the Maharashtra government with different Chinese firms. It must be remembered the Magnetic Maharashtra initiative was initiated to boost the state economy after it collapsed due to lockdown imposed after Coronavirus took control of the state. Under these initiative Maharashtra government signed several MoUs with countries all around the world and also with some Indian companies.
Chinese companies Hengli Engineering, PMI Electro Mobility Solutions JV with Photon and Great Wall Motors were the ones that signed contract with the Maharashtra government during Magnetic Maharashtra initiative. All these companies signed MoUs to invest in Talegaon in Pune district. Great Wall Motors signed a MoU worth Rs 3700 crore with the Maharashtra government. PMI Electro Mobility along with Photon had agreed to make an investment of Rs 1000 crore in Malegaon. Hengli Engineering was supposed to make a Rs 250 crore investment in Malegoan automobile plant. The MoUs were signed on 17th June, the day when Galwan faceoff took place.
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After the consultation with the central government, the Maharashtra’s Maha Vikas Aghadi government went ahead to freeze the contracts.
Since 17th June, Indian government has started hurting China where it hurts the most. Telecom Department asked BSNL and MTNL to stop using the Chinese equipment for the upgradation of 4G network. The Indian Railways terminated a contract worth Rs 470 Crore with China. The signalling contract was given to Beijing National Railway Research & Design Institute of Signal & Communication in the year 2016.
Owing to the border conflict, the Shanghai Tunnel Engineering Company is set to lose the Delhi-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) contract. The contract is worth over Rs 1100 crores. Larsen and Turbo is expected to get the contract for the project.
Which States leads the Boycott China Initiative?
The Galwan incident has marked the beginning of new phase of Boycott China initiative. Traders’ Association around India determined to boycott Chinese goods. However, how effective this initiative will turn out it is for time to decide. But the sentiment at this point of time is at all time high. Google Trend data clearly states the widespread of Boycott China initiative. North-eastern states of Sikkim, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh- the states closer of sharing border with China- have shown a wider search for Boycott China initiative.
Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched an initiative of “Atmanirbhar Bharat” or self-reliant India. However, one must not be confused that self-reliant was meant to boycott foreign goods. It was meant to make the nation self sufficient so that the dependence on import comes down. One must not forget even the Chinese brands have started to sell products with Made in India tag under Make in India initiative. Chinese phone brands like Xiaomi, Realme, Oppo, Oneplus have already set up their manufacturing units in India. All these companies provide employment to lakhs of Indians around India. Therefore, unless there is a better alternative to these, there will be difficult to Boycott Chinese brands in India.
Since the Galwan incident, governments of both the countries have tried to pacify the situation. Talks are being held in order to avoid any further military engagement. We all can simply wait and watch as to what will be the outcome of all the talks.
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