Direction: Read the passage carefully and select the best answer to each question out of the given five alternatives.
China is the biggest enemy of India,” thunders Monika Jain, 42, homemaker and mother of two, in her five-bedroom apartment in Rohini in northwest Delhi. While millions of people will buy streams of lights and other decorations to illuminate their houses for Diwali, mostly mass-manufactured in China, this family is going against the grain and heeding the call of godman-turned businessman Ramdev to boycott products from there. Military rhetoric (China had been accused of standing with Pakistan days after the militant attacks in Kashmir in September) incited the ochre robe clad baba to demand an economic blockade; and on the ground, fervent nationalists and devoted followers, like Jain, got the ball rolling.
Scattered across the country, families and individuals started to shun Chinese goods, even as opportunistic fringe elements got into the act. Jain and family are not alone in this distrust of China and all things Chinese. Since some Chinese products in the past have been found to be contaminated (baby food, lead in toys), they are also an easy target for hoaxes. Two weeks ago, Kerala was aflutter over reports that “fake” plastic eggs from China were being sold in supermarkets.
Social media has witnessed active campaigns seeking boycott of Chinese-made products this Diwali in India. The boycotts urge Indians to shun Chinese-made products and buy Indian made products instead. However, this unfeasible prospect of a boycott of Chinese goods has started hurting Indian retailers and wholesalers. In the light of recent tension between India and Pakistan, China has aligned itself openly with Pakistan drawing the ire of the common Indians. A large section has taken to social media and also spreading the call for boycott by word of mouth.
The Confederation of All India Traders recently predicted that the traders expect they will suffer at least 30 per cent loss due to the boycott of Chinese-made products.Boycott of products at a time when long-term plans have not yet fully yielded results causes negative impact at home. Without suitable Indian alternatives, boycotting Chinese products hurts the earning of the Indian trader who has invested his money in them and now is unable to sell them off to earn the money back. If these boycotts are to take place, they need to be taken at the root. However, almost every product used in our daily life has some prominent element that is Chinese. This demand just proves to be unfeasible, impulsive and not well thought out. In others words, the threat is more a bark than a bite.