It’s ‘Election Fever’ in India. And as we prepare for huge marketing expenditure, mud-slinging, hitting below the beet… all of this to win, the May 2019 Indian election and to decide ‘who will Be the Next Prime Minister of India?’. Dr Vivek Gerard Mendonsa shares his insight on this topic.
I would like to draw your attention to what 2 of our prime ministers said that’s relevant to our industry i.e. the Indian optical industry.
Pandit Nehru said ‘Export or Perish’. Today India’s exports are so many billion as of on 2019. Exports increased 2.4 percent year-on-year to USD 26.7 billion, mainly due to engineering goods.
Our Honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi said ‘Make in India’. But did we heed to it in the Indian Optical Manufacturing?
Let me focus on a particular aspect of Optical Frame Manufacturing in India. We have 29 States and 7 Union Territories and in each one of these, we find such beautiful art, motifs designs and these are for one to experience throughout the length and breadth of India.
We have NID – National Institute of Design, NIFT – National Institute of Fashion and Technology with over 60 Design and Product Design courses.
Let us take the example of Mr.Murray the designer from Ireland:
“I am originally from Ireland, living in Australia now for 16 years, I have always loved the Australian Aboriginal Artwork, with it variety of colours, patterns. Many are very detailed and mesmerising and I am impressed by the care and patience required to finish. I loved the stories behind each artwork, some quite mythical and ancient. A lot of the stories reminded me of a lot of the stories we have had in Ireland dating back 1000’s of years, although some Australian Aboriginal stories date back 40,000 years, I felt the correlation. The Australian Aboriginal Artwork is known and respected worldwide and we want to share this story in our spectacle frames.”
Taking this worldwide case study as an example, let us launch a Frame Designing competition throughout the country and maybe even the world encouraging the youth to use local material to design products made in their own country. I am sure we’d be surprised by what our own local talents from India could come up with.
This will expand the market and create differentiation in the minds of the people.
(Images courtesy : Murray – MD/Designer – eyesabove.com)
