Jugaad!! : Rural India's Most Cost Effective Solution

Jugaad (Hindi: जुगाड़ Punjabi(gharuka)) are locally-made motor vehicles that are used mostly in small villages as a means of low cost transportation in rural India. Jugaad (also sometimes juggard) literally means an arrangement or a work around, which has to be used because of lack of resources. This is a Hindi term also widely used by people speaking other Indian languages, and people of Indian origin around the world. The same term is still used for a type of vehicle, found in rural India. This vehicle is made by carpenters, by fitting a diesel engine on a cart.

"Jugaad" is also a colloquial Hindi word that can mean an innovative fix, sometimes pejoratively used for solutions that bend rules, or a resource that can be used as such or a person who can solve a vexatious issue. It is used as much for enterprising street mechanics as for political fixers. In essence, it is a tribute to native genius, and lateral thinking.

Cost

Jugaad vehicles cost around Rs. 85,000 (less than US$ 2000). They are known for having poor brakes and can not go beyond 60 km/h. They are powered by diesel engines which are meant for running agricultural pump sets. The vehicle can carry more than 20 people at a time in remote locations and poor road conditions. It is till date one of the most cost effective solution for rural India.

Though no stastical data is available it is often found that the brakes of these vehicles fail and one of the passengers jumps down and applies a manual wooden block as a brake. These vehicles do not have any vehicle registration plate as they are not registered with the Regional Transport Office (RTO). Hence, they end up not paying any road tax.

Jugaad vs. Hack

The jugaad concept can be contrasted with the Western (mostly American) concept of a hack or kludge. Although in its general meaning hack is very similar to jugaad, jugaad can be thought of more as a survival tactic, whereas a hack, especially nowadays, is seen an intellectual art form. Both concepts express a need to do what needs to be done without regard to what is supposed to be possible.

Variants of the Jugaad vehicle

A South Indian (Tamil) variant of this is called the Meen Body Vandi - i.e. "fish bed vehicle" because they originated among Tamil fishermen who needed a quick and cheap transport system to transport fish. It is a motorized tri-wheeler (derived from the non-motorized variant) with heavy duty suspension and a motorcycle engine - typically rescued from the Czech Yezdi or Enfield bullet. Its origins are typical of otherJugaadu innovations - dead fish are typically considered unhygienic and vehicles that carry them won't or can't be typically used to carry anything else, hence the need for a cheap single-purpose transport vehicle.

These are not officially recognized as road worthy, and despite a few proposals to regulate them vote-bank politics have time and again trumped any safety concerns. They have since become rather popular as a means to transport all manner of goods from lumber to steel rods to school children.

There are similar vehicles to be found in much of SE Asia.