"The junk materials include a discarded plastic bottle, which we used as a box to wash clothes. A pulley is attached to the plastic bottle to run the machine. The pulley moves with the help of kinetic energy and helps to wash clothes," explained Agarwal, who wants to be a scientific innovator.
"Our idea is to do away with electricity and come up with an alternative. The washing machine can be useful in big textile industries. We're planning to give our idea to one of India's leading garment manufacturing units," said Siyal, who too wanted to pursue research works in the field of science.
In another such example of innovation, four students of Outreach school, under the guidance of their Physics teacher developed an 'Earthquake predictor'. "The earthquake predictor is nothing but a borewell. The borewell is attached to a buzzer. The buzzer makes sound if the underground water level increases, which means that the movement of lava in the underground is moving at a faster rate, an indication of the likelihood of an earthquake. The fast movement of lava will force the water level to increase, which in turn will make the buzzer give out signals," said Subramanian K, a student.
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This blog reminds me of an article on jugaad. Here is an excerpt- People ask me, what exactly is jugaad? Global management experts attribute India's rapid economic growth to jugaad. In a recent survey by the Legatum Institute, 81% of Indian businessmen said jugaad was the key reason for their success.
Many years ago, innovative Punjabis mounted a diesel irrigation pump on a steel frame with wheels, creating a vehicle they called jugaad. It was ultra-cheap but did not conform to vehicular regulations. Over time, jugaad came to mean grassroots innovation to overcome any constraint.
In the West, innovation is done by scientists using expensive equipment. In India, it's done by every housewife, farmer, transporter, trader and industrialist. It does not require high-spending R&D: it simply needs creativity and imagination. Anil Ambani once said Reliance succeeded through innovation, not invention.
One avatar of jugaad is what management gurus call "frugal engineering", exemplified in the Tata Nano, the cheapest car in the world. India's telecom companies provide calls at Re 1 a minute, the cheapest in the world. Narayana Hrudayalaya and Shankara Nethralaya provide the cheapest heart and eye treatment in the world. Indian reverse-engineering of patented drugs is also frugal engineering.
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