'Buy Made-in-India gifts this Diwali season, focus on charity'

AURANGABAD: Union power minister Piyush Goyal on Sunday urged all to opt for a

Swadeshi Diwali

this time, shunning use of any imported item as festive gifts.

Urging citizens and industrialists only to buy Made-in-India items and curb expenses on buying sweets, gifts, cards and flowers, the minister said the savings should instead be used in charity and schemes such as Swacchha Abhiyan or for orphanages and schools for special children.

Goyal was here to address CEO

Forum

, 2016, the theme of which was disruptive innovation. The event was organised by the Chamber of Marathwada Industry & Agriculture Association.

The minister stressed on the ability to think big and out-of-the-box to keep pace with the global competition. He cited an example of a recent benchmark, where the procurement price of the LED bulbs dropped to Rs 38 for 9 watt bulb in the latest bidding, which is almost 90% lower than the price at which they were procured (Rs 310) a few months back.

He said, "This was possible with a slight tweak in the government policy. The earlier government would make part payments to the suppliers over five-year periods while the present government decided to make payment within 30 days,thus encouraging the suppliers to drop the prices."

"At present the government is saving around Rs 40,000 crore on electricity and its decision to switch over to LED bulbs by 2018 under the energy efficiency mission will saving about $6 billion per annum. Under the Domestic Efficient Lighting Programme (DELP), nearly 6 crore LED bulbs have been distributed so far," he said.

However, he emphasised that any innovation or change should not deprive the underprivileged society of their right.

Post the address, the various city-based industries, which spend around Rs 10 crore for gifts and sweets during Diwali have begun to mull over Goyal's words. "Aurangabad has around 6,000 industries and it spends around Rs 10 crore during Diwali on gifts and sweets. We would seriously think over this issue and use the money for some social cause," said CMIA vice-president Prasad Kokil.