What Ordinary Citizens can do to help the Government tide over these troubled times – some possible steps

 

What Ordinary Citizens can do to help the Government tide     over these troubled times – some possible steps

by hemen varma

 

On two recent public occasions, the Prime Mister appealed for and emphasized the need for consumption of local goods.  Once appeal was to the general public and the 2^nd appeal was specifically to the trading and business class asking them to import less and source more from local/Indian sources.

Clearly he is concerned about the sudden ganging up of USA and its Deep State against India which can have “uncomfortable effects” for the Indian economy in the  short-term.

Please see 2 Newspaper extracts from Times of India and The Hindu on 2^nd & 3^rd August 2025.

Source :  https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/must-remain-alert-pm-modis-swadeshi-appeal-for-indians-days-after-trumps-25-tariff/articleshow/123063410.cms

Source :  https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/sell-only-swadeshi-goods-pm-modi-exhorts-indian-traders-amid-global-economic-uncertainty/article69888286.ece#goog_rewarded

 

 

And just today – 25 August 2025,  the PM said in Ahmedabad “I appeal to the citizens of our country to prioritize purchasing goods that are Made in India. Whether it's decorative items or gifts, let us choose products manufactured within our own nation. I also encourage businesses to refrain from selling items sourced from other countries. These small yet impactful steps can play a significant role in driving our nation's progress and prosperity. - PM @narendramodi “

This is only the second time that I can recall in the last 60 years that an Indian Prime Minster has asked the people of India to make a personal sacrifice – people of my generation will remember PM Lal Bahadur Shaastri’s appeal to skip Monday night meals at the time of the grain/wheat shortage crises in 1965.

As at that time, so at this time,  it is our duty as conscientious and patriotic citizens to sacrifice personal comfort for the nation. 

The most important contribution we can make is to help the government conserve and, indeed, grow our foreign exchange reserve which will cushion us from the inevitable fall in Foreign Exchange earnings that will happen as long as USA continues to impose 50 % duties on Indian imports and pressurizes its other partners to do the same with respect to India.

Here are a few suggestions on how we can do that.  I appeal to all recipients of this Mail to practice as many of the below-mentioned steps as possible and also share this  this message amongst your friends, relatives and acquaintances so that we citizen s can make a visible and tangible contribution to strengthening the hands of our Government to stand upright and strong against this vicious attack on India by forces that are inimical to seeing India become a strong International entity.

 

How we can help

 

1.    2 days in the week – use only Public Transport. Better still,  do not go out at all on those 2 days.  

2.  All those who own IMPORTED show-piece cars like BMW, MERCEDES, PORSCHE, AUDI, LAMBORGHINI, BENTLEY,  Aston Martin, Ferrari, Volvo,  JLR – avoid using them for the next 12 months. These are Fuel-guzzlers and their non-use will help to reduce fuel consumption.

The above  2 steps will help to reduce consumption of Petrol/Diesel and thus, eventually, reduce Foreign exchange outflow - $ 360.5 Million per Week translating to $ 18.75 BILLION  Annual Savings. (See Chart Below)

 

 

India’s Total exports to USA currently is  $ 86.51 Billion.  So, this saving on Crude Oil Imports of $ 18.75 Billion will account for as much as 22 % of the exports  which will be a big cushion against the possibility of export shrinkage to the USA.  

 

3. Do not get tempted to be amongst the first to buy TESLA – postpone this decision by 12 months. 

4.  Nor buy any of the other IMPORTED show-piece cars like BMW, MERCEDES, PORSCHE, AUDI, LAMBORGHINI, BENTLEY,  Aston Martin, Ferrari, Volvo,  JLR  etc.

Once again, the above  2 steps will help to reduce consumption of Petrol/Diesel and thus, eventually, reduce Foreign exchange outflow. 

5.  Completely get off AMAZON and Flipkart – No purchase until and unless there are no alternatives or there is a health emergency. 

6. If you are NOT on Netflix, Amazon, DO NOT SUBSCRIBE for next 12 months. If the subscription is expiring, DO NOT RENW for at least 12 months. Use various other OTT but not these 2 American ones. 

7.   Postpone, wherever you can, any Foreign Travel – yes ANY – this will save drawing down of  India’s Foreign Exchange.

  

Let us take a look at our Foreign Exchange position.

Top-10 Countries with the Highest Foreign Exchange Reserves by 2025  (Source :https://currentaffairs.adda247.com/top-10-countries-with-the-highest-foreign-exchange-reserves/ )

China is the top country with more than $3.57 trillion, highest reserves in the world. Most of this is in US dollars, along with euros, yen and gold. China uses these reserves to support the yuan and keep its trade strong.

