Great Indian ‘jugaad’

Lt Gen Harwant Singh (Retd)

The word ‘jugaad’ typically conveys a somewhat ad hoc and ingenious effort to make defective machinery or any other undertaking moving again, or muddle along. While this mode and method of setting right anything defective may be in use, to some extent, elsewhere in the world, it is universally adopted in India.

Many Indians lean heavily on ‘jugaad’, and though it is largely viewed as an ability to innovate and improvise, there are those who feel ‘such shoddiness’, as they put it, harms quality control in the long run.

During Exercise Brass Tacks, I as the defending commander had a frontage of 120 km to cover and the opposing force had 15 armoured regiments (675 tanks). To block such a large force, besides much else, I required the front to be covered with anti-tank mines. To lay mines manually on a frontage as large as that was impossible. One required mechanical minelayers and the Army had none.

Prior to the exercise, we were training in Rajasthan, where I saw unusually large farm machinery lying for repair at a workshop. I asked the mechanic if he could fabricate mine-laying equipment for us. I explained to him that anti-tank mines would be carried in a large vehicle from where the mine would be manually lowered into a “shoot” and these should land in the deep furrow. The same would be covered with earth dug out of the furrow.

The fabricated equipment would be fitted below a jeep trailer, which would be towed by this big vehicle. He seemed to fully understand the requirement. A dummy mine and a jeep trailer were left with him.

In four days flat, his fabrication was ready. He had also made a provision to adjust the equipment for sandy, hard and semi-hard ground. The trailer with the contraption under it was attached to a Tatra vehicle. The equipment laid the mines perfectly well.

Army Chief General Sundarji was requested to see the equipment. He came with Arun Singh, then Deputy Defence Minister. Both, in turn, sat in the jeep trailer to see as to how the equipment worked. It was indeed a funny sight to see them lean over to look at the mine-laying process. Developing a mechanical minelayer by a wayside mechanic was indeed a remarkable achievement and part of the great Indian ‘jugaad’.

This does establish the simple fact that there is no dearth of innovation and talent in India. What is required is to impart the right technical education, encouragement and creation of appropriate facilities for ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’.