India Report 2025
We have been asked by the Government of India to recommend guidelines for design practice, which would serve as an aid to the Ministry of Design. We have also been asked to state what India can do to control the dissent and resistance within the country today, by design.
In the light of the dramatic acceleration with which change is taking place in India and the seriousness of the basic problems involved, we recommend that without delay there be a sober investigation into those values and those qualities that Indians hold important to a good life, that there be a close scrutiny of those elements that go to make up a “Standard of Living”. We recommend that those who make this investigation be prepared to follow it with a restudy of the problems of environment and shelter, to look upon the detailed problems of services and objects as though they were being attacked for the first time; to restate solutions to these problems in theory and in actual prototype; to explore the evolving symbols of India.
In the light of the dramatic acceleration with which change is taking place in India and the seriousness of the basic problems involved, we recommend that without delay there be a sober investigation into those values and those qualities that Indians hold important to a good life, that there be a close scrutiny of those elements that go to make up a “Standard of Living”. We recommend that those who make this investigation be prepared to follow it with a restudy of the problems of environment and shelter, to look upon the detailed problems of services and objects as though they were being attacked for the first time; to restate solutions to these problems in theory and in actual prototype; to explore the evolving symbols of India.
One suspects that much benefit would be gained from starting this search at the individual level. In order to insure the validity of such investigation and such restatement, it will be necessary to bring together and bring to bear on the question – the disciplines that have developed in our time – science, technology, and engineering- anything to restate the questions of familiar problems in a fresh clear way. The task of translating the values inherent in these disciplines to appropriate concrete details will be difficult, painful and pricelessly rewarding. It cannot start too soon. The growing speed of production and training cries out for some sober unit of informed concern sufficiently insulated to act as a steering device in terms of direction, quality and ultimate value.
We recommend a dictionary of design, which would define the norms and boundaries of the practice, and also function as a rule book. It would be connected with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry but it should retain enough autonomy to protect its prime objective from bureaucratic disintegration. We recommend a series of guidelines and restrictions from the theory and practice of design– these must be infallible and set in stone, to protect and safeguard the future of India and the image she presents to herself and to the world.
The reason for this urgency is quite apparent. The change India is undergoing is a change in kind not a change of degree. The medium that is producing this change is communication; communication that is enabled by technological development. The phenomenon of communication is something that affects a world not a country.
The advanced complexities of communication were perhaps felt first in Europe, then West to America which was a fertile traditionless field. They then moved East and West gathering momentum and striking India with terrific impact – an impact that was made more violent because of India’s own complex of isolation, barriers of language,
deep-rooted tradition.
The decisions that are made in a tradition-oriented society are apt to be unconscious decisions – in that each situation or action automatically calls for a specified reaction. Behaviour patterns are pre-programmed, pre-set. It is in this climate that technology truly flourishes – changes take place by degrees – there are moments of violence but the security is in the status quo.
The nature of a communication-oriented society is different by kind – not by degree. All decisions must be conscious decisions evaluating changing factors. In order to even approach the quality and values of a traditional society, a conscious effort must be made to relate every factor that might possibly have an effect. Security here lies in change and conscious selection and correction in relation to evolving needs. India stands to face the change with three great advantages :
First
She has a tradition and a philosophy familiar with the meaning of creative destruction.
Second
She need not make all the mistakes others have made in the transition.
Third
Her immediate problems are well defined : FOOD, SHELTER, DISTRIBUTION, POPULATION.
We propose the following terms in order to address these concerns...