A nation’ s strength ultimately consists in what it can do on its own, and not in what it can borrow from others.

The remark frames national power as rooted in self-reliance: a country’s durable strength comes from its own productive capacity, institutions, skills, and ability to solve problems internally rather than depending on external loans, aid, technology, or political backing. In Indira Gandhi’s idiom, it resonates with postcolonial anxieties about economic dependence and the belief that sovereignty is weakened when development is driven by what can be imported or financed from abroad. The quote also implies a distinction between temporary advantage (what can be “borrowed”) and resilient capability (what can be done “on its own”), suggesting that true independence is measured by competence and autonomy, not by access to others’ resources.