“Jugaad” is a Hindi word for a makeshift solution or a creative invention — an activity that makes us think out of the box. In rural areas jugaad is a day-to-day activity. People have inventive minds; they only need a lens of appreciation.
Pradhan Jonko, a 21-year-old farmer from Komai village, Baipi panchayat, West Singhbhum district, has just started a Bachelor of Arts degree. He has a family of seven — his parents, three sisters and two brothers; his elder sister is married. He recalls, “Life was never easy seven or eight years ago.” Food was the only prime necessity and education was never important. His father, Yadav Jonko, cultivated paddy and some vegetables year after year on their small piece of land to make ends meet and to educate the children.
Pradhan was an alert child from his early days, always open to learning. At school he was president of the Children’s Club, which helped him discipline himself and practise hygiene. After school he was always a great help to his father in the field.
In 2017 came a turning point, when he had the opportunity to attend a five-day training programme at the Agriculture Institute, Hazaribagh. He took what he learned at the training centre to his field, and his paddy yield doubled. This success helped him focus on vegetable cultivation, expanding the area from 5 decimals to 20 decimals. He also started rearing country birds and goats, and eventually increased his vegetable cultivation to half an acre. He now earns ₹3,000 a month.
He also invented a jugaad for sowing and marking lines using the scrap of a cycle handle, and uses discarded plastic baskets for planting vegetables in the kitchen garden.
