Due to all the political debate and the backlash against China and Chinese-made goods, soon we will be seeing Indian-made products in the market. However, Indians have already been devising alternatives in their own time. Or at least, some are.
A boy in Class 12 from Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, has been trying to do just that. Last month he put out a video of his bicycle sporting his own innovation, rear brake lights, where Indian-made options are few in the market.
Class 12 boy tries innovation on his bicycle
The goal of Atmanirbhar Bharat is to make India self-reliant. The Indian government through the pandemic and following the Galwan valley dispute has taken some major steps on that front. Just today Rajnath Singh announced an embargo on the import of 101 defence goods.
In such a situation, the onus is also on the consumer to choose products made in India over those made elsewhere. While there's no doubt, Chinese products have flooded the market for a long time as major players in the space, Indians are slowly trying their hand at innovating.
What inspired innovation
A boy named Shrey Sinha who hails from Meerut shared a video in July on his bicycle. In the video, the Class 12 boy showcased the handy rear brake light that he had made from scratch. In the post, he also revealed what inspired innovation.
Sinha said that he had tried to purchase rear brake lights for his bicycle, however, all the products available were 'made in China', therefore he wrote in a tweet, "I can't force Indian companies to make it. So, I made it my own using old waste scraps."
In the video, he shows viewers a demo of how the bicycle works. He says in the video, "I have made some modifications, it already has headlights, so I added a rear brake light system. When I press the brakes, the lights will come on, take a look."
Speaking about how the system works he said, "I simply holed in my rear reflector and put a small led light there and connected with battery and brake. It's very simple to make it, I had connected one wire with battery and one with the brake. As you can see a white wire connected with brake wire and on another side, I connected a wire with spring so when I press brake compresses due to which spring contacts with another side bolt which have current here circuit for flowing current complete and light glows."
IBTimes got in touch with the 17-year-old and he told us how much time it took him, "Since I made it the first time by doing few experiments like this works or not or adding few more things. So at that time, it took 3 to 4 hours but now it can be made in just 1 to 1 and a half hours."
Shrey also spoke about what his parents think about his work, "They really like these and always appreciate it (sic). I think I thought good because of my parents." Asked if he will make more such products, the youngster said, "Can't say I will make more in future or not, it depends like if I get the idea."
But, that's not the only innovation he's worked on during the lockdown. He put up another 'experiment' last month which was of a remote control camera car. Shrey also shared his idea on what to do about the garbage and waste disposal in India with Fever 104 FM.
Perhaps, we'll get to see more such innovations in the time to come and more minds like these working towards an Atmanirbhar Bharat.