 

Here is the list of top-10 countries with the highest foreign exchange reserves by 2025:

 

Rank	Country	Foreign Exchange Reserves (in USD million)
1.	China	$3,571,803 million
2.	Japan	$1,238,950 million
3.	Switzerland	$952,687 million
4.	India	$686,145 million
5.	Russia	$620,800 million
6.	Taiwan	$576,846 million
7.	Saudi Arabia	$434,547 million
8.	Hong Kong	$421,400 million
9.	South Korea	$415,700 million
10.	Brazil	$388,571 million

 

 

India’s Position in Foreign Exchange Reserves

In 2025, India ranks fourth in the world with $686.1 billion in foreign exchange reserves. These reserves help support the Indian rupee (INR), control inflation and keep the economy strong during global changes. India’s strong reserve position shows its economic stability. Russia follows in fifth place with $620.8 billion, though reduced due to sanctions and political tensions.

 

8. As can be seen we currently have around US $ 700 Billion Exchange Reserves – our target should be to get it to US 1000 Billion i.e. US $ 1 Trillion in the next 12 months.  This will make us the Country with the 3^rd largest Foreign Exchange Reserves and help us withstand the strong headwinds we will face in Trade and Oil & Defence Procurement.  This is a matter of utmost importance for us to be able to withstand the shenanigans of USA and its camp followers to disrupt India’s economy and our growth as a country with independent foreign policy.

 

9.    For this there has to be a concerted effort by each and every citizen to

(a        a)  conserve foreign exchange and

(b        b)  earn more foreign exchange

 

10.If you have relatives sending you foreign remittance every month,  ask them if they can send it for the whole year, this ONE Time or for 6 Months in 2 quick remittances. This will help to quickly boost up our foreign exchange reserves. 

11.If you have a practice of travelling to meet family friends as an Annual get-together, invite them to do it in INDIA this year at your place or some tourist destinations in India.  Will not only save foreign exchange on your travel abroad but will earn foreign exchange on their coming here. 

12.If you own/run a company that holds conferences or holiday jaunts/Reward Trips abroad, DO it in INDIA this year – once again to save foreign exchange outgo. 

13.If you drink, can you put a stop on purchase  of any FOREIGN LIQUOR for next 12 months. By all means consume what you already have – but replenish only with Indian and India-manufactured Liquor. 

14.Arrange various Family celebrations on important Personal milestones (60th Birthday, 50th marriage Anniversary, marriage in the Family and so on) in India inviting your friends/relatives abroad to join – once again will save foreign exchange outgo and, in fact, earn some foreign exchange for the country by people coming for the event from abroad.

 

I appeal to all recipients of this mail not to fall into the temptation of thinking “what difference can one person make” – the truth is “बूँद  बूँद से सागर बनता है !”

Little drops of water, little grains of sand,

Make the mighty ocean and the mighty land.

  

So please adopt whatever makes sense to you and do circulate this Note to as many as possible in all the forums that you are part of. 

Let us strengthen the hands of the Government to ensure that India gains and retains  it rightful place in the comity of nations.

 

Jai Bharat !

25 August 2025

 

 

 

 

Should India help Pakistan in its present economic and financial crises ? Yes, it should, provided …..

 

1.  Pakistan agrees and hands over, physically and unconditionally,  entire POK and Gilgit-Baltistan area back to India.

 

2.  Frees all Indians in Pakistan Jails including all military and or civilian personnel arrested/jailed after the 1965 and 1971  wars.

 

3.    Agrees to hand over a 3 Km Wide corridor from the Indian side to 1 Km beyond the boundary wall of Gurudwara Guru Nanak Sahib Darbar as an Indian enclave in Pakistan, fully under the physical, legal, political and economic control of the Indian government with no involvement of Pakistani Govt there whatsoever.

 

4.    Agrees to permit India to rebuild all major Mandirs/ Temples/ Gurudwaras/ Buddhist Shrines destroyed in the cities of Pakistan like Lahore, Karachi, Rawalpindi, Islamabad etc up to a maximum of 50 such Mandirs/Temples/Gurudwaras/Shrines and permit unrestricted to access to them to Hindus/Jains/Sikhs/Buddhists to visit these places and practise their faith unhindered and without any restriction whatsoever.  For this purpose a 500 Metre Radius area around each such place should be kept free of any Mosques to avoid any communal clash. All expenditure for such reconstruction will be borne by India (be it the Indian Government or private entities from India)

 

5.    Agrees to make Baluchistan a separate country.

  

6.    Agrees to shift all its Nuclear arsenal/assets to South Pakistan, at least 200 Km away from the Afghanistan border to avoid any of these weapons and associated weaponry systems falling  in the hands of Taliban Terrorists.

 

7.  Agrees to provide unfettered road/land and air "right of way" for Indian goods to be shipped to Afghanistan, Iran and Tajikistan etc.

