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Abstract
The idea of jugaad, or frugal innovation, has gained wide popularity within policy circles and business schools as a breakthrough formula – from a quick-fix solution grown in adverse conditions to a six-point business principle – for economic growth generation. I argue that the new jugaad innovation narrative offers an uplifting, potentially emancipatory discourse of mobility in a setting where even after two decades of economic reforms, wealth gap and poverty stubbornly persist. Central to this shift are two processes. First, a dramatic re-signification of the aam aadmi (common man), within a new conceptual scaffolding of India in relation to modern science and technology, where the ability to innovate is portrayed as a natural gift, a deeply ingrained collective Indian trait that even the unlettered common man possesses. Second, the conditions of adversity and absence of public services for Indian citizens are turned on its head to position India as an ideal laboratory condition within which a culture of innovation takes birth. In short, jugaad enables a dramatic transformation of what was once considered unchanging, static and immobile mass into a source of innovation, inspiration and ultimately socioeconomic mobility.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
ORCiD
Ravinder Kaur http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9382-2032
Notes
1. The slogan ‘land of limitless opportunity’ was launched in 2013 at the India Adda, World Economic Forum, Davos. The electoral victory of Narendra Modi in May 2014 led to a new campaign called ‘Make in India’ that hoped to establish India as the manufacturing destination for the world.
2. This notion of aam addmi is in contrast to the elite character of the 2011 anti-corruption movement, and since 2013 the Aam Aadmi party, where the common man was the central figure, with whom the protestors affectively identified. In this formation, aam aadmi came to represent the highly educated professionals, prosperous and aspirational middle classes who saw themselves disempowered and ‘held back’ by the professional political class.
3. ‘Technology and Innovation’, 12th Five Year Plan, Planning Commission of India, Government of India. http://12thplan.gov.in/forum_description.php?f=13, accessed February 2, 2015.
4. ‘Sibal, Pitroda pitch for growth’, National Innovation Council Website http://innovationcouncilarchive.nic.in/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=217:sibal-pitroda-pitch-for-indian-education-and-growth&catid=14:news&Itemid=13, accessed February 2, 2015.
5. ‘Terms of Reference, National Innovation Council, http://innovationcouncilarchive.nic.in/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4&Itemid=4, accessed February 2, 2015.
6. ‘Introduction’, National Innovation Council, http://innovationcouncilarchive.nic.in/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=26&catid=5&Itemid=5, accessed February 2, 2015.
7. ‘Time for India to move from “Jugaad” to “Jhakas”’, Business Standard, 18 August 2014, http://www.business-standard.com/article/management/creating-a-culture-of-innovation-114081700497_1.html. Also ‘Must all mid-sized companies remain content with Jugaad?’ Forbes India, 22 September 2014, http://forbesindia.com/blog/middle-india/have-we-irreversibly-over-glamorized-jugaad/, accessed February 11, 2015.
8. ‘Foreword’ by Sam Pitroda, 2011 Report to the People, National Innovation Council.
9. The most recent examples include claims of having perfected the technology to build aircrafts in ancient India. Similarly, fields of plastic surgery, reproductive genetics and stem cell technology have also been mentioned. See, for example, ‘Genetic Science existed in ancient India: Modi’, The Hindu, 30 October 2014, http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-in-school/genetic-science-existed-in-ancient-times-modi/article6545958.ece, accessed February 2, 2015.
10. ‘Foreword’ by Sam Pitroda, 2011 Report to the People, National Innovation Council.
11. See for example, ‘Ordinary Indians, Extraordinary Enterprise: India’s Dynamic entrepreneurial ecosystem spawns a second generation of startups’, Special Theme, India Now, February–March 2013, Volume 3, Number 6, India Brand Equity Foundation.
12. CK Prahalad Speech, India@75 event organized by Confederation of Indian Industries, http://www.indiaat75.in/document/CKP%20Speech%[email protected], accessed December 12, 2014.
13. ‘Full Text: David Cameron’s Conservative Conference speech, 5th October 2011, Manchester BBC Website http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-15189614, accessed December 12, 2014.
14. Quoted in ‘Frugal Innovation: Learning from Social Entrepreneurs in India’, The SERCO Institute Report, 2012 http://www.serco.com/Images/FrugalInnovation_tcm3-39462.pdf, accessed on December 15, 2014.
15. East–West differences and the need for unity is a constant theme, for example, in the writings of Rabindranath Tagore. See Alam and Chakravarty (Citation2014).
16. An interesting outcome of the Google auto-complete function, that predicts your search while you are still typing, is that these days a ‘what can the West learn from … ’ query results in the following completion option: ‘what can the West learn from … jugaad’, replacing the familiar ‘East’.
17. Conversation with Sam Pitroda and Nandita Das, National Innovation Council, 24 November 2013 http://innovationcouncilarchive.nic.in/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=347:join-the-conversation-with-sam-pitroda-a-nandita-das-24th-nov-at-3-pm&catid=98:join-the-conversation&Itemid=122.
18. See, for example, Hills (Citation2014) for a contemporary critique of the welfare state.