New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the global contagion has thrown up challenges and problems which could not have been imagined. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday in a video interaction with lakhs of village Sarpanches from across the country on National Panchayat Day.

In his interaction with Sarpanches, Modi said that Covid- 19 pandemic had sent out a strong message about the need for the country to be self-reliant. It has also thought us a very important lesson; that is we have to be self-reliant and self-sufficient, he said. It has thought us that we should not look for solutions outside the country, said Modi. Without self-reliance we cannot deal with the crisis of such nature Covid- 19. The thought that we should not depend on others for fulfilling our needs is century’s world, but the changed circumstances has validated its importance once again, said Modi.

The public health emergency has validated those who felt that the world’s reliance on China for critical goods, from active pharmaceuticals ingredients to PPE for medical professionals, constituted a source of vulnerability for countries while equipping Beijing with huge leverage. Even villages have to be self- sufficient enough to provide for its basic needs. Self- reliant villages will strengthen the Democracy by ensuring fruits of development percolate down to the grass roots. Similarly every district has to be self-sufficient at its level, every state has to be self-reliant at its level and the whole country has to be self-reliant at its level, said Modi.