 

8.  Dawood Ibrahim, Hafiz Saeed, Syed Salahuddin, Sajid Mir and others involved in terrorist attacks in India to be handed over to India for trial.

 

If the above is accepted, then India should extend the following assistance :

 

a)    An immediate transfer of US $ 10 billion of which $ 7 billion will be used to repay all loans from China and the Mid-east countries in some reasonable proportion with effort being to clear the Chinese Loans to the maximum extent

 

b)    The balance US $ 3 Billion will be a credit line used to buy essential items of daily consumption from India like Petrol/Diesel, pharmaceuticals/ medicines, food grains and vegetables.

 

c)     A second tranche of  US $ 5 Billion will be given after 6 months of which $ 3 billion will be used to repay all loans from China and the Mid-east countries in some reasonable proportion with effort being to clear the Chinese Loans to the maximum extent

 

d)    The balance US $ 2 Billion will be used to buy essential items of daily consumption from India like Petrol/Diesel, pharmaceuticals/ medicines, food grains and vegetables

  

e)    A third tranche of  US $ 5 Billion will be given after 6 months of which $ 3 billion will be used to repay all loans from China and the Mid-east countries in some reasonable proportion with effort being to clear the Chinese Loans to the maximum extent

 

f)   The balance US $ 2 Billion will be used to rebuild roads, dams and railroads for which only Indian companies will be engaged for this work.

 

g)  At the end of these 12 months when India has already extended a loan of US $ 20 Billion,  there will be a detailed review of how the money has been spent/deployed, how much Pakistan has attracted FDI and inward remittances from overseas Pakistanis, the efforts that the Pakistan Govt has made to recover amounts from the money that has been illegally transferred/stashed abroad  and then a timeline for repayment will be decided as under :

 

• 1.    Minimum US $ 100 million starting from Month 19, or earlier, (i.e. after 18 months from the first loan disbursal

 

• 2.    If these payments happen in a regular and timely fashion for the first 6 months then at the end of the 24th month, Pakistan can draw upon a further instalment of US $ 5 billion which will be exclusively used for building Hospitals, Schools, Pakistani campus of Indian educational institutions (with the same names) like AIIMs, IITs, IIMs, NIITs with full academic freedom and unrestricted student selections and faculty appointments with the understanding that a minimum of 60 % of the students admitted will be Pakistani citizens.

 

• 3.    Thereafter after another period of 6 months, Pakistan must start repaying US $ 200 million per month for a period of 6 months and thereafter at the rate of US $ 300 million per month from the 31^st month till the completion of the total repayment. For every 12 months of unbroken and timely repayment, there will be a remission of US $ 100 million. Thus Pakistan should be able to repay the entire loan in a period of 8 years (Principal amount only) Depending on the interest charged, this period may, in actual fact go upto 12 to 15 years.

 

h)  Similarly, at the end of this 12 month period of “unbroken and timely repayment”, India will extend the MFN status to Pakistan on a full reciprocal basis i.e. only if Pakistan also extends the same MFN status to imports from India.

 

i)   At the end of 24 months if all repayments have been made in time and Pakistan’s economy has stabilised somewhat, India may, at Pakistan’s request and acceptance, extend its UPI Payment system in Pakistan and build the backbone for its operation in Pakistan free of cost.

 

 

This above can be proposed to gauge and understand Pakistan's response and its willingness to repair its economy with India's help which will be the most cost-efficient  for it.

 

The conditions are tough but not unrealistic nor unfair and will only work in favour of Pakistan though,  admittedly,  it may feel that its  geo-political power has been weakened. Against such a “feeling”  will be the reality of a much stronger and more stable economy which can help Pakistan gain respect and acceptability in the comity of nations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

75^th Independence Year Celebrations – some suggestions

 

1.  75 lakh jobs to be announced  and  persons recruited by Pvt & Govt Sector from 15 August 2022 to 14 August 2023

 

2.  10 L  Vaccine Doses of COVAXIN & Other India-developed vaccines to be gifted to  75 countries,  each

Rank	Continent	Number of countries
1	Africa	54    35 poorest
2	Asia	48    20 poorest
3	Europe	44     5  poorest
4	North America	23     5  poorest
5	Australia/Oceania	14     5  poorest
6	South America	12     5  poorest

 

This means a Gift of 7.5 Cr Vaccines whose Total Value comes to (7.5 Cr X  250/ per dose)  ₹ 1875 Crores,  a huge contribution to World welfare.  Will get huge fund of goodwill and respect for India.  Govt can run a big campaign from now itself requesting for donations from Indian Citizens for this projected expense to be given to PM Cares Fund.

