Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
To illustrate the jugaad concept, Radjou
et al
. have drawn on their extensive
fieldwork in India and one example is frequently quoted as exemplifying the reality
and spirit of resilient ingenuity. Mansukh Prajapati lives in a hot desert region of
India where electricity is yet to come to the village and, even if it did, most villagers
are too poor to purchase it. In order to keep food cool he wanted a refrigerator but
one that did not use electricity which, if such a thing could be created, would
significantly improve the quality and standard of life of the village. He came up with
an innovative solution constructing a biodegradable refrigerator called Mitticool that
can store fruit and vegetables for up to five days and dairy products for two days,
by harnessing the natural cooling effects of clay from which the refrigerator is made.
Composed of two compartments one above the other, water runs down the walls
and so cools the lower chamber through evaporation. This invention now sells
throughout India and markets for it are now developing in the Middle East, the US
and even parts of the UK. There have been other low-cost improvised innovations
too, including the means to retrofit motor vehicles to make them more fuel efficient
and sustainable, and the creation of a low-cost computer tablet, similar to the iPad,
but retailing at 10 per cent of the price. These Aakash tablets are now being used
in Indian schools and even in the heart of hi-tech innovation itself - Silicon Valley.
A new company called Embrace developed an affordable infant warmer that looks
rather like a tiny sleeping-bag, employed by doctors and nurses primarily in rural
areas within developing countries. Embrace piloted the product in India where 1.2
million premature babies die every year and, retailing at US$200, it costs about 5
per cent of what an incubator would cost in the US.
Jugaad innovators tend to work quickly, pay considerable attention to prototyping
techniques, technologies and attendant behaviours, and place great value in harnessing
the collective endeavours and wisdom of networks. Anil Gupta and his colleagues
(Gupta
et al
., 2003; Gupta, 2006) have helped create the Honey Bee Network, a
loose platform to bring together creative but otherwise unco-ordinated individuals
across a number of Indian states, with a view to transforming the way resources
such as knowledge, practices and skills are used by rich and poor alike. Ecological
ethics and collaborative learning have been integrated into the work of this network,
which has profound implications for the future of sustainable development processes
generally. Gupta
et al
. write:
The democratic development of multiple futures in different parts of the world
hinges considerably on the possibility of polycentric spurs of innovations. Unless
a hundred flowers bloom and we create legitimacy for diversity and autonomy
for each flower to blossom, there is no future for democratic development with
human dignity. . . . Forces of globalization tend to homogenize the human taste
and preferences, constricting in the process the space for articulating ethical
capital, particularly from the grassroots' green innovators. The major institutional
gaps in the developmental thinking and action around the world prove the
sterility of conventional wisdom in overcoming the massive problem of poverty,
unemployment, iniquity and discrimination. . . . The development process can
become sustainable only when it has an intrinsic source of revitalization, self-
renewal and self-criticism. . . . For a polycentric development in future, we need
to look for multiple spurs of entrepreneurial growth.
(2003: 984-5)
