Buying from others.

"More than half of Indian households now own motor vehicles, with rural areas recording a threefold surge over the past decade that has narrowed urban-rural divide in the country," according to the PM-Economic Advisory Council (PM-EAC)." The Print. In 2024, televisions were owned by 61% in rural and 79% in urban areas, refrigerators by 33% in rural and 68% in urban areas, washing machines by 11% in rural and 40% in urban areas, AC/coolers by 24% in rural and 42% in urban areas and all four by just 6% in rural and 26% in urban areas. Data for India. In 2023, 9% of all households owned a laptop or a desktop, comprised of 4% of rural households and 21% of urban households. Data for India. Perhaps ominously, "In India, 85.5% of households possessed at least one smartphone" and "Around 86.3% of households have access to internet within the household premises." pib.gov.in. Smartphones may not be beneficial, especially for children. "A new global study raises serious concerns: children who receive their first smartphone before the age of 13 may face significant long-term mental health risks by adulthood. The research, analyzing more than 100,000 young adults from multi-country surveys, links early smartphone access to higher rates of suicidal thoughts, aggression, low self-worth and emotional instability." TOI. Even more dangerous, children using social media can fall prey to predators who may "sexually exploit them, financially extort them or sell them illicitly manufactured drugs." Cleveland Clinic. "Australia is preparing to introduce one of the most sweeping youth safety measures in the digital world, becoming the first democratic nation to ban under-16s from using major social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram." The law will come into effect from 10 December. "Governments from Europe to Asia and South America are closely studying the Australian rollout." Mint. Shobhit Mahajan, Professor of Physics and Astrophysics at Delhi University, found that many of his students prefer to learn from short videos on YouTube, rather than studying from textbooks. HT. The Global Innovation Index (GII) 2025, released by World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has "China entering the top 10 for the first time and displacing Germany to 11th place." "India has retained its 38th position, continuing to lead among lower-middle-income economies, but its stagnation over the last three years highlights persistent gaps in research funding and weak industry industry-science linkages." The Wire. "Data from the Indian patent office shows that patent filings have risen in India from 40,000 in 2013 to about 60,000 in 2023, driven mainly by Indian entities upping their contribution from from 20% of the total to 60%." Most of these patents are from universities looking to improve their ranking and lacking in practical value. Also, "the low count of Indian entities with global patent filings show that we are a long way from globally competitive innovation, regardless of a high local patent count," wrote Mihir Mahajan & Arindam Goswami. Counting motor vehicles and mobile phones may be satisfying but innovation is the key to success. No wonder, "India's exports to China fell nearly 33% between 2020-21 and 2024-25, even as imports from China rose by almost 74% over the same period." TNIE. Buying vehicles and phones designed by others won't make us a developed nation. Innovation will,