JUGAAD YATRA (HB)

India?s Mangalyaan mission to
Mars and the Tata Nano, the world?s cheapest car, are two of the country?s
most celebrated achievements in recent times. They have something in common
with the inverter which keeps the lights on during power cuts, the desert
cooler which eases the searing summer heat and the hybrid trikes,
half-Enfield Bullet motorbike, half-bullock cart, which slow traffic
throughout northern India. They share traits with inspiring village
inventions which offer cheap stoves, cool water, wind-powered pumps, safer
wells and even sanitary towels to those who can least afford them. and they
also share characteristics with some of the worst aspects of life in urban
India unsafe vehicles, dangerous buildings, poor sanitation and shoddy
standards of work and manufacturing. They are all examples of good and bad
jugaad, the colloquial Hindi word for a frugal innovation, a quick fix,
improvised solution with cheap materials readily to hand and ?out of the box?
solutions which bypass received wisdom, rules and regulations.The concept of
jugaad divides many in India. Should the country embrace jugaad as the elixir
of innovation or shun it as the celebration of the substandard? This book
explores the special place jugaad has in Indian thinking and India.