              

3. Celebrations organised by Ministry of External Affairs and Culture Ministry in 75 Countries as under (Countries with  Large Indian Population)

 

Music Performance (Classical – Instrumental & Vocal as well as Film)

Dance Performance (All schools – Kathak, Bharat Natyam, Kathakali, Odissi)

Performance by Teams from TV Shows like India’s Got Talent, Sa Ra Ga Ma Pa, Indian Idols

Ayurvedic Medicine Sale and Consultation

Yoga Classes and Demonstrations

Sand Art Sculpture

Hand Weaving (Charkha & Charkha Sale), Block Printing

Textile / Garment Sale

Food / Snacks /Chaat sale

Indian Film Shows

 

TARGET TO Earn through Sales / Tickets  ₹ 7500 Crores (Govt & Private  participants together)

 

 

4. 75 Commemorative Stamps to be released – 1 for each year of independence,  highlighting the important/ celebratory event of that year like

 

4.1       1947 – India wins Freedom

4.2      1948 – India gets First Indian Gov-Gen – CR Gopalachari

4.3       1949 – India’s Constitution adopted

4.4       1950 – India becomes a Republic

4.5       1951 – India’s First Gen Elections held /1^st Asian Games held

4.6       1952 – India’s First elected Government takes Office

4.7      1953 – Indian Airlines Created

4.8      1954 – India frees Dadar & Nagar haveli from Portuguese

4.9       1955 – Imperial Bank of India changed to State Bank of India

4.10    1956 – LIC of India established

4.11    ………….

4.12    …………. and so on

 

 

5.    75 Commemorative Coins to be released,  as under : 

Re. 1         15 ]  Will have portraits of major

Rs. 2         15 ]  persons who ran the

Rs. 5         10 ]  country or were great

Rs. 10       10 ]  public figures 

Rs. 20       10 ]  prior to

Rs. 50       10 ]  Muslim invasion

Rs. 75        5 ]  this will have 5 designs chosen after competitive                             selection (artistic, Bharatiya Sanskriti representative                           images)

 

6.    A National & International Painting competition to celebrate India’s 75^th Independence day (painting may be or maybe not be related to Independence Day). No Entry Fee but painting will become property of PM Cares and will be auctioned to collect Funds for the Same.  60 Prizes for Entries from India and 15 prizes for Entries from abroad.  Prize Winners will be invited to New Delhi for Prize Distribution and a  5-day trip to Ayodhya, Gaya/Deogarh, Amritsar, Kashi, Sarnath, Tirupati for 4 persons.

 

7.    75^th Independence Day Lottery in celebrations abroad  – tickets of  $ 100 / $ 250  each – Prize will be All Expenses paid Holiday in India for 4 persons for 4 days (2500 prizes) & 10  days (1000 prizes) in any one of the following :

 

a)    Agra/Jaipur

b)    Konark/Puri/Kolkata

c)     Gaya/Kashi/Sarnath

d)    Srinagar/Leh/Santoshi Ma Mandir,  

e)    Rameswaram/Mahabalipuram/Munnar

f)      Ooty/Kodaikanal Circuit,

g)    Ajanta/Ellora/Goa, 

h)    Khajuraho/Jabalpur/Pachmarhi

i)      Amritsar/Kartarpur/Chandigarh/Simla

 

8. 75 Stolen or Seized Antiquities to be recovered and brought back to India during the course of the year with special efforts to get the KOHINOOR back.  The present political climate and India’s rising standing in the world, especially UK (where the effective No. 2 in the UK Government cabinet is a person of Indian origin)  this is the best time to press for the return of the KOHINOOR.

 

9.    Try to reach 75 Km/day  construction in the year Aug 2022 to Aug 2023.

 

10.Honour 75 Indologists  of foreign origin  who have highlighted India’s achievements, Indian Culture and India’s Soft Power. 

 

11.Honour 75 NRI’s who have made tangible contribution to India’s economy, Education, Science & Technology Development – this will exclude those who are only CEO’s abroad in well-known companies but have done nothing substantial/tangible in and for India.

 

 

The whole objective behind the above suggested exercise is to make India’s 75^th Independence day a  “WORLD EVENT”  and subtly increase India’s mind-share on the world stage.  This would also help to increase our soft power and give a big  thrust to our Tourism Sector and earnings from the same.

Showcasing India’s Art, Culture, Films, Music, Yoga and Ayurvedic Medicine  and above all Indian food/cuisine would open doors for huge exports in these areas.

The act of donating 10 L Free vaccines, each,  to 75 countries  will win us a lot of plaudits and many permanent friends in the African and Asian continents which will give us strength against the sworn enmity of China and Pakistan.  It will also open many economic opportunities for us in these 2 continents.

The above suggestions are currently in bullet form only -  essentially meant to be thought – starters for an intensive brainstorming session. 

I will be happy to assist in detailing and fleshing these suggestions to a working action plan.

 

 

Yours faithfully,

Hemendra K. Varma

 

Mumbai

February  20,  2022