New Delhi: To promote the local goods under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Scheme, the Defence Ministry is working towards the ban on the sale of imported items from other countries, including China in their Canteen Stores Department (CSD) and unit run canteens.
CSD has over 3,500 canteens spread from the North's Siachen Glacier to Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the southernmost tip of India. More than 5,000 different varieties of items are sold through CSD, out of which around 400 are imported. The majority of items imported are from Chinese firms including toilet brushes, sandwich toasters, diaper pants, rice cookers, electric kettles, sunglasses, ladies' handbags, vacuum cleaners, laptops and desktop computers. These items would be replaced by Indian products.
A few sources said that the import of foreign liquor is also likely to be stopped for sale in these canteens. It has been many months that high-end foreign liquor brands are not available in most of the unit run canteens.