Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Why India's jugaad still trumps technology elsewhere

Tons of paper(and TBs online) have been spent(wasted?) on the topic of that typical Indian inventiveness called 'jugaad' so I shall not repeat the good old platitudes about how jugaad is good...but it has not produced an Apple/Amazon/Facebook. Instead, I put the case that such false comparisons of jugaad with world class infrastructure abroad, is misplaced.
  1. India's heterogeneity and size make systems design difficult:One may long for the luxury of Singapore MRT, London Metro, Tokyo trains etc but the fact remains that in a small high income place, one can ensure good connectivity(as the AC bus connectivity in Mumbai/Bangalore attest to), but those breakdown under population overload too, as the recent MRT expansion in Singapore is happening to adjust to the influx of foreign workers
  2. There is just copying/improvising for lack of resources no real invention:- Correct, but this misses the point that Indian innovation is just focussed in different field. As the high number of Indian structurers, traders, accountants and tax experts go, Indians can find loopholes in most things, because of their practice of navigating India's labyrinth like and illogical tax system. Also, building companies like Reliance, Educomp is not a joke-and those companies are built around quantum jumps while using what we have. 
  3.  More useful for the contemporary world:- When the famed high rollers of the corporate world(investment banks) mention cost cutting prominently in their annual reports/plans, you know that the world HAS changed. And in this, those used to improvising their own tools/methods in resource crunched environments would be likelier to succeed. 
  4. Technology is about how to USE a tool not really about making one:-In the field of finding new applications for existing tools, I believe Indians are up there with the rest.
This post may sound a bit(ok..very!) emotional but this hopefully adds some facets to the huge literature out there. 

No comments: