Answer

Introduction

The Right to Remember preserves traditional repair skills, while the Right to Repair ensures access to parts and information. Together, they strengthen India’s repair sector, fostering sustainability and resilience.  Globally, this movement is growing as the European Union requires manufacturers to provide repair resources. In India, the Department of Consumer Affairs introduced the Right to Repair Framework in 2022 with a national portal launched in 2023.

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“Right to Remember” is Intrinsically Linked to the “Right to Repair”

• Innovation Rooted in Memory-Based Learning: Informal repairers innovate with limited resources, an ability rooted in long-practiced improvisation techniques.
  Eg: United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 12 promotes repair as part of responsible consumption.
• Preservation of Informal Expertise Fuels Circular Economy: Remembering older repair methods allows devices to be fixed even when official parts or manuals are unavailable, reducing e-waste.
  Eg: India generated 1.6 million tonnes of e-waste in 2021–22 (CPCB); informal repairers extend product life, reducing waste.
• Repair as Cultural Heritage, Not Just Skillset: Traditional repair relies on hands-on expertise passed through generations, often undocumented. Without protecting this memory-based knowledge, the Right to Repair becomes hollow.
• Right to Repair Relies on Local Diagnostic Intuition: Implementing the Right to Repair in India requires understanding the unique diagnostic skills of local repairers.
  Eg: iFixit’s 2023 report shows only 23% of phones in Asia are easily repairable, yet Indian repairers persist with indigenous fixes.
• Repair Justice Requires Memory Recognition: Legal rights to parts and manuals need the cultural memory of repair to be meaningful; without it, access won’t translate to effective action.
  Eg: Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) includes Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL), validating skills acquired outside formal education, including traditional repair work.

Essentiality of Right to Remember for Preserving India’s Unique Culture of Innovation and Frugality

Preserving Culture of Innovation

• Supports Decentralised, Low-Cost Innovation: India’s repair economy fosters innovation in rural and small-town settings without heavy infrastructure or formal education.
• Preserves Knowledge Ecosystems Ignored by Formal Training: The Right to Remember protects skills absent from skilling schemes but vital for economy and sustainability.
  Eg: PMKVY offers industrial training but excludes improvisational skills key to real-world repair work.
• Combats Built-in Obsolescence of Modern Devices: The Right to Repair can mandate repairable product design, resisting manufacturer-led obsolescence.
  Eg: India’s Right to Repair Framework 2022 empowers consumers and repairers by mandating access to spare parts and repair information.

Preserving Culture of Frugality

• Reduces Import Dependency and Boosts Atmanirbhar Bharat: By enabling local repair, India reduces foreign part dependency and aligns with national self-reliance goals.
  Eg: Local repair of electronics cuts need for foreign parts, supporting PLI schemes and Atmanirbhar Bharat.
• Enables Sustainability through Prolonged Device Lifespan: Empowering repair reduces the need for replacement, aligning with environmental goals of reuse.
  Eg: E-Waste Rules (2022) encourage recycling, but prevention through repair is cheaper and more effective.
• Minimises Household Expenditure on Technology: Right to Repair lowers maintenance costs, delaying the need for costly new devices.

Conclusion

The Right to Remember sustains the skills, frugality, and innovation that make the Right to Repair truly effective. By preserving India’s tacit repair knowledge in line with Mission LiFE, legal rights can be matched with cultural capacity, enabling an innovative, efficient, sustainable, and equitable future built on repair, reuse, and resilience.

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