Union Government along with States/UTs has been relentlessly working for prevention, containment and management of COVID-19. Union Government’s central role has been in strengthening health infrastructure to fight the pandemic.

Along with augmenting COVID-19 facilities, Centre has been providing medical supplies free of cost to the State/UT governments to supplement their efforts. Most of the products supplied by the Government of India (GOI) were not being manufactured in the country in the beginning, and there was a global demand due to the pandemic resulting in scare availability in the foreign markets.

However, with the combined efforts of Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW), Ministry of Textiles and Ministry of Pharmaceuticals, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and others, the domestic industry has been encouraged to manufacture and supply essential medical equipment like PPEs, N95 masks, ventilators, etc., during this period. With the result, resolve for ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ and ‘Make in India’ has been strengthened and most of the supplies made by GOI are domestically manufactured.

Since 1st April 2020, Centre has distributed more than 2.02 crore N95 masks and more than 1.18 crore PPE kits to States / UTs / Central Institutions, free of cost. Also, more than 6.12 crore HCQ tablets have been distributed to them.

In addition, so far, 11,300 ‘Make in India’ ventilators have been dispatched to various States / UTs / Central Institutions, out of which 6154 ventilators stand already delivered to various hospitals. GOI is also ensuring its installation/commissioning. This will help to bridge the massive gap in the availability of ventilators in COVID ICU facilities. MoHFW is also supplying 1.02 lakh oxygen cylinders to States/UTs, out of which 72,293 have been delivered to strengthen oxygen beds there.

Till now, 7.81 lakh PPEs and 12.76 lakh N95 masks have been supplied in Delhi, 11.78 lakh PPEs and 20.64 N95 masks in Maharashtra, and 5.39 lakh PPEs and 9.81 lakh N95 masks in Tamil Nadu by MoHFW.

Meanwhile, Dr. Raghunath Anant Mashelkar, Padma Vibhushan said,  "COVID-19 has brought into the country a clarion call for everyone to rebuild, recover, and re-imagine ourselves in order to achieve Atmanirbhar Bharat.

He was delivering a talk on “Building Atmanirbhar Bharat with Atmabishwas” under the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research-Summer Research Training Programme (CSIR-SRTP), 2020, a programme coordinated by the North East Institute of Science and Technology (CSIR-NEIST).

Dr. Mashelkar said that in our endeavour to attain self-reliance or Atmanirbhar Bharat, we cannot isolate ourselves from the world but integrate with the global supply chain. He emphasized on five pillars of ‘atmanirbharata’ – Buy, Make, Buy to make better, Make to buy better, and Make it together (building public-private partnerships). He said that he has unequivocal confidence in the youth power of the country, which needs to be harnessed with a back-up of technology and trust, for our country to flourish.

Dr. Mashelkar was of the view that the ‘Make in India’ initiative should not only focus on assembling products but inventing in India as well. He said that assembling products will no doubt create jobs, but for newer substitutes, we need to do vigorous research. Underlining the importance of research, he said research converts money into knowledge and innovation converts knowledge into money, so both need to go hand in hand for our nation to prosper. He emphasized that we have talent and technologies but now we need to build trust or believe in our capabilities.

This is important because the post-COVID-19 world would be looking for an alternative destination to China as the trust in them is lost. And India has emerged as a viable alternative for which India needs to build proper logistics and adequate infrastructure to ease the process of doing business and build a favorable climate for foreign investments.

He said that India’s fortune is going to change in a big way because she is recognized as one of the politically trusted countries of the world. He concluded by elucidating upon 10 Mashelkar mantras (or the 10 RAM Mantras), namely: (1) Aim high - Aspirations are your possibilities; (2) Perseverance; (3) We are always a part of the solution, not the problem; (4) Create your own doors when all the other doors are closed; (5) Work hard in silence, let success make all the noise; (6) Three important attributes - Innovation, Passion, Compassion in the heart; (7) We can do anything but not everything - Focus on what you do; (8) Be positive; (9) New skills and new technologies are required as the world is changing; and (10) There is no limit to human imagination, human achievement, and human endurance.

His message to the youth brigade is to believe that the best is yet to come and urged everybody to keep working hard and age should not be a deterrent, and that will only take our country to the zenith, which is his dream for an Atmanirbhar Bharat with ‘atmabishwas’.