Jugaad

Jugaad is the nerve centre of Karm Marg. Central to its aim of empowering vulnerable young adults with livelihood skills, Jugaad is also the vocational training and income generation arm of Karm Marg.

‘Jugaad’ a unique word in hindi which roughly translated means ‘making the most out of whatever little may be available to you’. It’s an essential Indian trait of creative ingenuity.

At Jugaad, the young adult trainees, alumni of Karm Marg and the rural women from surrounding areas train and work together to create bags, wallets, stationery and more using discarded and waste materials. While they handle most aspects of production and design, senior members of the Karm Marg team look after the marketing aspect.

We at Karm Marg have always encouraged friends and volunteers to donate waste newspaper, bottles, textiles etc for us to use as raw materials. With these, Jugaad creates and markets a vast range of handcrafted and eco-friendly products. This approach is what we call, the true Indian ‘jugaad’.

The brand name of ‘Jugaad’ today is known in India and abroad for the quality and creativity of its products. The profits from Jugaad currently fund nearly 50% of Karm Marg’s activities.

Veena Lal - Some words are juicier untranslated! Jugaad, the Hindi word that best illustrates our philosophy, is one such word.

It refers to innovative thinking that makes the best use of the materials in hand. To us at Karmmarg, it is a way of life. In an effort to minimize our environmental footprint, we only work with recycled raw materials such as cotton, newspapers, jute, wool, glass and more. The trick is to look at a crumpled piece of block printed cotton and transform it into a trendy, usable bag with years of life, fun and excitement in it.

In many ways, the lives of children who live in Karmmarg have been similarly transformed from simply surviving in the cruel wastelands of urban poverty, to being useful and productive members of the Karmmarg family. That’s what Jugaad means to us…